Sweetiepie Baked Beans

As a single I like to do a little cooking or baking on the weekend, and freeze it so I can eat it later that week, in a month’s time, or whenever. It helps me from pigging out on baked goods or eating everything asap before it goes bad.

I do this baking and freezing mostly for breakfast items. I’m not a morning person and can’t seem to get my act together before I head out the door. Being able to pull muffins or my chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal bake out of the freezer and into the microwave are huge lifesavers for me.

Sometimes I like to cook something for dinner that is too much for me to eat in one sitting, so I freeze it, and it prevents me from eating the same thing for the next few meals. These Sweetiepie Baked Beans that I make in the Instant Pot are perfect for freezing.

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can use a crock pot, it’ll just take you a few extra hours.

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I use the 7 in 1 Instant Pot. If you don’t already have one, I recommend getting one. It speeds up your cooking time. You might even say goodbye to your crock pot like I did.

Sweetiepie baked beans are kind of like fake baked beans. They’re a little sweet and a little tart. This dish packs all kinds of good fiber.

First thing you need is half a cup each of dry pinto beans, black beans, and kidney beans.

Now, if you don’t have dry beans on hand, you can use a tin of each and put them right into your Instant Pot.

If you’re out of one of those beans, you can adjust by adding a bit more of one of the other beans. I recommend always keeping black, pinto, garbanzo, and kidney beans in your cupboard. They’re good sources of protein and with the Instant Pot can be quickly cooked for dinner. You’d have already stocked up on pinto beans if you liked my recipe for baked beans in tomato soup sauce.

Let’s assume you’re like me and using half a cup of each of the dry beans to cook in your instant pot.

Put them in a colander and rinse them. You’re looking for dirt clumps or pebbles that could be mixed in with the beans. You also want to remove any ugly or deformed beans. See how pretty and colorful these are in the colander? You’ll be making a colorful dinner!

Put them in the Instant Pot and add enough water to cover them by at least two inches. Put the lid on and make sure the vent is in the sealing position. Use the manual setting and adjust for 25 minutes.

In a bowl, combine half a cup of ketchup, a quarter cup of maple syrup, two tablespoons apple cider vinegar, one tablespoon mustard, half a teaspoon of garlic powder, and half a teaspoon of salt.

Stir until it’s smooth and blended, and then put in the fridge to wait for the beans to cook.

Or if you’re using canned beans, you can add to the Instant Pot right away.

You can make some adjustments to the above ingredients. You can substitute tomato paste for the ketchup. If you don’t have maple syrup, use molasses or brown sugar, or another sweetener that you have on hand. The mustard can either be powder or the stuff you use as a condiment and keep in your fridge. Garlic powder and salt to taste. I go low on these seasonings. You can also substitute a teaspoon of chopped garlic instead of using the powder.

See, I’m an easy going cook. I’m all about using what you have on hand instead of dashing off to the grocery store to pick up that one ingredient you really gotta have just cause the recipe you found online calls for it.

Seeing as how the beans are still doing their thing in the Instant Pot, you’ll have time to chop up the rest of the ingredients and put them on stand by.

Chop up one onion. Or if you really like onion, chop up two or three!

Chop up one bell pepper. I used a yellow pepper, but you could use red, orange, or green. It’s all about color here, but it’s also about keeping the sweet in sweetiepie baked beans. The yellow, orange, and red peppers are sweeter.

Chop up one apple. I used a Granny Smith apple, but you can use whatever apple you have on hand. The firmer the better. A soft apple could turn to mush. I left the skin on, but your preference might be to peel the apple.

When the beans have finished their 25 minutes, let the Instant Pot naturally unseal. This allows the beans to cook a bit longer and makes them more digestible. Don’t be in a hurry and bring out your oven mitts to turn the vent to release the steam.

Drain the water out of the beans. Or most of the water. You don’t want to lose any beans into your sink in an attempt to get all the water out of the pot. Add the onion, pepper, and apple to the Instant Pot. Pour in the ketchup mixture and stir to ensure it’s all coated.

Put the lid back on the Instant Pot and check that it’s back in the sealing position. Push the bean setting, and if it doesn’t automatically show 30 minutes, use the -/+ key to adjust to 30.

If you’re using a crock pot, put it on the high setting for 3 to 4 hours or the low setting for 7 to 8 hours.

Here’s a good time to chat about the “slow cook” setting on the Instant Pot.

It sucks!

Really. It doesn’t get the sweetiepie baked beans hot enough.

It’s the same story for just about everything else you put inside the Instant Pot and use the slow cook setting. It doesn’t cut it. Besides, its an Instant Pot. The main feature is pressure cooking in a faster time than a crock pot. Once it’s done cooking, you can let it sit on the warming setting for hours.

The sweetiepie baked beans freeze really well. It’s the old portion control thing that I’m working hard to get under control. I put just under a cup of sweetiepie baked beans in a freezer bag, but you can use any container that can handle the freezer. Freezer bags are my preference because they lie flat and they stack up nicely. Take one out at night, put it in the fridge to defrost, and have it for dinner the next day. I put in the microwave for 1 minute and 44 seconds. Yeah, I have this thing for hitting the same number button twice. Saves time for making it 40 seconds or 45 seconds.

.Add a small salad, a handful of crackers or tortilla chips, and it’s a meal!

SWEETIEPIE BAKED BEANS

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