Sweet and Spicy Baked Beans -- The Side Dish That Belongs on Every Holiday Grill Spread

Memorial Day weekend marks the start of something — the real start, not the calendar start. The air changed this week in the way Louisiana air changes when summer arrives in earnest: a thickness that settles over everything, a weight that's not unpleasant if you grew up in it. I slept with the fan going and woke up slow and ate cold leftover rice and didn't feel any urgency about anything, which is its own kind of accomplishment at the end of junior year.

Daddy grilled on Monday — ribs and chicken and corn still in the husk, and the whole neighborhood eventually materialized the way it does when smoke starts rising on a holiday afternoon. The Delacroix family from next door. Old Mr. Henry from across the street who brings his own lawn chair everywhere he goes. The Johnson kids who are six and eight and convinced that Daddy's ribs are the best in the world, and they are not wrong. Daddy made a dry rub that morning — brown sugar, smoked paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, a few other things he listed and then unmeasured by feel — and the ribs came off the grill with a bark on the outside and a tenderness inside that is the whole point of a long afternoon in the heat.

I submitted my application to the LSU AgCenter internship on Friday. Mama proofread the essay four times and changed one word and said, "There. Now it's perfect." The word she changed was "very," which she replaced with nothing, and the sentence was better. Editing is its own form of cooking — sometimes the best flavor comes from removing something.

Junior year is over. Three years done. MawMaw gave me a card with twenty dollars in it, which she has done every year since kindergarten graduation. The amount never changes and that is somehow the whole point. "Twenty dollars from MawMaw" is its own category of gift — not about the money, about the consistency of the hand that gives it.

Every time I think about that Monday afternoon—the smoke rising, the neighbors drifting over, the Johnson kids orbiting Daddy’s grill like little satellites—I know the ribs were the headline, but the sides are what made it a meal. These Sweet and Spicy Baked Beans have the same spirit as Daddy’s dry rub: brown sugar for depth, a hit of heat that sneaks up on you, and a low-and-slow patience that rewards the waiting. They’re the kind of dish that tastes better the longer the afternoon gets, which is exactly the energy Memorial Day deserves.

Sweet and Spicy Baked Beans

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 1 hr 15 min | Total Time: 1 hr 30 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 4 cans (15 oz each) navy beans or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 6 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons molasses
• 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 to 2 teaspoons hot sauce (such as Louisiana-style), to taste
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water or chicken broth

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. Heat oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish or a large Dutch oven.
2. Cook the bacon. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the chopped bacon until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving about 2 tablespoons of drippings in the pan.
3. Soften aromatics. Add the diced onion to the skillet and cook over medium heat for 5 to 6 minutes, until softened and beginning to turn golden. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
4. Build the sauce. Stir in the ketchup, brown sugar, molasses, mustard, apple cider vinegar, hot sauce, smoked paprika, cayenne, black pepper, and salt. Add the water or broth and stir until fully combined. Let the sauce simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Combine with beans. Add the drained beans and cooked bacon to the skillet and stir to coat everything in the sauce. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish.
6. Bake low and slow. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 25 to 30 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and the top is slightly caramelized. Stir once halfway through the uncovered baking time.
7. Rest and serve. Let the beans rest for 10 minutes before serving. They thicken further as they cool slightly and are excellent alongside ribs, grilled chicken, or corn.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 310 | Protein: 13g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 48g | Fiber: 9g | Sodium: 620mg