Recipe For Bake Beans

These Easy Southern Baked Beans have the perfect balance of sweet and smoky flavors with plenty of crispy bacon! Starting with a can of store-bought baked beans saves a ton of time, but don’t worry, they will taste better than homemade when we are done!

Stop buying cans of baked beans and doing nothing with them! Listen, we get it – it’s all too easy to warm up a can of beans by itself and dig in. However, dressing up a store bought can makes it about a million times better and it’s SO easy to do!

Usually, a can of baked beans is pretty sweet, and doesn’t have a lot of other flavors going on beyond that. When you season them up at home, you can both enhance that sweetness and balance it out with more savory flavors. With just a few extra ingredients, the flavors will really pop!

Oh, and did we mention there’s bacon in the mix too?! Crispy fried bacon adds the perfect amount of savory and salty flavor to the mix. It also gives the beans a great bite with its chewy consistency. Plus, the bacon flavor is infused into the sautéed onions, which adds SO much more flavor these baked beans as a whole. Let’s get started!

These baked beans are incredibly quick and easy to make. The hardest part is sautéing the onion and bacon, the oven does the rest of the work for you!

Yes! You absolutely can! I personally like them a little better in the oven because I find more of the liquid absorbs and the beans get a perfect baked top, but they are still very tasty in a crockpot. They also travel a lot easier for a party in a crockpot. There are pros and cons to both!

These Easy Southern Baked Beans have the perfect balance of sweet and smoky flavors with plenty of crispy bacon! Starting with a can of store-bought baked beans saves a ton of time, but dont worry, they will taste better than homemade when we are done!

The Best Baked Beans Ever

Ree Drummond’s all-time favorite baked beans recipe is topped with bacon and baked until hot and bubbly. Make it for your next BBQ, cookout, or tailgate.

Prep: 25min

Total: 2h25min

Yield: 18

Ingredients:

• 8 slices bacon, halved
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 medium green pepper, chopped
• 3 28-oz. cans pork and beans
• 3/4 c. barbecue sauce
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 c. distilled or cider vinegar
• 2 tsp. dry mustard or 2 tbsp. Dijon

Instruction:

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325°.
2. Fry bacon in large, deep sauté pan until bacon has partially cooked and released about 1/4 cup drippings. Remove bacon from pan and drain on paper towels.
3. Add onion and pepper to drippings in pan and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes.
4. Add beans and remaining ingredients to pan; bring to a simmer. (If pan is not large enough, add beans and heat to a simmer then transfer to a large bowl and stir in remaining ingredients).
5. Pour flavored beans into a greased 13-by-9-inch (or similar size) ovenproof pan. Top with bacon, then bake until beans are bubbly and sauce is the consistency of pancake syrup, about 2 hours. Let stand to thicken slightly and serve.

Favorite Baked Beans

Our absolute favorite baked beans recipe! They are syrupy and loaded with flavors of BBQ sauce, dijon, smoked paprika and chipotle. Delish!

Prep: 35min

Total: 70min

Yield: 6

Ingredients:

• 2 sliced bacon, (diced)
• 1 small sweet onion, (diced)
• 1 bell pepper, (diced)
• 2 garlic cloves, (minced)
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 TO 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 (22 ounce) cans baked beans (I love Bush’s Grillin’ Beans for this recipe)
• 2 slices bacon, for topping ((optional))

Instruction:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Heat a large (oven safe, if you don’t want to transfer) skillet over medium-low heat and add the bacon. Cook until it’s brown and crisp and most of the fat is rendered.
3. Stit in the onion, pepper and garlic. Cook, stirring often, until everything softens, about 5 minutes. Stir in the paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the vinegar, BBQ sauce, ketchup, mustard and brown sugar until combined.
4. Stir in the baked beans directly from the can. Bring the mixture to a boil, then turn off the heat. I suggest tasting the beans here and adding more salt, pepper or heat if desired. If you’d like, you can lay a few strips of bacon on top of the beans here too!
5. Place the skillet (or transfer to an oven-safe dish) in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until bubbly and syrup. Remove and let cool slightly before serving.
6. You can make these ahead of time – cook them in the skillet then let cook to room temperature and cover, placing in the fridge. Bake the next day (or whenever you’re ready!).
7. These also freeze well!

