Sweet And Spicy Vegetarian Baked Beans With Green Chilies And Jalapenos

One of my favorite brands of ready-made vegetarian baked beans.

Very Easy Vegetarian Baked Beans for a Crowd

When throwing a summer party, baked beans are always a favorite. They obviously aren't as healthy as having plain beans because of the added sugar, but once in a while it's worth the indulgence. Beans are high in fiber which helps you lower your cholesterol and stabilize your blood sugar levels.

This is one of the dishes on my Summer Solstice Party menu that we served at our family gathering last week. When you are feeding a crowd, it's nice to have a dish that goes together quickly. I've made baked beans from scratch but it's a lot of work and I've never been able to duplicate the taste of using Bush's beans in this recipe. After adding just a few additional ingredients I generally let the beans simmer in a crock pot all day but you can also make them on the stove. If you are feeding fewer people, cut the recipe in half. If you are feeding a larger crowd, double the recipe. Baked beans make great leftovers. My daughter loves to eat them along side scrambled eggs.

Are Canned Vegetarian Baked Beans Considered Vegan?

Some products, like Amy's organic vegetarian beans, state that they are vegan on the label. Although Bush's does not, they replied to this question by stating that they are "free of meat and meat by-products" and that all of their products are "dairy and casein free". Their ingredients do however include "sugar" (although most of the sweetness is from brown sugar) and they do not specify whether it's cane or beet. Some cane sugar refineries use bone char in the filtering process which discourages many vegans from using cane sugar but many refineries do not. Brown and beet sugar does not go through this process.

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Sweet and Spicy Baked Beans with Green Chilies and Jalapenos

[makes 12 servings]

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

Two 28 ounce cans of vegetarian or vegan baked beans

2 ounces mild diced green chilies (1/2 of a 4 oz. can)

1 tablespoon chopped jalapeno (fresh or canned, more or less to taste)

2 tablespoons unpacked brown sugar

Crock pot recipe:

Sauté the onion in oil for 5 minutes. Drain most of the juice from one can of beans and use all of the juice from the other. Put the onion, the beans and the rest of the ingredients in a crock pot and simmer on low all day or on high for 4 hours or more. Get a big slotted spoon and serve your guests from the crock pot.

Stove top recipe:

Using a 5 quart Dutch oven, sauté the onion in oil for 5 minutes. Add all the rest of the ingredients and simmer uncovered, stirring frequently, until the beans are thick and bubbly. Serve.

Per serving: 151.3 calories, 1.2 g fat, 0.2 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 6.1 g protein, 31.8 g carbohydrates and 5.3 g of fiber.