When I was a child, my parents didn’t have a lot of money.  In spite of that, I rarely felt that we had to do without.  There was always food on the table, and my mom was a very good cook.

This recipe had originally been planned as part of my 30 days of beans series, but I discovered that pies could be made from beans, so I abandoned beans on toast in favor of another pie recipe.  Still, as I was making myself a breakfast of beans on toast, I thought that I should share this simple recipe with you, too.

From what I have learned, the origin of beans on toast is in Britain, and there is much debate about the true origin of the dish as well as the correct way to prepare the dish.   This dish may date back to World War II when beans were a readily available and inexpensive source of protein.   Many are adamant that this must be prepared with canned Heinz beans, but when it comes to beans and toast, I’m not a traditionalist.

As a child, my mother would sometimes ladle reheated leftover beans atop a slice of toast and serve it for breakfast.   Sometimes it was pinto beans.  Other times it was baked beans.  It didn’t matter.  Most of the time, the beans we had over toast were dried beans that my mother had cooked with a ham bone or salt pork.  As a child, beans were a favorite food, so I didn’t really care what kind of beans were ladled over my toast.  I was just excited I could have them for breakfast, too.

Beans and toast are very easy to make.  It’s so easy, that I’m not even including a proper printable recipe.

Toast a slice of bread.  Butter is optional in my opinion, but some are adamant it must be spread on the toast before topping it with beans.

Ladle 1/3 to 1/2 cup of beans of your choice on top of your toast.  In this photo, I used baked beans.  You don’t really need to measure.  You want just enough beans to cover the top of your toast.

Eat and enjoy.

Have you ever eaten beans on toast?

If you haven’t, give them a try and share your experience with us.  There’s a YouTube video of Americans trying beans on toast that may be of interest to some.  Personally, I think beans and toast are great, but I really think they’re a breakfast food.  My prejudice is because that was the only time of day my mother ever served them.

Thanks for visiting Patty Cake’s Pantry.