Thick, smoky, sweet, and savory, this Old Fashioned Baked Beans recipe is one you’ll come back to again and again! Serve these oven baked beans at your next BBQ, picnic, potluck or family dinner and watch your guests lick their plates clean and ask for more! The best baked beans made from scratch!
Baked beans are an American staple. The combination of sweet, savory and smoky flavors makes them irresistibly delicious. Making your own homemade baked beans from scratch is easier to make than you may think, you just need to set aside enough cooking time. They need time to cook low and slow to allow the beans to soak up all those amazing flavors.
The perfect make-ahead dish, these baked beans are even better the next day after the flavors have had more time to develop!
Can I Cook “Baked” Beans in the Slow Cooker?
Yes. While the traditional method cooking “baked” beans is to bake them in the oven, which is the method we present here, you can also make them in a crock pot. The sauce may be thinner at the end of the cooking time in which case remove the lid towards the end of the cooking to allow some of the liquid to evaporate.
SLOW COOKER METHOD: Follow steps 1 and 2 in the recipe and then pour everything into the slow cooker. Cook on LOW for 6-7 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours or until the beans are tender. Open the lid for the last 30 minutes or longer until the sauce has thickened. If the beans are too thick at any point and too much liquid has evaporated, stir in a little extra water.
Help, My Beans Are Still Hard After Hours of Cooking!
You’re not alone, this is a not an uncommon problem. From Fine Cooking: “Some beans refuse to soften. You can soak them overnight and then simmer them all day long, and they’re still hard as pebbles. The main causes of this are age and improper storage.”
As dried beans age the pores in the beans that allow water to enter close up which will prevent the beans from softening no matter how long they are cooked.
Be sure to follow the instructions to soak the beans overnight and then boil them for an hour. For especially hard beans one classic trick you can try is to add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda to the beans while you’re boiling them (1/4 teaspoon for every pound of beans). Be careful though: If too much is added or if it’s added to beans that aren’t too hard, you could end up with mushy beans.
How to Make the BEST Baked Beans
Let’s get started!
Soak the beans overnight in a pot of water. Make sure the beans are covered by at least a couple of inches of water. Drain the beans and put them in a pot of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour. Drain and reserved the bean liquid.
In a large pot or Dutch oven fry the bacon until crispy then add the onions and cook until soft and translucent, 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
Stir in the tomato sauce, molasses, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, smoked paprika, salt, pepper and bay leaf.
Add 1 1/2 cups of the reserved bean water and the beans.
Bring everything to a simmer for a minute or two to heat it up.
In the meantime preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Transfer the Dutch oven with the lid on to the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 2 to 3 hours or until the beans are tender and the sauce has thickened, removing the lid during the last 20-30 minutes to help the sauce thicken.
NOTE: If at any point during the cooking process too much liquid evaporates and the beans get dry, add a little more of the reserved bean water. The beans themselves can vary from batch to batch and you may end up either needing to add more liquid if the beans are too dry or you may need to bake the beans longer with the lid off if there is too much liquid. Adjust as needed.
Add more salt the pepper to taste.
Serve immediately or let cool completely and refrigerate until ready to serve. Can be reheated on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Enjoy!
For other classic sides to complement your BBQ or cook-off be sure to try our:
- Creamy Coleslaw
- Freezer Slaw
- Macaroni Salad
- Pepperoni Pizza Pasta Salad
- Crunchy Broccoli Salad
- BEST Chicken Salad
- Classic Potato Salad
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Old Fashioned Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried navy beans
- 8 ounces thick cut bacon , diced
- 1 medium yellow onion , finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 1/2 cup plain tomato sauce or ketchup
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- Place the dried beans in a pot of water covered by a few inches of water and let soak overnight. Drain the beans, place them back in the pot with fresh water and bring to a boil. Simmer for one hour, then drain, reserving the liquid. See NOTE.
- In a Dutch oven or other oven-proof pot fry the bacon until crispy then add the onions and cook until soft and translucent, 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.Stir in the tomato sauce, molasses, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, smoked paprika, salt, pepper and bay leaf.Add 1 1/2 cups of the reserved bean water and the beans.Bring everything to a simmer for a minute or two to heat it up. In the meantime preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Transfer the Dutch oven with the lid on to the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 2 to 3 hours or until the beans are tender and the sauce has thickened, removing the lid during the last 20-30 minutes to help the sauce thicken. NOTE: If at any point during the cooking process too much liquid evaporates and the beans get dry, add a little more of the reserved bean water. The beans themselves can vary from batch to batch and you may end up either needing to add more liquid if the beans are too dry or you may need to bake the beans longer with the lid off if there is too much liquid. Adjust as needed.Add more salt the pepper to taste.Serve immediately or let cool completely and refrigerate until ready to serve. Can be reheated on the stovetop or in the microwave.
- SLOW COOKER METHOD: Follow steps 1 and 2 and then pour everything into the slow cooker. Cook on LOW for 6-7 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours or until the beans are tender. Open the lid for the last 30 minutes or longer until the sauce has thickened. If the beans are too thick at any point and too much liquid has evaporated, stir in a little extra water.
