Easy Baked Beans with Bacon

This easy baked beans recipe with bacon is warm, comforting, sweet, a little smoky, and totally delicious.

I originally intended this homemade baked beans recipe to be cooked in the Crockpot with dried navy beans, but I could not get it to work. With dried beans (even when you soak them overnight), you can’t predict if they’ll still be a bit hard, unfortunately. When you buy dried beans from a store, you have no idea how old they are.

So, I decided to not give up (the flavors were awesome) and use canned navy and kidney beans to ensure this baked beans recipe had deliciously soft and creamy beans. The bonus with the oven method is that it speeds the recipe up by quite a few hours!

These Boston baked beans are delicious. I love beans in general, but somehow I’ve never really been a baked beans kinda gal. That changed with this recipe. Making baked beans from scratch makes them a whole lot more tasty.

These are great served as a cold weather side dish, a main meal, or as a part of a summer cookout or BBQ. What I’m saying really is that there’s no wrong time for these baked beans with bacon. 😉

How to make baked beans in the oven

1. Fry up the bacon;
2. Whisk the sauce ingredients together;
3. Drain some of the bacon fat;
4. Cook onion in the remaining bacon grease;
5. Add the beans and sauce;
6. Bake for 45 minutes.

I like using a Dutch oven because you can make the entire recipe in there from start to finish. You don’t need a Dutch oven, though. You can always use a baking dish once you’ve reached the point where it’s time to bake the beans.

Hope you will enjoy this easy baked beans recipe!

Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions.

5 from 5 votes

Easy Baked Beans with Bacon

By Natasha Bull

This easy baked beans recipe with bacon is warm, comforting, sweet, a little smoky, and totally delicious. 

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Total: 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Servings: 6

Save RecipeSaved Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe Print Recipe

Add us as Google Trusted Source

Ingredients 

0.5x1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 pound bacon cut into small pieces
• ▢ 1/2 medium onion chopped
• ▢ 2 (15 ounce) cans navy beans drained
• ▢ 2 (15 ounce) cans red kidney beans drained

Sauce Ingredients:

• ▢ 1 cup water
• ▢ 1 (5.5 ounce) can tomato paste
• ▢ 1/4 cup molasses see note
• ▢ 1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• ▢ 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• ▢ 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ Salt & pepper to taste

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions 

• Preheat your oven to 375F.
• Cut up bacon into small pieces (I use kitchen shears) and add to a fairly large pot (I recommend a Dutch oven because it's oven-safe). Fry the bacon over medium heat until it's about crispy (approx. 20 minutes).
• Meanwhile, add the sauce ingredients to a medium bowl and whisk together until smooth.
• Once the bacon is about ready, drain most of the fat, leaving a couple tablespoons in the pot.
• Add the onion to the pot and cook it for a few minutes, until softened.
• Add the drained beans and the sauce to the pot. Give it a good stir.
• Assuming you're using a Dutch oven, place it in the preheated oven, uncovered, and cook the beans for 45 minutes. If you're not using a Dutch oven, transfer the beans to a large baking dish/pan and cook for 45 minutes. 
• Give the beans a taste and season with salt & pepper as needed.

Notes

• You can use slightly larger or smaller cans of beans since the can sizes vary regionally.
• If using double concentrated tomato paste, halve the amount.
• I recommend using dark (or "fancy" molasses here in Canada).  I do not recommend using blackstrap molasses unless you really like its flavor.
• Serves 6+ depending on how much people eat.

Nutrition

Calories: 697kcal, Carbohydrates: 77g, Protein: 29g, Fat: 31g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g, Monounsaturated Fat: 13g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 50mg, Sodium: 1780mg, Potassium: 1459mg, Fiber: 16g, Sugar: 26g, Vitamin A: 593IU, Vitamin C: 9mg, Calcium: 166mg, Iron: 7mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

© Salt & Lavender Inc. Content and photographs are copyrighted. Sharing this blog post is much appreciated, but copying and pasting full recipes without authorization to social media is strictly prohibited.

Leave a star rating and comment below!