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.
Darrell Beauregard says
Used Pinto Beans, been in oven 3+ hours… Not dry, beans still hard. What am I doing wrong??
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Darrell, did you follow the instructions to first soak the beans overnight and then to simmer them for a whole hour? Also see the “note” at the bottom of the recipe.
Bobby Mills says
Fantastic recipe. Just made it with some mods. Never giving 5 stars to excessive added sugar recipes. 2 tbsp brown sugar was plenty on top of pure molasses (not 1/2 cup). Tossed in about 1/2 tsp Cayenne powder for a mild kick, very mild indeed. 8oz bacon = basically a whole 10″ cast iron pans worth FYI. Get bacon in every other bite. This fills a 64 oz masor jar.
The Book of Food says
I’ll be making these Tuesday or Wednesday. Can’t wait !
Anonymous says
Can you use can beans in this
Kevin says
I have to make these for a side dish this weekend! So glad I found this!
Beti says
We really enjoyed these old fashioned baked beans!! I am definitely making these again and again! Thank YOU! :)
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I’m so glad they were a hit, Beti, thank you!
katerina says
I am so excited to try these old fashioned baked beans!! Such an amazing dish!
Toni Dash says
This is really perfect! A recipe I’ll make over and over again! Thank you!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Awesome, Toni, thanks so much!
Erin says
These Old Fashioned Baked Beans are seriously making me hungry!
Jen says
These are my favorite to make when we’re grilling out! The flavors go so well together.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thank you, Jen, I’m happy you enjoyed them! :)
Hedy says
Love your receipes. Can you can this in a pressure canner .Cheers.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thanks, Hedy! This recipe hasn’t been tested for canning purposes so I’m not sure how safely it can be pressure canned.
Beth says
Yum! These are so delicious! These were such a big hit here at the house! I can’t wait to make these again!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thank you, Beth, I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Molly K~ says
I live alone! Can these, or any, beans be frozen in portions for enjoying later? I don’t have tomato sauce…I will try tomato paste! Thanks. Molly K~
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Molly, yes you can definitely freeze these for up to several months. Happy cooking! :)
Sourdough2 says
Biggest reason beans won’t soften is cooking them in an acid environment. Molasses (ph 5-5.4), cider vinegar (ph 2-3), most tomato products, and prepared mustard among others. The recipe I use (Durgin Park) calls for gently par boiling the soaked beans for five minutes with 1 tsp. baking soda per two pounds of beans (the pot will foam up straight away, so be ready to stir it down). Rinse 2-3 times. The only significant acid in the recipe is 2/3 cup of molasses. Been baking bean for forty, years never had a problem with “tough beans”.
Bobbi Mason says
Hi Kimberly ,
I can’t wait to make these baked beans. I’ve always bought my dried beans from Rancho Gordo from Northern California and never had a bean that won’t cook, as they are sold from fresh crops and are never old, as in the grocery store .
One question: After all ingredients are cooking, the recipe says add the water and the beans. Since the beans at this point have been soaked, precooked a little, drained and rinsed, how much water should be added with the beans?
I love nearly all your recipes, keep up the wonderful work!
Bobbi
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thanks so much, Bobbi! :) You’ll need about 1 1/2 cups of the reserved bean water. As the cooking proceeds you may end up needing to add a little more or you may need to take the lid off towards the end to allow the sauce to thicken up more.