Homemade Baked Beans

Beans are not only among the most nutritious foods out there, but they are also one of the tastiest. This classic homemade baked beans recipe makes for a proper North American, rich, and filling baked beans dish that is a meal all on its own.

Why not learn What Is Worcestershire Sauce before making this recipe? Or use some beans to make a delicious Slow Cooker Calico Beans Recipe instead?

Homemade Baked Beans

Baked beans mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

To the British, baked beans mean a tomato-y, gloopy side dish served alongside toast for breakfast, but in America, they mean something very different indeed.

This dish combines all kinds of different types of beans, both flavored and unflavored, and bakes them in a rich, deep and sweet sauce, alongside the requisite bacon, to make for a hearty, warming side dish fit to be served alongside barbeque, a roast dinner or just eaten with a spoon straight from the casserole dish.              

Homemade Baked Beans Ingredients

Make sure you look at the recipe card at the very bottom for the exact amounts so that you know exactly what to buy for this recipe.

• Bacon

• Onion

• Garlic

• Pinto beans

• Navy beans

• Maple style baked beans

• Kidney beans

• Chickpeas

• Ketchup (or BBQ sauce for a more smoky flavor)

• Molasses

• Brown sugar

• Worcestershire sauce

• Yellow mustard

• Pepper

How To Make Homemade Baked Beans

• In a small bowl, mix your brown sugar, ketchup, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and black pepper

• In a large, deep skillet, place the bacon and cook over medium heat just until it is browned but not too crispy

• Drain the fat, reserving 2 tablespoons of the drippings in the skillet, and set aside the bacon

• Add in your diced onion and minced garlic to the skillet, along with the bacon drippings

• Cook on medium heat until the onions are completely tender

• Drain any excess grease and transfer to the bowl with the bacon

• Add all of your canned beans to the bowl with bacon and onions

• Gently gold in the small bowl of brown sugar, ketchup, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and black pepper

• Mix it all well, being extra gentle to not mash the beans too much

• Once mixed, transfer to a 9×13 casserole dish

• Cover and bake in a preheated 375 Fahrenheit oven for 50 minutes

• Remove the cover and continue to bake for 10 minutes so as to help thicken the sauce

• Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes before serving

Why Use So Many Different Kinds Of Beans In This Recipe?

This recipe uses a whole medley of different bean varieties as its bean source, rather than simply using just one kind of bean.

While many recipes might just call for a single type of bean, and indeed in England, only white beans would be used to make British baked beans, the diversity of different beans really works well in this recipe.

By combining all kinds of different varieties of beans, you end up with a combination of textures, flavor, and mouth feels from each bean. Plus, if you use the maple style beans included in the ingredients list, you help contribute even more intense, sweet flavors to the finished dish.

Don’t be confused by the addition of chickpeas here – their other name is Garbanzo beans, and they very much fit in here with all of these other flavors.

Could You Use Dried Beans Instead?

This recipe uses canned beans for their bean source, which are obviously super convenient. However, for those that like doing things a bit differently, you could consider using dried beans instead.

Dried beans are sometimes preferable to canned beans because they will usually have a much more natural and intense flavor than the canned varieties.

Canned beans need to sit around in their soaking liquid and thus will have a much soggier texture. However, considering this recipe involves baking the beans altogether with a flavorful sauce, that soggy texture doesn’t really matter.

If you wanted to use dried beans to make these homemade baked beans, you definitely could but you would need to soak them first.

Soak the beans in cold water, as well as a little bit of salt (about 2 teaspoons per gallon of water), and leave them overnight. Do not skip this step, especially with kidney, Great northern and navy beans which are actually poisonous if you don’t soak them and boil them well first!

After that, you need to boil them before using them in this recipe separately. They will need to boil in water for at least an hour before you can even consider using them.

Also, keep in mind that each of the different types of beans will likely be finished cooking at different times, probably necessitating cooking each of the different bean varieties in their own pots.

Or… you could just use the canned and save all of that hassle. 

Looking for more delicious Side Dish recipes? Try these out:

• Ranch Style Beans

• Roasted Green Beans

• Roasted Parsnips with Garlic Herb Butter Sauce

Happy Cooking

Love,

Karlynn

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