These Old Fashioned Baked Beans are made from scratch with a sweet and savory sauce. This is a family heirloom recipe for the BEST Homemade Baked Beans!
Baked Beans are a classic side dish for potlucks and summer picnics and pair perfectly with BBQ Chicken Legs, Chicken Burgers, Homemade Hamburgers, or Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Thighs.
Baked Beans from Scratch
My Papa was famous for a LOT of recipes, but he was known for his Baked Beans.
And once you have his version of baked beans, you will NEVER settle for any recipe! They are sweet, savory, tangy, and smokey--all in one recipe!
Ingredients for the Best Baked Beans
- Navy Beans-- 1 â…“ cups dried navy beans or 4 cups cooked navy beans
- Bacon--omit if looking for vegetarian baked beans
- Onion
- Tomato Sauce
- Brown Sugar
- Molasses
- Maple Syrup
- Dried Mustard--feel free to use prepared mustard instead
- Apple Cider Vinegar--to cut through the richness of these baked beans
- Apple Juice--to help create a sweet sauce with a little less refined sugars.
How to Make Homemade Baked Beans
Step One: Prepare the Beans
- Place dried beans in large container that can be sealed shut. Cover the beans with cold water and seal the container shut. Let the beans soak for 8-12 hours.
- Drain off the soaked beans.
- Place the beans in large stock pan and cover with fresh water.
- Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer beans for 1 hour or until tender.
- Alternatively, you can prepare your dried beans WITHOUT soaking in the Instant Pot.
Full disclosure, my Papa used canned beans! Feel free to take that shortcut as well! Just measure the beans AFTER you rinse and drain them!
Step Two: Fry Bacon and Onions (optional)
- Turn a large saute pan to medium heat and place bacon in heated pan.
- Once bacon begins to render off it's fat, add in the diced onions.
- Saute for 2-3 minutes, just until the bacon BEGINS to crisp up.
Feel free to omit the bacon for vegetarian baked beans. If omitting bacon, just add the diced onion directly to the bean mixture--no need to saute.
Step Three: Make Baked Beans
- Mix together tomato sauce, brown sugar, molasses, maple syrup, salt, dried mustard, and the bacon and onion mixture together.
- Add in the beans and stir gently.
- Add in the apple juice and water and stir again.
- Pour the beans into a 2 quart casserole dish or bean crock.
- If the beans look dry, stir in up to ½ cup more water.
Step Four: Bake the Beans
- Cover the casserole dish and bake for 2 hours at 300 degrees.
- Uncover, stir the beans and cook for an additional 30 to 60 minutes, until the sauce is bubbly and thickened up.
Slow Cooker Baked Beans
If you would like to keep the heat out of your kitchen or don't have enough room in your oven, you can make these baked beans in the slow cooker.
- Prepare dried beans as directed.
- Saute bacon with onions.
- In the slow cooker, mix together tomato sauce, brown sugar, maple syrup, molasses, salt, mustard, bacon, onions, and apple juice together. No need to add in extra water.
- Add in the beans and stir gently.
- Cook on low heat for 4-6 hours or high heat for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.
Can you use Pork and Beans for this Recipe?
I get asked frequently if you can use canned pork and beans or prepared baked beans (like Campbell's or Bush's Baked Beans) in place of the dried beans.
And the answer is YES, with a few modifications.
- Use 32 ounces of canned prepared baked beans.
- You will not need to add in tomato sauce, apple juice, or water.
- I would omit the maple syrup as well, or cut back on the sweeteners a tad as canned bake beans already are sweetened.
- Bake as directed.
The Secret to the Best Baked Beans
What truly makes these beans over the top is serving them with potato chips!
YES, potato chips!
My Papa taught me that trick and it is PERFECTION! The sweetness of the beans makes a perfect contrast to plain potato chips.
More Picnic Worthy Side Dishes
Baked Beans from Scratch
Ingredients
- 1 â…“ cups dried navy beans soaked overnnight
- 3 slices thick bacon chopped
- ¼ cup yellow onion chopped
- ½ cup tomato sauce or ketchup
- ¼ cup molasses
- ¼ cup brown sugar use up to ½ cup if you like REALLY sweet beans
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons dry mustard
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup apple juice or water
- ½ cup water
Instructions
Prepare Navy Beans
- Place dried beans in a container that can be fitted with a lid. Pour fresh water over the beans until the water is at least 1 inch above the beans. Seal the container shut. Soak beans for 8-12 hours.
- After soaking, drain the beans. Add the soaked beans to a large stock pan. Cover beans by 1 inch with fresh cold water.
- Bring water to a rapid boil, and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour. Drain cooked beans well.
- Alternatively, you can speed up the process by cooking the soaked beans in the Instant Pot after they have been soaked (Navy beans' texture is best if soaked before cooking.)
For the Baked Beans
- Preheat oven to 300℉
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add in the sliced bacon. Cook until bacon begins to render fat and then stir in the chopped onion. Saute bacon and onions together until onions begin to soften and the bacon is browned and slightly crisp. This should take about 5-6 minutes. After browned, drain off the excess grease that the bacon has rendered.
- In a large bowl, mix together tomato sauce, brown sugar, molasses, maple syrup, dried mustard, vinegar, apple juice, water, and salt until well combined. Add in bacon and onion mixture and cooked beans and gently stir to combine.
- Pour the bean mixture into a 2-quart oven-safe dish. Beans should be pretty well submerged in liquid and the mixture should be relatively loose. If there does not seem to be enough liquid in the baking dish, add up to ½ cup of additional water or juice. Cover the pan with foil or an oven-safe lid.
- Bake covered for 2 hours. After 2 hours, remove the lid or foil, and bake for another 30-40 minutes, until thickened.
Notes
Nutrition
Shirley
Have you ever canned these?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Shirley! I am not a canning expert, but I do know that Baked Beans are a low-acid food and must be pressure canned. They can't be canned in a hot water bath or steam canned.
Blair
Delicious. I substituted half a cup of white wine for apple juice, not so much because I'm fancy, but because that's all I had. They turned out beautifully.
Lisa A
The first time I made this, I used old dried beans and they never softened up - but the flavor was amazing! I made them again using canned beans for speed and convenience and they are perfect! Thank you for this!
Kristen Chidsey
You bet! I am so happy you gave this recipe another try and enjoyed the baked beans. And thanks for taking the time to leave a review.
Anita
What is the serving size for this recipe that says it serves 10?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Anita! Each serving is about 1/2 cup. Enjoy
Anita Noble-Kelley
Thank you so much!
Val
Pretty pleased with them! I used a bean pot and salt pork. I didn’t put in as much molasses as the recipe. Next time I’d add more—-but likely still not as much as in the recipe. I also didn’t have maple syrup. But I still found them sweet enough!
Holly
Is there a way to make this recipe in the Instant Pot? Thank you!
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Holly! I have a recipe for Instant Pot Baked Beans you can use.
Janice
How does the stove top and oven cooking times change if the recipe is doubled?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Janice! The cooking time on the stove will remain the same. If you bake in a large shallow pan, the baking time will remain the same as well. If your pan is deeper, I would suggest baking for 30 minutes longer covered and 10 minutes longer minutes longer uncovered.