Most barbecue joints serve ladlefuls of smoky, deep-flavored cowboy beans alongside slabs of ribs and mounds of pulled pork. We wanted to make those creamy-textured, saucy beans at home to accompany our own barbecue. To get there, we used navy beans. We found that bacon was a convenient substitute for smoky barbecued meat. We blended mustard, barbecue sauce, and brown sugar for sweet-spicy, deep flavor a fair amount of garlic and onion helped, too. But the real secret ingredient in this recipe: coffee. The roasted, slightly bitter flavor tied all the flavors together. Using a Dutch oven ensured that the sugars in our saucy beans didn’t scorch and that the beans themselves cooked evenly and consistently. You’ll get fewer blowouts if you soak the beans overnight, but if you’re pressed for time, you can quick-salt-soak your beans: In step 1, bring the salt, water, and beans to a boil in the Dutch oven. Remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let sit for 1 hour. Drain and rinse the beans and proceed with step 2.
Ingredients
- Salt and pepper
- 1 pound (2½ cups) dried navy beans, picked over and rinsed
- 4 slices bacon, chopped fine
- 1 onion, chopped fine
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup brewed coffee
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce
- ⅓ cup packed dark brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
- ½ teaspoon hot sauce
- Dissolve 3 tablespoons salt in 4 quarts cold water in large container. Add beans and let soak at room temperature for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours. Drain and rinse well.
- Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Cook bacon in Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in onion and cook until softened and lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in beans, 4½ cups water, coffee, ½ cup barbecue sauce, sugar, mustard, hot sauce, and 2 teaspoons salt and bring to boil. Cover, transfer pot to oven, and cook until beans are just tender, 2 to 2½ hours.
- Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until beans are fully tender, 1 to 1½ hours.
- Remove pot from oven and let beans sit until liquid has thickened slightly and clings to beans, 10 to 15 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.