Johnnie says
I made this vegan, simply sautéed the onion and garlic in a little bean water instead of the bacon fat. It was delicious!
Kimberly Killebrew says
Thanks so much, Johnnie, I’m happy you enjoyed it!
Chris Cobb says
Made this for Easter dinner. I doubled the recipe for the number of people showing up. The only thing I did different was a 50/50 blend of the molasses and pure NY state dark maple syrup. I did use the baking soda to help soften the beans while they were simmering, it helped a lot, even thought the beans were just bought. Instead of bacon, I used the outer fatty portion of a smoked ham. It came out amazing. Thank you for the recipe!
Kimberly Killebrew says
Fantastic, Chris, I’m thrilled you enjoyed them and appreciate the feedback, thank you!
Elizabeth says
Made this recipe was great but when I saw the soak time I was like nope. I brought a pot of water to boil added beans boiled on high for 30 minutes turned off then covered for 1 hour. After that change I followed the recipe. However the cook time was only 2 hrs in the oven.
John says
Made this recipe substituting maple syrup for molasses. Very tasty, might be too sweet for some, but just right for me.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Fantastic, John, thanks so much for the feedback!
Moira says
Hi, I really do not like molasses. Is there something else I can use as a substitute? Maybe barbeque sauce?
Thanks,
Moira
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Moira, sure, you can use BBQ sauce if you prefer.
Anonymous says
Delicious and one happy husband
Julie Scriver says
thank you for a wonderful recipe! I didn’t know the 1/4 tsp of B.soda would make that much of a difference to the beans. I’ve had beans that cooked for hours and hours and were still hard bullets. I added my ham bone for added flavor!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Julie, thank you!
Kate says
This is the best baked beans recipe I’ve tried, but I halve the sugar and use only 2/3 of the molasses as it’s a bit sweet for my taste. That being said, still by far the best!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I’m so happy to hear that, Kate, thank you!
Jay L. Stern says
Excellent instructions. First batch in preparation in my crock pot. My version will be meatless. I will use bacon-flavored bits instead of fried bacon. Question/comment about softening the beans: You recommend baking soda to soften. First, I try to avoid added sodium in my diet. The addtion of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) troubles me. What you are doing by adding sodium bicarbonate, an alkali, is to conduct alkaline hydrolysis on the cellulosic shell of the bean. Vinegar, which contains acetic acid, is also an effective hydrolyzing agent. So is there any reason not to add vinegar early in the cooking process to soften the shell?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Jay, Cook’s Illustrated conducted an experiment comparing the results of adding an alkaline vs an acid and you can read about the results here: https://www.cooksillustrated.com/articles/1745-can-baking-soda-make-beans-cook-faster
Jay L. Stern says
Thank you for the reference. I really didn’t expect the difference between processing beans with acid as compared to an alakli to be so pronounced! I mentioned that I wanted to avoid excess sodium in my diet. I suppose that if I add the bicarb to the initial soaking water, which is later poured off, I will eliminate at least 90% of whatever sodium was present. As it is, the beans I used were pretty old and they took about 18 hours to soften. Also, the beans did not soften at a uniform rate, even though they came from the same batch. And since acid retards the cooking process, I conclude that the reason tomato and vinegar is added to the baked-bean recipe after the beans are soft. Back to the point about sodium, though, have you any thoughts on using ammonium carbonate, AKA “Cooking ammonia” to soften instead of sodium bicarbonate?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Jay, I haven’t used ammonium carbonate for this purpose so I’m afraid I can’t offer any thoughts about it.
Theresa says
Do you have to use cider vinegar? Will white vinegar work or just go with out the vinegar? Thanks
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Theresa, the cider vinegar provides balance to the sweetness of the beans. Cider vinegar is milder than white vinegar with a fruity flavor profile that complements the beans well. White vinegar will be a lot “harsher” for this dish.
Brenda says
Great recipe I’ve used it a lot I also put a couple Pork hocks in it while they are baking my Husband loves it. I spread the meat off the pork hock add it back into the beans taste great with the bacon . I also make biscuits great for dipping into beans
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Fantastic, Brenda, thanks so much for the feedback! Agreed, you can never go wrong adding some pork hocks, especially smoked ones!
Foodie in Vegas says
This was so good! It was a real hit. I made it for a potluck. Everyone asked me for the recipe!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
That’s fantastic, thank you so much!
Daria Wheeler says
I’m gong to make these this weekend but I have a question about ketchup vs tomato sauce. One is so sweet and the other, not at all. Also, I’m trying to use up 300 hot dogs (don’t ask! Lol) and am planning on subbing those for the bacon – many, many tupperwares of beans and weanies. Do you see any issues with that? Thanks!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Daria, you can use either. The 1/2 cup of ketchup will make it a tad bit sweeter but not overwhelmingly so. You can also use half of each if you like. The 300 hot dogs is intriguing indeed, lol! :) No, I don’t see an issue with that. Franks and beans – go for it!