Baked Beans

Baked Beans

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope you are enjoying this beautiful day having a barbecue with family and friends and honoring all the great men and women who serve our country.  

If you are having a gathering today and still need to get your side dishes together I have one for you. 

Baked beans are such a staple side dish at summer picnics.  How often do you find yourself just picking up a can of baked beans at the market to heat up.   Easy, right?  I’m right there with you.  I’ve done it many times before myself.  That is until I discovered the secret recipe to Bush’s Baked Beans.  Ok, maybe I didn’t but it sure tastes like I have.  

I didn’t want to create a baked bean recipe that was basically just doctoring up beans that are already made.  I wanted to create from scratch the classic recipe for baked beans; more importantly I wanted it to be easy.  If it isn’t easy then why just go by a can of them then.  

Friends, these are easy peasy.  Most of the time involved are these simmering on the stove.  Better yet, these can be can be made vegetarian, just omit the bacon bits.  

Once you try these, you’ll never want to buy the canned baked beans again.  


Baked Beans

 

Baked Beans

Baked Beans
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Baked Beans

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup all-purpose unsulphured molasses
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 3 teaspoons ground mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 3 15.5oz cans navy beans (like Goya) rinsed and drained
  • 2 tablespoons bacon bits (optional)
  • 1/21 cup water
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl stir together molasses, brown sugar, tomato paste, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, ground mustard, garlic powder, onion powder.
  2. Add in navy beans and coat was sauce.
  3. Pour into a large saucepan and stir in bacon bits and 1/2 cup water. Add a little more water if desired. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil for about 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. Cover and reduce heat to low and let simmer for 50 minutes to 1 hour.
  5. Remove from heat and stir. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: Serves 6

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Baked Beans

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38 Comments

  1. Happy Memorial day. I love your step by step pictures on the Baked Beans. No BBQ today, but had some good friends over. 🙂

  2. I think I will do these and throw it all in my crock pot in the garage (reducing heat inside). SOunds fabulous. Doing away with as much canned goods as I can so this is right up my alley. Thank you.

  3. When we go homemade, I think there’d be no more canned baked beans on my next grocery list 😉
    This looks really homey. Thanks for sharing! I hope you enjoyed the weekend.

  4. If everyone new how easy baked beans were from scratch… Bush’s would be out of business! They are one of my favorite comfort foods and I make them for ever BBQ!

  5. Thank you for a true homemade version. I was looking for a “from scratch” recipe for baked beans a couple of weeks ago, and so many started with “two cans Bush’s” or “two cans pork and beans” …. REALLY?! That’s not homemade! This looks delish — def. trying next time baked beans are on the menu!

  6. I’m getting that tangy tingling feeling you get when you eat sea salt and vinegar chips – just imagining these just screams summer and BBQ cookouts. I never thought about making my own baked beans – but now I am!! YUM!

  7. Every Friday, I share my favorite food finds in a series called Food Fetish Friday. I love this post so much I’m featuring it as part of the roundup (with a link-back and attribution) and I hope you have no objections. It’s a pleasure following your creations…

  8. What kind of molasses are you using in this receipe? I followed exactly as written using black strap molasses. Way too much molasses in my opinion. Other than that, these beans were good.

  9. I would also like to use dried beans, so you’re saying that simply soaking them is enough, not need to cook them first? Thanks

  10. Thank you for the response to questions @ using dried beans. I’m going to add to their questions…would a pinto bean work as a substitute for the navy beans in your opinion? I have on hand PLENTY of pinto beans 🙂 and would like to use them, if possible, for something other than homemade refried beans. Thanks.

    1. Hi Perry! I suggest bringing it to a boil as it helps infuse and thicken the sauce. It is only at a boil for a short time before you reduce to a simmer. The heat from the boiling helps cook it as well. Enjoy! 🙂

  11. This was the first ever attempt at making baked beans so i wouldn’t have to buy Bushs Beans all the time.
    I really wanted this to work and I followed the recipe to the T. But the sweetness is overpowering and there is not a balanced taste and it doesn’t taste anything like Bushes Beans, Sorry. I’ll keep looking.

    1. Hi Nancy, Thanks for your comment. When you look at the added ingredients in canned baked beans, there are a lot of extra preservatives. Making your own baked beans from canned navy beans (or you can soak your beans if you prefer) you can customize the flavor and know exactly what additional ingredients are added into your backyard baked beans. The only ingredient in a can of navy beans is beans and maybe a little salt. You just need to read the back of the label. If you look at the label of a can of baked beans there is a lot of ingredients. Making them homemade is so much better! I hope that answers your question!

  12. I tried making these beans, and found them to be very sweet and thick. I’m not sure what the culprit was, perhaps the brown sugar or molasses. I’d recommend starting with a smaller amounts, and taste testing/adding more slowly to achieve the flavor you desire.

  13. On the stove now. Had to use dried beans and salt pork though. Hoping this one will be a keeper!

  14. I was so excited when I saw your recipe that I made a batch of it. Honestly, did you make these? They are absolutely disgusting – All you taste is molasses and was so sweet I had to toss the entire batch. Bush’s beans are my absolute FAVORITE and I’m sorry, but these are FAR from Bush’s Beans.

  15. Instead of the longer stovetop simmering, could you alternatively spread them out in a deel baking pan and actually bake them?

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