boston baked beans meet sloppy joe in this easy, crowd-pleasing dish. could we take it from decent to delicious here''s what we discovered
test kitchen discoveries
we usually prefer to use dried beans, but in this recipe the difference between canned and dried beans was minimal, so we chose canned beans. we recommend using beans of varying shapes and color.
for the sauce, we mixed tomato sauce with brown sugar (for its pleasing hint of molasses), bottled barbecue sauce (which added a smoky note), and red pepper flakes and cider vinegar for a bright finish.
tasters preferred the traditional choice of ground beef to any other meat combinations we tried.
build the dish in a dutch oven in multiple steps. brown the beef before sauteing the onions and garlic. after that, the sauce can be stirred into the pan with the canned beans before baking in the oven.
block party casseroles typically contain a hodgepodge of canned beans swimming in an ersatz sloppy joe mix. while canned beans were a good start, we found that the addition of meaty frozen lima beans and crunchy fresh green beans gave the casserole much needed textural contrast, plus some spark.