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These easy baked beans start with canned pork and beans for a quick shortcut, but they taste homemade. Crispy bacon, brown sugar, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce make them sweet, smoky, and perfect for BBQs, potlucks, and family dinners.
Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy: This recipe uses simple ingredients but put them together and you have the best baked beans for any potluck!
- It Has Bacon: Are baked beans even worth eating if they don’t have bacon? The added ingredient fills the beans with flavor.
- Goes With Everything: These beans can be used as a side to so many different recipes! I love making them for cookouts or summer BBQs.
Ingredients in Baked Beans
- Pork and beans: This keeps the recipe easy because the beans are already cooked and saucy. No soaking or dried beans needed.
- Bacon: Cook it until crisp, so it adds smoky flavor and texture.
- Brown sugar: Sweetens the sauce and helps it thicken as it bakes.
- Worcestershire sauce: Adds savory depth so the beans do not taste flat.
- Green pepper and onion: Cook them in bacon grease first so they soften and build flavor.
How to Make Easy Baked Beans
These baked beans are sweet, smoky, and so easy to make. They start with canned pork and beans, then get dressed up with crispy bacon, brown sugar, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce. Bake them in the oven or make them in the slow cooker for an easy BBQ, potluck, or family dinner side dish.
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350°F, then fry the bacon in a large skillet and crumble it. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and discard some of the grease.
- Cook the Veggies: Return to the same skillet and add the diced green bell pepper and onion to some of the bacon grease, then cook until tender.
- Stir in the Remaining Ingredients: Stir in the cooked bacon, pork and beans, ketchup, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce. Place the beans in a 9×13-inch baking dish. Cover with foil or a lid and bake for 1 hour.
Baked Beans FAQ’s
- Can I Make Baked Beans Ahead of Time? Yes. Make them 1–2 days ahead, let them cool, and store them covered in the refrigerator. Reheat them in the oven, on the stove, or in a slow cooker until warmed through.
- *Potluck Tip: Bake the beans ahead of time, then transfer them to a slow cooker on warm. This keeps them hot and makes them easy to take to a BBQ or family party.
- Do I Drain the Canned Pork and Beans? No, I would not drain them for this recipe. The sauce from the cans helps create the base, and it thickens as the beans bake.
- How Do I Thicken Baked Beans? Bake them uncovered for the last 10–15 minutes if you want them thicker. You can also let them rest for 10 minutes after baking so the sauce has time to settle and thicken.
- Can I Make These in the Slow Cooker? Yes. Cook the bacon, onion, and green pepper first. Then add everything to the slow cooker and cook on low for 4–6 hours.
- What to Serve with Baked Beans: Serve baked beans with burgers, hot dogs, BBQ chicken, pulled pork, ribs, grilled steak, pasta salad, potato salad, coleslaw, cornbread, or dinner rolls.
Alyssa’s Pro Tip
Baked beans are easy to customize, and this recipe is a great starting point. They are delicious as written, but if you want to add more flavor, try one of these simple variations:
- More smoky: Add 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika.
- More tangy: Add 1 tablespoon yellow mustard or apple cider vinegar.
- More BBQ flavor: Swap 1/2 cup ketchup for BBQ sauce.
- More hearty: Add cooked ground beef, sausage, or sliced hot dogs.
- More heat: Add diced jalapeños or a pinch of cayenne.
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Best Baked Beans
These easy baked beans are sweet, smoky, and perfect for BBQs, potlucks, and family dinners.
Ingredients
- 1 pound bacon
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 1 white onion, diced
- 4 (15 ounce) cans pork and beans
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Fry up 1 pound bacon and crumble in pieces. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and discard some of the grease.
- Returning to the same skillet, add the diced 1 green pepper, and 1 white onion, to some of the bacon grease and cook until tender.
- Stir in the cooked bacon, 4 (15 ounce) cans pork and beans, 1 cup ketchup, 1 cup brown sugar, and 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce. Place the beans in a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Cover the baking dish with foil or a lid and bake for 1 hour.
Video
Notes
Leftover Instructions
- Refrigerator: Store cooled baked beans in an airtight container for 3–4 days.
- Freezer: Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
- Reheat: Warm on the stove over medium-low heat, in the microwave, or covered in the oven at 350ºF until heated through. Add a splash of water if the sauce gets too thick.
Nutrition
Serving: 8gCalories: 385kcalCarbohydrates: 38gProtein: 8gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 37mgSodium: 677mgPotassium: 306mgFiber: 1gSugar: 34gVitamin A: 230IUVitamin C: 14.5mgCalcium: 37mgIron: 0.7mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this recipe?Mention @alyssa_therecipecritic or tag #therecipecritic!
