Baked Beans Refined Sugar Free, Salt Free

By Aileen Cox Blundell

Baked Beans are one of those dishes that the majority of kids just love and are a staple convenience food in both Ireland and the UK. There is so much sugar and salt in the store bought cans that I no longer include them in my weekly shop (much to my kids dismay). I decided to use butterbeans for this recipe because they are much easier for little ones to pick up as opposed to the haricot kind.

I started with a good tomato base sauce, then slowly added spices, a little apple cider vinegar and finally added my beloved medjool dates one at a time until the sweetness was just right. The preparation takes only 15 minutes and I normally make a few batches so that they are always in the freezer ready to go. When they are baked in the oven for a few hours the taste changes again into a rich delicious concoction of yumminess. My three kids love them and today we had them for dinner with roasted potato wedges and eggs 🙂

Baked Beans Refined Sugar Free, Salt Free

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Prep: 15 minutes minutes

Cook: 2 hours hours

Total: 2 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 24 Baby Portions

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These baked beans are a brilliant dish for little babies as they are easy to manage and they taste delicious. Homemade Baby Food and baby weaning recipe. 

Ingredients

• 2 Tins Unsalted Butter Beans
• 1 Large Onion
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 2 Tablespoons Unsalted Tomato Purée
• 1 Tin Tomatoes
• 200 ml Water
• 4 Medjool Dates or 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 Teaspoon Smoked Paprika
• 2 Teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 1 Teaspoon Tamarind Paste or 2tsp lime or lemon juice

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Method

• Preheat oven to 160ºC.
• Heat oil in your frying pan and then gently fry your onions over a medium heat until golden. This takes approximately 8 minutes. Stir them often and then add the garlic. Cook for a further 2-3 minutes until soft but not browned.
• Add the tomato purée, tin of tomatoes and 200ml of water to the pan and stir well.
• Transfer your mixture to your blender, add the medjool dates and purée everything until it is completely smooth. (If you don’t have a high speed blender you might want to soak your dates in warm water for about an hour before hand).
• Pour the mixture into a deep oven dish and add all your remaining ingredients. Give it all a good stir to completely combine.
• Bake in the oven for about 60 minutes, then remove from the oven stir in another 200ml of water and then bake for another 60 minutes. (2 hours in total).
• Remove from the oven and leave to cool before serving. If the sauce is a little thick you can add more water at any time.
• Serve with home made brown bread soldiers.

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Recipe Notes & Tips

When freezing I put them into a mini muffin tin to portion them out, then wrap the tin in cling film and freeze. After a few hours when they are fully frozen I pop them out of the tin and put into little freezer bags. To defrost, leave out about 2 hours before serving. The portions are small and defrost really quickly. Reheat in a microwave covered to prevent drying out for 30 seconds.

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