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Homemade baked beans cooked to saucy perfection with onions, smoky pieces of bacon, sweet molasses, and a zesty kick! Seriously, you’ve never tasted baked beans this good!
Why I Love These Homemade Baked Beans
Baked beans have become relegated to the action of opening a can and pouring the contents into a serving dish. Maybe there’s a little bit of heating them up first. Some recipes may show how to “doctor up” canned beans in the hopes of fooling guests that they’re homemade. But that’s not what happens in this recipe.
Instead, I opt for truly homemade baked beans, which was one of my grandma’s terrific recipes. These aren’t hard to make, and the recipe is not complicated. All that’s needed is a bit of extra time, and it’s completely worth it for these beans. Their creamy interior texture is unparalleled. The flavoring is simple, made from molasses and bacon.
Don’t be fooled by the simple ingredients. These beans deliver.
Homemade Baked Beans Ingredients
The ingredients for this recipe are simple and exactly what you want in a baked bean:
- Navy beans are the traditional bean for baked beans. This small white bean needs to be soaked for eight hours. The soaking quickens the cooking time but also ensures that they cook evenly.
- Onion is essential to create a delicious baked bean flavor. The onion slowly bakes in the oven alongside the beans and takes on all the flavors.
- Yellow mustard adds a little tanginess to balance out the sweetness of the molasses. While mustard may seem surprising, without it, the beans would taste flat and boring. Trust me on this one.
- Molasses is iconic as an ingredient in baked beans. And why is that? It’s both sweet and savory with a depth of flavor.
- Bacon imparts a smoky flavor and is a nod to those store-bought pork and beans recipes. But instead of limp and tasteless pork, the bacon is pre-cooked until crispy. While these beans cook, the bacon maintains its texture.
The full amount of each ingredient can be found in the recipe card below.
How to Make Homemade Baked Beans
There are three simple steps to making Grandma’s baked beans recipe:
Step 1: Prepare the dried beans. Soak the beans in water and salt for 8 hours. Then drain the beans and cook in more water and salt for 1 hour until creamy. Remove from the heat and drain. (See the recipe card below for the full amounts.)
Step 2: Add the flavorings. To the cooked beans, add the cooked and chopped bacon, ketchup, mustard, onion, molasses, salt, black pepper, and reserved cooking liquid. Stir until everything is combined.
Step 3: Bake the beans. Pour the beans into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and cover with aluminum foil. Place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Serve immediately.
Serving and Storage
To serve: These baked beans can be served as soon as they are taken from the oven. They’re perfect for any time of the year, but especially delicious during the summer months when BBQs and potlucks are in season. I love to pair them with any of the following summer recipes:
To store: If there are any leftovers, they should be stored in the fridge in an airtight container, where they should be good for 5 to 7 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
I feel that the best baked beans are made from dried beans that you cook yourself. But you can substitute drained canned navy beans in this recipe in the interest of time.
Of course! Throw in some cayenne pepper for a little bit of extra kick, or smoked paprika for added smokiness. You can make these beans fit your own personal taste, but try them first before making any adjustments.
You could totally cook these in a slow cooker. Instead of pouring the beans into the casserole dish, place them in the slow cooker and cook for 4 to 6 hours on low. They will not get as golden on top and may be a bit saucier, but it should work.
More Summer Side Dishes
Watch How to Make This Baked Beans Recipe
Have I Convinced You to Make This Recipe?
I hope you make this recipe and put some food on your table. Leave a comment and share a star rating so you can let others know how much you love this recipe. This helps show others that this is a recipe they, too, can make, enjoy, and love!
