Best of all, it’s much simpler than you may expect to make baked beans from scratch. Using canned baked beans instead of dry beans as the base makes for a faster cooking time. I elevate the dish with common pantry staples, bacon, vinegar, and spices. Just fry the bacon, add the beans and seasonings, and bake! If you’d like to try more of my side dish recipes, then check out my easy potato salad, deviled eggs recipe, and creamed spinach recipe.
What You Need to Make This Recipe
Canned Baked Beans – also known as pork and beans, canned baked beans are made with navy beans, tomato sauce, brown sugar or honey, and seasonings. Choose your favorite brand. You will need two 28-ounce cans of beans for this recipe. Bacon – adds a rich and savory base to the baked bean sauce, complementing the acidity of the barbecue sauce and ketchup. If using regular-cut bacon, you will need six pieces of bacon. Four pieces of thick-cut bacon can also be used; just chop the bacon in smaller pieces for a quicker cooking time. Barbecue Sauce – choose your favorite flavor of BBQ sauce. Brown sugar, honey, smokehouse, and Texas-style barbecue sauce are all great picks. Worcestershire Sauce – peppery, zippy, and savory, no homemade baked beans recipe is complete without this vinegar-based condiment. Dijon Mustard – enhances the savory sauce with its refined mustard flavor. For best results, use smooth Dijon mustard, though whole-grain mustard or dry mustard can be substituted in a pinch. Light Brown Sugar – contributes caramelized molasses notes to the beans. Light brown sugar is best, but dark brown sugar adds extra molasses flavor if desired. Pack the brown sugar tightly when measuring. Swap it for maple syrup for a layer of maple-sweet flavor, or if you are out of brown sugar.
How to Make Baked Beans
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 13×9-inch baking dish. Cook the bacon in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving drippings in the skillet.
- Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic to the skillet and sauté, stirring throughout the cooking time, until tender, or for about 4 minutes.
- Stir in the canned beans.
- Stir in the remaining ingredients- BBQ sauce, ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil.
- Remove the pan from the heat and transfer to the prepared baking dish.
- Sprinkle cooked bacon on top. Bake the beans until bubbly and thickened like syrup, about 1 hour. Let cool slightly before serving.
Pro Tips For Making This Recipe
Turn the bacon while cooking. This will help the bacon to cook evenly and to get nice and crispy. Let the bacon come to heat and release its initial fat before turning. At this point, it will be easier to turn and won’t stick to the bottom of the skillet. Reserve the bacon drippings. Do not clean out the skillet after scooping the bacon out. The drippings will help the peppers and onions sauté up nicely without sticking to the skillet as well as add delicious flavor and dimension to the recipe. Baking the beans in the Dutch oven. If you opt to make the beans in the Dutch oven, you can bake the beans directly in the pot as long as the Dutch oven has oven-safe handles and an enameled or non-stick finish. Use a crock pot to keep them warm. Once the beans are baked, you can put them in a crockpot to keep them warm for your gathering, or to reheat them if made ahead of time. Swap out the bacon for ground beef. To make this recipe heartier, replace the bacon with 1/2 pound ground beef. Brown the beef with the onion and vegetables and a tablespoon of oil.
If you’ve tried this recipe, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
