Homemade Baked Beans

These delicious baked beans are so wholesome and much better for you than the shop bought variety which contain lots of sugar. I make a pot of these most weeks and store them in a jam jar in my fridge for a quick breakfast or lunch.

Please use organic unsulphured blackstrap molasses which is in its purest form and hasn’t had the preservative, sulphur dioxide added to it (which regular molasses will have). Blackstrap molasses adds sweetness and also contains many vitamins and minerals including iron which helps transport oxygen round your body. Beans are also a good source of iron, and fibre too. You could use any kind of beans you want here,  haricot, butter beans and chickpeas would all work just as well.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp oil (I used coconut oil)
½ onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ tsp smoked paprika
pinch of cinammon
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp organic black strap molasses
1 x 400g tin cannellini beans, drained
handful of spinach, chopped
400g carton of chopped tomatoes (cartons are preferable over cans of tomatoes) – blend these before adding to the beans if you want a more traditional smooth sauce)
pinch of Himalayan salt to taste
1 tbsp chopped parsely

Method:

Heat the oil in a saucepan, and add the onion. Cook gently, stirring until softened, then add the garlic. Cook for a few minutes on low then add the paprika, thyme, blackstrap molasses and cinammon, and cook for a couple more minutes.

Add the beans and tomatoes, and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, until the sauce has thickened and the flavours have enhanced. Season with salt to taste and stir through the parsley and spinach until its wilted, then serve.

SUGARFREE / DAIRYFREE / GLUTENFREE