Do you leave juice in with the canned beans?
Yes, you don’t need to drain the beans.
Made just like the recipe and used a large can of Bushes beans (117 oz). Doubled all other ingredients including the onion, garlic and bell pepper which seemed like too much. Once caramelized in the bacon grease they didn’t seem greasy at all. I added 1/2 cup molasses, 2 Tbs vinegar and 1/4 cup dejhon mustard too. Baked in a Dutch oven for hours on 250 degrees and they turned out marvelous. This was the perfect picnic dish.
These were delicious. I used a can of diced green chilis for the green pepper. I added molasses, yellow and Dijon mustard and liquid smoke.
Approximately how many servings does this recipe yield?
About 8 to 10 people. Enjoy!
I do something like this but use light brown sugar no pork and beans. that pork is to much of a mystery. low sodium anything else. Turkey bacon instead. I got to at least try to stay healthy.
We have made this recipe several times and love it each time. I use three cans of bush beans and two cans of bean medley and keep the rest of the recipe the same. I put them in a large cast iron pot and cook them on our Traeger smoker bbq (with the lid off and stirring every so often) for about an hour. Love the flavour. Will make again and again! Thank you for this recipe!
What temp. On your traeger do you use?
We cook them at 350. Sorry for the delay. Just seeing your response now.
By green pepper, do you mean bell pepper? Or some other pepper?
Yes, green bell pepper.
Hi, I’m from the UK and im unsure of what pork and beans are? Is it like canelinni beans? If so, are they canned? already in a sauce or just in water? Sorry for the ooodles of questions but I really like the sounds of this recipe and I’m desperate to try it out.
Pork and beans are a can of literally pork and beans mixed together in a pork and beans sauce.
Hello i am also from the UK and live in San Diego ! you could use Heinz beans I am sure that would work as well as the pork and beans ,I made the beans yesterday and cut the recipe in half as there are only two of us ,The beans came out great ,probably the best beans I ever tasted ,I intend to makes the beans on a regular basis .Easy to make ,?
Can I prep this the day before and bake it the next day? We are having guests and I’d like to get as much done the day prior so it’s just ready to pop in the oven! Thank you!
Yes, that sounds great! That is a great idea! Enjoy your guests!
using 6 cans o beans, how many are we cooking for. the liquid smoke, wonderful idear.
This is a great recipe. I added a bit of liquid smoke and it gave a nice little added flavor.
These Baked Beans are the best that I had! Even better than my mom’s baked beans!!!! Thank you for the recipe. This will be our tried and true go-to recipe any time of year! Not too sweet not to sour, they are just right. Oh and don’t question the pound of bacon. I thought it was going to be too much but it wasn’t . Thank you again Alyssa!
That is great to hear! Thank you so much for sharing! XOXO
This recipe sounds like my mom’s baked bean recipe and hers spoiled me for any other baked beans. I will try it and see if it truly measures up (which I really expect it will). I will let you know how it turns out. Thanks.
Have you ever used bush’s Baked beans? For some reason the pork and beans turns me off.
Thanks!
Me toooo….
You make mention of Bush’s Baked Beans.If you don’t like the pork then I would guess that you are making reference to Bush’s Vegan Baked Beans. However, I hope that you realize that the flavor of any meat comes from the fat it contains. Otherwise, it will be like eating paper unless you add outside flavor..
The absolute BEST canned baked beans are by B&M.Tons of flavor, great quality beans and NO “mystery pork bits”. Use this recipe, but be sure to buy B&M Baked beans for your base. I always add a tablespoon of dark molasses too. Or you could use a meaty ham hock instead of bacon. I even add a diced apple now and then. So many ways to enjoy baked beans!
I use Bush’s all the time. I always add molasses and mustard to mine
Bush’s baked beans in this recipe was amazing!!!
I use Bush’s bake beans…they have the best baked beans recipe on some of their cans!
My mom always swore it had to be Van Camps or nothing. ?
The baked beans are almost like mine yours sound great , I like adding a little mustard all other ingredients are the same ,and yes they are the best baked beans anywhere you have a fantastic blog I got your ebook going to work on some recipes this week .Thanks so much
love baked beans recipes, especially since my diet requires regular legumes, and I’m kinda sick of my pinto bean recipe, so thank you for this!
This is very similar to what my grandmother used to do – she might not have bothered with adding onions and green peppers. The best baked beans I’ve ever gotten at a restaurant are from a Bar-B-Que place that adds diced smoked brisket rather than bacon (although they may put in bacon also – I always ate them too fast to notice). Thanks for bringing back memories!
After you put it all together can you cook it in a crock pot?