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
Sandra McIntyre
Made them today after several other recipes not working out and have to say I will never buy in a can again!! This recipe was fantastic!! Next batch I am adding a touch of liquid smoke. Thank you!!
Kristen Chidsey
I am so glad you tried out my recipe and had success! I am sure these would be delicious with liquid smoke.
Tim
Recipe looks good, but no specifics on ingredients
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Tim! I am sorry you are having issues finding the ingredients. They are all in the recipe card listed out in amounts with specific instructions. Hope that helps.
Kimm Verbeek
Soooo tasty. I did cut the sugar back some with the double batch I made. Plenty sweet still. Tasty!
Kristen Chidsey
So glad you enjoyed Kimm!
Melissa
I made these for a family get together and I had to triple the recipe. I followed everything except I used great northern beans because I had them on hand. After baking I took out of the oven and let sit for 30 minutes and the beans were hard and dried out. I let the beans soak overnight and they cooked for 90 minutes even then they were not entirely soft but figured all the time in the oven would soften them more. I ended up putting them in the crock pot and adding all the wet ingredients again. Even after 4 hours in the crock pot you still ran across a crunchy bean!! The flavor was excellent so maybe the recipe wasn't meant to be tripled? I'll definitely make again but next time I'm using canned beans that was way too much fuss! There was leftovers and we used for beans and weiners which went even better with the potato chips.
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Melissa! I am so glad you enjoyed the flavor. About your crunchy beans--did you not triple the soaking water or cooking water? Or did you salt the water? Either of those could cause the issue. That may have caused the issue. By all means--used canned beans to make it easier on yourself 🙂
Lane
I have no idea how you all got your beans to be soft and not like little pebbles. I tried this twice and the only difference is that I used a dutch oven instead of a bean crock and it took me 5 hours in the oven and an extra 1-2 cups of water for the beans to soften.?????
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Lane! I am so sorry you had issues. Did you simmer your soaked beans for 1 hour before baking? That would be the reason they dried out and hard. I hope that helps.
Kat
Hi Kristin! I forgot to boil my beans before mixing them into the sauce! If I follow Lanes method (adding more water and cooking for longer) do you think that would do the trick? TIA!
Kristen Chidsey
It is worth a try Kat--better than tossing in the trash! I doubt your beans will as soft as desired--Lane himself did not have success. Keep us posted on your results--they may get close!
Jessica P-B
Hi
This recipe looks delicious and I will be making it tomorrow. You said we can use cooked beans, I was wondering would the oven/cooking time Be reduced and if so by how much. Thanks - so many great looking recipes here.
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Jessica! The baking time will remain the same if using canned beans (because if you used dried beans you must simmer first.) I hope you enjoy! And find many other recipes here you love!
Tracey
I'm planning on making these tomorrow. I love a kick and tang to my beans. Can I add BBQ sauce in place of the tomato sauce or maybe do 1/2 BBQ and 1/2 tomato? The recipe looks awesome! Can't wait to eat them!
Kristen Chidsey
BBQ sauce in place of the tomato sauce will be delicious, but you may want to decrease the sugar slightly, as the BBQ sauce is sweetened. I hope you enjoy!
Val
Hi there.. Im wondering if I can do the final step in a slow cooker rather than the oven. If yes how long in a slow cooker?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Val! You can certainly cook in the slow cooker on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours, just keep in mind you will want to remove the lid for the last 30 minutes of cooking time to allow the liquid to evaporate. Enjoy.
Maura Cohen
This is unnecessarily Loaded with sugars, 31g per serving, wow!
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Maura. If you read my post, I comment that these are a special occasion and as sweet as a dessert. I would agree these should not be eaten on a daily basis. And they are delicious if you cut the sugar in half...it just isn't my Papa's recipe then
shane
Absolutely phenomenal. I have one question. My beans seemed to not thicken up a whole bunch. Anything we could change to thicken it up a bit? Thanks!
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Shane! I am so glad you enjoyed the flavor! To thicken things up, I would recommend uncovering half-way through baking instead of just the last 30 minutes.
Hope
How do I make it without the bacon, i.e. what can I substitute to give it that rich flavour?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Hope! I make this many times without the bacon and we all still adore it. The maple adds tremendous flavor. However, you could add in 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke if you like.
Debbie Twomey Brown
Hi Kristen; I'm going to double this recipe and take to enjoy at a cottage with my son and his wife. Could I use tomato paste (small can) instead of ketchup or tomato sauce and just increase the water maybe? Thanks and looking forward to trying them.
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Debbie, I would mix together one part tomato paste and one part water until well blended to use in place of the sauce. Enjoy your visit!
kimberley
Hi Kristin just reading through your recipe is this all in imperial measurements and Fahrenheit? I am in Australia just so i know so i can convert to metric thanks in advance 😊 looking forward to making this recipe 😀
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Kimberly! Yes, I use imperial measurements. Please let me know if you need help converting.
Kristin
Hello!
I am wanting to make these for dinner and I'm wondering if they can be made in a preasure cooker?
Thanks,
Kristin
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Kristin! I have a recipe for Instant Pot Baked Beans To reproduce the sweetness in this recipe, I would add in an additional 1/4 cup brown sugar.
Kristin Benton
Thank you!
I decided to let them soak overnight. I'm wanting to put them in my Ninja Foodi instead of the oven. Would the cook time be the same for slow cooking?
Kristen Chidsey
I would cook for 30-35 minutes on high pressure. And be sure to put the apple juice in the pressure cooker first.
Kim
This looks delicious, but my question is how much is a serving. Info says per serving, but how much it's in a serving?
Can't wait to try this!!!!
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Kim! Each serving is about 1/3-1/2 cup. Enjoy
Brad
Hi, Any issues with doubling the recipe? Thanks! Brad
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Brad, I have a double batch in my oven right now--enjoy!
Brad
Great! Just finished baking a double. The plan is to take them on vacation a week from now; are the beans okay to freeze?
Thanks,
Brad
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Brad! Yes, you can freeze the beans. Enjoy your trip--and the beans 🙂
Brad
Thanks...and the beans are delicious!
Kristen Chidsey
YAY! SO glad you like them.
Ashley
Hi! Thanks for sharing this recipe. I am planning to make it in the slow cooker, so I wasn’t sure if I just soak the beans and put the soaked being straight in the crockpot or if I need to simmer them for an hour on the stove before putting the beans in the crockpot. Thanks for clarifying!
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Ashley! Yes, you need to simmer the beans on the stove before adding to the crockpot. I hope you enjoy and happy 4th!