A baked bean side dish with complex flavors

Looking for a side dish that will have everyone begging for seconds?  Give this baked bean recipe an opportunity to dazzle the family and amaze the neighbors with this side dish on your Traeger® pellet grill. This recipe is loaded with flavor and has some cool hints of coffee, too. Add that wood-fired flavor from your pellet grill, and you have a perfect side dish.

Ingredients and Supplies

Ingredients

  • 4 cans – Pinto Beans (15 oz can, drained, lightly rinsed)
  • 1 pound – Thick Sliced Applewood Bacon (roughly chopped)
  • 1 tbsp – Fresh Crushed Garlic
  • 1 ea – Red Bell Pepper (diced small)
  • 1 ea – Green Bell Pepper (diced small)
  • 1 cup – Dark Brown Sugar
  • 1 tbsp – Vanilla Extract
  • ½ cup  – Maple Syrup
  • 1 cup – Tomato Puree
  • 1 cup – BBQ Sauce
  • 4 tbsp –Oink Rub, 5280 Culinary 
  • 3 tbsp – Island Boys Coffee Rub, 5280 Culinary  

Supplies

How to Make Baked Beans on a Traeger® Pellet Grill

1 Preheat Your Grill

Make sure your pellet hopper is full before you begin. Set your Traeger® grill to 500 degrees, hit ENTER, then hit IGNITE.

Set Traeger® grill to 500 degrees
Preheat your Traeger® grill to 500 degrees.

2 Heat Up the Dutch Oven

Place the cast-iron Dutch oven on the grill and allow it to warm up without the lid on.

Dutch oven on Traeger® grill
Preheat your cast iron Dutch oven before adding ingredients.

3 Add the Bacon

Once the grill has reached temperature, add bacon to the Dutch oven. Close the lid and allow the bacon to cook/render for 10 minutes.

Cook the bacon
Cook the bacon in the Dutch oven

4 Add the Garlic and Peppers

Open the lid of the Traeger® and stir the bacon. Add the garlic and peppers to the bacon and allow it to cook for 10 minutes, lid closed.

Add peppers to Dutch oven
Cook peppers and bacon for an additional 10 minutes.

5 Add the Rest of the Ingredients

Open the lid of the Traeger® and add the beans, sugar, vanilla, syrup, tomato puree, BBQ sauce, and spices. Stir to combine, close the lid, and cook for 15 minutes.

Stir ingredients in Dutch oven
Add the rest of the ingredients to the Dutch oven and stir.

6 Sample and Taste

Open the Traeger® lid and carefully stir the beans. Take a sample taste. Be careful, they are hot! Adjust seasoning if needed and sweetness if desired. Continue to cook in 5-minute increments (without Dutch oven lid) until the desired thickness is reached.

Stir the beans
Cook for 15 minutes and check the beans.
PRO TIP FROM ACE
Chef’s Tip: Beans will thicken by about 10% when cooling.

7 Finish

Carefully remove the Dutch oven using heatproof gloves and bring it into the kitchen. Allow to cool for 5 minutes prior to serving.

Finished baked beans side dish
Allow the beans to cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Leftovers

To store beans, cool completely at room temp, place into a storage container, and cover. Shelf life is approximately 3 days.