Grandma’s Homemade Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 1 lb dried navy beans (see note for canned beans)
- 1 medium onion diced
- 6 tbsp yellow mustard
- ¾ cup ketchup
- ¾ cup molasses
- ¾ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2 ½ – 3 cups reserved cooking liquid
- 12 oz bacon cooked and chopped
Instructions
- Prepare the beans. Soak beans for 8 hours in 1 quart of water and 2 tsp salt. Once soaked, drain and cook the beans in a large stockpot with 2 quarts of water and 1 tsp salt until creamy on the inside, about 1 hour. Add more water if needed. Remove the beans from the heat. Drain and reserve the cooking liquid. Return the beans to the stockpot.1 lb dried navy beans (see note for canned beans)
- Once the beans are fully cooked, preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Add the flavorings. To the beans, add the chopped onion, yellow mustard, ketchup, molasses, salt, black pepper, reserved cooking liquid (if the cooking liquid is less than 2 ½ cups, add water to make the 2 ½ to 3 cups needed), and bacon. Stir to combine and pour into a greased 9 × 13-inch baking dish.1 medium onion, 6 tbsp yellow mustard, ¾ cup ketchup, ¾ cup molasses, ¾ tsp freshly ground black pepper, 1 tsp kosher salt, 12 oz bacon, 2 ½ – 3 cups reserved cooking liquid
- Bake the beans. Cover the beans with aluminum foil and place them in the preheated 375°F oven. Cook for 45 minutes with the cover on and then remove the cover and cook for an additional 15 minutes. At this point, the sauce will be mostly reduced. Remove the beans from the oven and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Styling: Addelyn Evans / Photography: Dera Burreson
This the way mom made baked beans except she shortened the process by starting with Pork and Beans. Delicious
I just wanted to share how good this recipe is. I liked that it didn’t include a can of baked beans. So many of the recipes I was finding were just doctoring up a can of baked beans. Nothing wrong with that, I just didn’t have any. With that said: I admit I had to substitute canned navy beans for fresh cooked ones. It worked, but I’ll try it again starting with dry beans. I liked that it wasn’t overly sweet and the generous amount of bacon: you can never have too much, lol! Thank you for sharing your grandma’s recipe with us. Definitely bookmarking for future use 🙂
Made these for dinner and they are absolutely delicious. The beans had a nice texture (sometimes the canned beans are a bit mushy, in my opinion) and the flavor is very well balanced. I like that the recipe has a hint of sweetness, but isn’t overly sweet. The next time I prepare these I may add a bit of cumin and a dash of cayenne. I love sweet heat.
Definitely give these a go. You won’t be disappointed.
My dad (96) and I love baked beans, but I hadn’t made them in decades. Your recipe looked good, so I tried it. I liked the simplicity and the bacon. They cooked up good. We couldn’t stop eating them! The only reason I didn’t give 5 stars is I thought the were a little dry. The texture and flavor were perfect, (the boiled bean did taste great, just as you said!) it was the sauce that seemed “dry”. I wouldn’t know what to add next time to prevent that, but I will try again. Maybe I’ll cut the last bake time a little.
Additional liquid might make the difference. I noticed there wasn’T much liquid also which would be my preference too.
I agree with Jennifer. I followed recipe exactly but it was too dry. I’m thinking of adding more of the sauce ingredients and maybe baking in a dish instead of pan.
This is the best and easiest baked beans recipe! It’s sooo flavorful and crowed pleaser. It’s not that sweet and you can easily adjust to your liking. I make this recipe once a month since it’s so easy to make. I
These were perfect! I followed the recipe exactly and they were amazing. We we’re going to eat them as a side but ended up eating a big bowl of these instead. Thanks for the recipe!
This is just like my grandma use to make them. I remember her soaking them over night, so as we could have the for Sunday dinner. Just love your recipes Kalb. 😊💗
I have made this a couple times now.
What a great recipe, perfect for summer picnics!
Can these be finished off in a slow cooker?
Served these at a neighborhood picnic today and had quite a few people come tell me how great they were. Thank you, Kaleb!
These are delicious! The leftovers are great as well. The molasses gives just the right amount of somethin’ somethin’.
Always a winner!