Easy Baked Beans

Trisha Yearwood’s baked beans recipe is the perfect easy side to feed a crowd. She uses canned pork and beans as the base and adds in bacon, onion, molasses, brown sugar and yellow mustard to achieve that classic baked beans flavor.

Total: 0 1h20min0

Yield: 10 servings

Serving Size: 1 of 10 servings

Nutrition Facts: servingSize 1 of 10 servings, calories 766, Fat 39g, Saturated Fat 13g, Carbohydrate 56g, Fiber 8g, Sugar 21g, Protein 49g, Cholesterol 149mg, Sodium 692mg

Ingredients:

• 1 pound bacon
• 1 large sweet onion, such as Vidalia, finely chopped
• Four 14-ounce cans pork and beans
• 1/2 cup dark molasses
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard

Instruction:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Fry the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan, leaving the drippings, and drain it on paper towels. Crumble and set aside.
3. Add the onion to the pan with the bacon drippings and saute until softened, a couple minutes. Stir in the beans, molasses, brown sugar, mustard and crumbled bacon, and mix well.
4. Pour the beans into a 3-quart casserole and bake, uncovered, for about 45 minutes.

Easy Baked Beans With Bacon

These Easy Southern Baked Beans have the perfect balance of sweet and smoky flavors with plenty of crispy bacon! Starting with a can of store-bought baked beans saves a ton of time, but don’t worry, they will taste better than homemade when we are done!

Prep: 10min

Total: 40min

Serving Size: 1

Nutrition Facts: calories 172 calories, Carbohydrate 31 grams carbohydrates, Cholesterol 8 milligrams cholesterol, Fat 3 grams fat, Fiber 4 grams fiber, Protein 7 grams protein, Saturated Fat 1 grams saturated fat, servingSize 1, Sodium 718 milligrams sodium, Sugar 17 grams sugar, Trans Fat 0 grams trans fat, unSaturated Fat 2 grams unsaturated fat

Ingredients:

• 4 slices bacon, chopped
• 1/3 cup chopped yellow onion
• 2 cans (28 oz) baked beans (I used Bush’s Original Baked Beans)
• 1/2 cup bbq sauce
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Instruction:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a 5 quart dutch oven over medium heat, add bacon. Once bacon is halfway cooked, add the onion and continue cooking over medium heat until bacon is crispy and onion is translucent, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Add the baked beans, bbq sauce, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Stir until well combined.
4. Place dutch oven into preheated oven and bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes. (You can also transfer the beans into a sprayed 9×13 casserole pan. Bake for 30 minutes. If you use a 9×13 check beans at 30 minutes. Because they are more spread out they’ll cook faster.)
5. Let beans rest 5 minutes and then serve!

The Ultimate Baked Beans Recipe

FAQ

What can I add to baked beans to make them taste better?

1. Bacon.
2. Onion.
3. Maple syrup.
4. Spicy mustard.
5. Beef sausage.
6. Molasses.
7. Ketchup.
8. Cider vinegar.

What are the best canned beans to use for baked beans?

1. Bush’s Vegetarian. Bush’s Beans. Drumroll please….
2. Bush’s Original. Bush’s Beans. …
3. Bush’s Grillin’ Beans. Bush’s Beans. …
4. Heinz Baked Beanz. Heinz. …
5. Mr. Organic. …
6. 365 Organic. 365 Organic. …
7. Van Camp’s. Van Camp’s. …
8. Batchelors. Batchelor’s. …

What are the best baked beans?

• B&M Original Baked Beans.
• Trader Joe’s Baked Beans.
• Campbell’s Pork & Beans.
• 365 Everyday Value Organic Baked Beans.
• Amy’s Organic Vegetarian Beans.
• Bush’s Best Vegetarian Baked Beans.
• Bush’s Best Original Baked Beans.

How to make can baked beans taste homemade?

1. Bacon.
2. Onion.
3. Molasses.
4. Spicy brown mustard (can substitute yellow mustard)
5. Worcestershire.
6. Brown sugar.
7. Ketchup.
8. A teaspoon of apple cider vinegar for a touch of tanginess is optional and not shown.