This Is My Favorite Family Recipe To Take To Potlucks (2024)

The next time you are asked to bring something to a potluck dinner, do yourself a favor and make this dish! Believe it or not, I’ve been making this hearty “hotdish” for about 30 years now.The recipe was originally given to me by my mother-in-law Dorothy shortly after I married into the Nystul family. (But what exactly is a hotdish, you ask? It’s a type of casserole dish that originated in the Upper Midwest, but many people use the term to describe any kind of casserole dish!)

Oddly enough, around the same time I received this recipe from my mother-in-law, my dad’s long-time secretary Rose shared a very similar recipe with me. Both recipes were products of the Norwegian Lutheran immigrant population that settled in North Dakota and Minnesota in the late 1800’s. After making both recipes, I couldn’t decide which one I liked better, so I decided to combine the two! But they were really so similar that I didn’t have to change all that much.

Related: The One Salad That Will Steal The Spotlight At Your Next Potluck

The best way I can think of to describe this hotdish is that it’s somewhere in the middle between baked beans and chili. It’s savory with a hint of sweetness, and most importantly, it’s always a hit no matter when or where I serve it! And here’s how you can make it at home.

Dorothy’s Five-Bean Hotdish

Ingredients:

1/2 lb bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 lb ground beef
1 medium white onion, diced
1 (15-ounce) can green beans, drained
1 (15-ounce) can lima beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15-ounce) can yellow wax beans, drained
1 (15-ounce) can pork and beans
2 cups ketchup
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp vinegar
1 tsp salt

Directions:

Add the ground beef, bacon, and onion to a large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until the ground beef is cooked through.Drain the meat mixture and transfer it to a large roasting pan.

Add the green beans, lima beans, kidney beans, wax beans, pork and beans, ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, and salt to the roasting pan.

Stir everything together, then cover the roasting pan with the lid. Place the covered pan in your oven and cook for 60 minutes at 350°F.

This may seem like the perfect dish to bring to a summer picnic, and it is! But trust me, you can whip up this hotdish at any time of the year, and you will still have happy eaters! I’ve served this recipe at barbecues, picnics, church potlucks, and even holiday dinners to rave reviews. And feel free to substitute with whatever beans strike your fancy! You can’t really mess this recipe up.

What’s your favorite dish to bring to a potluck or picnic?