Baked Beans In Toastie

 

Beans on toast! Is there anybody who doesn't love this childhood staple. Even as a student, I virtually lived on this cheap and quick meal when all you needed was some bread and a tin of baked beans to provide you with a good, wholesome meal full of fibre and protein. 

Now you can recreate those days with your sandwich maker in a matter of mintes with a few spoonfuls of baked beans in a sealed toastie. These golden, buttery pockets of joy make a great snack at any time of day from breakfast through to supper!

Baked Beans In Toastie

At last, a toasted sandwich without any cheese! The creamy melted stuff is a mainstay of most toasted sandwiches, but as long as you apply a generous amount of butter, this simple toastie is the perfect quick snack, especially on a cold winter's day. 

And you can always add some cheese of your choice if you wish, but that is for another day. This one is for the purists, just bread, beans and butter. 😋

What you will need for the perfect Baked Beans In Toastie

I always use thick sliced bread, either white or 50/50 white/wholemeal, but definitely the thicker the better. Here, the toast is an integral part of the snack, and not merely just the 2 slices that the filling goes between. Therefore "super toastie" or "extra thick" sliced loaves are the ones to go for.

For this recipe I have used white "super toastie". I always have a sliced loaf of each which I keep in my freezer. This means I can defrost 2 or 4 slices whenever I need them and keep the rest frozen ready for the next snack adventure.

The baked beans you choose are purely down to personal choice. There are the obvious well-known brands, some of which you have always bought and are happy with the consistent quality you are used to. However, many of the supermarket "own-brands" can be of similar quality and will provide just as good a toastie as the others. Having said this, I would not necessarily recommend the supermarket "basics" brands. Yes, they are often considerably cheaper but can have quite a watery sauce, which would be more likely to leak onto the plates and burn.

Although the only filling is the baked beans, don't forget to use plenty of butter on the bread to add that lovely additional flavour.

The Recipe

Baked Beans In Toastie

EQUIPMENT

• 3-in-1 snack maker with sealed toastie plates

PREPARATION TIME : 5 minutes

COOKING TIME : 7 minutes (approx.)

SERVINGS : 2

INGREDIENTS

• 4 slices super thick white bread
• 20g butter or similar
• 250g baked beans in tomato sauce
• (pinch of ground black pepper as required)

 For more information on weights, measures and simple conversions in both metric, imperial (and US) read ... DO SPOONS, MILLILITRES AND CUPS ACTUALLY MEASURE UP?

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS

1. Turn on the snack maker
2. While the appliance is heating up gather all the ingredients to hand.
3. Butter one side of each of the 4 slices of bread
4. When ready, place 2 slices butter side down on bottom plate
5. Form a recess with the back of a spoon in the shape of the plate (be careful as the plate is hot)
6. Spoon equal amounts of the baked beans into the recesses formed.
7. Sprinkle a pinch of ground black pepper over the beans as required
8. Place the remaing 2 slices of bread on top with the buttered side uppermost
9. Close the top plate and click the handles to lock in place
10. Cook for approximately 7 minutes or until golden

How to make the perfect toastie

I prefer to place the bottom slices of bread onto the bottom plate when ready to create a recess for the fillings. However, you will need to work quickly while building the rest of your toastie as the buttered bottom slice will start cooking immediately and the top slice will only start to cook when the lid is closed

You can of course assemble the whole thing first and then lift into place. Either way, be aware that the plates are very hot.

Once your toastie is cooked switch off the appliance at the socket. NEVER lift your finished toastie out with your fingers. The plates will still be extremely hot! Always use wood or plastic tools to move and lift out your completed toastie. 

Don't worry too much about any excess baked bean sauce leaking from your sandwich. This can be due to overfilling or the sauce that your chosen baked beans comes in being a little runny. I find it best to give the can a good shake before opening, and of corse when spooning out your beans you could akways leave a little of the excess sauce behind. Unlike leaked cheese, leaked baked beans sauce can have a tendency to burn, but this should still not cause too much of a problem on a decent non-stick plate. However, on my first attempt I was a little over generous with the sauce and it leaked beyond the plates onto the plastic frame, which was a lot harder to clean, so please beware of excess in this case. 😀

Or you could try...

As mentioned earlier, the Baked Beans In Toastie lends itself to the addition of cheese to make a deliciously moorish sandwich. You can of course add the favourite cheese of your choice and I will look at this in more detail at another date.

For a slight variation, and one which would help with a runny baked bean sauce, try adding some tomato puree (I always have some of the tubed variety in my fridge) mixed in a bowl to thicken the sauce before spooning on to the bread. This thicker sauce may well help prevent as much leakage and add a rich tomato flavour to your toastie. 

Perfect on it's own...

The Baked Bean In Toastie is the perfect snack on it's own and does not require any addition to make into a meal. That said, a spoonful of mayonnaise as a dip for your red hot toastie is a delicious delight for me (although I accept this may not be to everyones taste!).

How does your sandwich maker compare?

For most of the recipes shared here I use my trusty Tower Deep Fill 3-in-1 Sandwich Maker, so obviously you may need to adjust your ingredients slightly if you are using a different appliance. Having said that, most sandwich makers are very similar in design and size, and the amount of each filling is a guide only and you can increase or decrease, add or subtract, according to your personal taste.

Never be afraid to experiment, and remember you won't always get the perfect result first time, so if at first you don't succeed try, try and try again. It's great fun!

If you want to check out some of the alternative 3-in-1 machines available check out our guide...

More than just cheese toasties  -  The best reasonably priced 3-in-1 sandwich makers