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.
BEST Baked Beans Recipe
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
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.
Andrea says
When do we remove the bay leaf?
Kimberly Killebrew says
Hi Andrea, at the very end. It’s not pleasant to eat! :)
Dee says
Thank you, Kimberly! I will let you know how these turn out. Happy Memorial day…God bless!
Dee says
I don’t have a Dutch oven or oven proof pot. Can I put these on a roaster pan and cover with heavy duty foil?
Kimberly Killebrew says
Yes you can, Dee. Happy cooking!
Josh says
The please sign in bs that keeps pooping up means I’m gonna use another recipe!
Kimberly Killebrew says
Hi Josh, thanks for bringing that to my attention. I just launched that signup box for my free recipe newsletter yesterday and didn’t realize the settings were off; it’s supposed to appear one time only. I just fixed the settings and it is now (hopefully!) functioning the way it’s supposed to be. I apologize for the annoyance. Best, Kimberly
Ethel Tracey says
Do the beans get softer once the sauce is mixed in . Someone told me know.
Scott says
It is always amazing to me how different the beans can be depending on age and quality. I soaked my beans (Thompson Brand purchased day before day of cooking) overnight and boiled them for 1 hour the next day and they were completely soft and ready to eat (minus any flavour). I didn’t need to add back any bean water and I suspect they will be fully cooked through in less than an hour, no more. I am just concerned at this point that they will be too mushy? Last time I used this recipe that was not the case. Too bad there is no way to know ahead of time when you start what kind of beans you’re dealing with. Thanks for the recipe, its very close to my Granny’s
Kimberly Killebrew says
Thank you, Scott, I’m so happy you enjoyed them! And I totally hear you on that – beans are often so frustratingly unpredictable!
Susan says
Made these for the first time this weekend and they turned out great. A couple notes. It certainly makes way more than 6 servings – probably closer to twelve. I reduced the brown sugar to 1/3 cup, used blackstrap molasses instead of regular and tomato sauce instead of ketchup.
Kimberly Killebrew says
Thanks so much for the feedback, Susan, I’m happy you enjoyed them!
Jim says
About the hard beans wont cook issue. They are either very old or you had some acid in them when simmering. Add no tomatoes or vinegar, any acid when cooking. I have never tried adding baking soda but it may neutralize any acid in the mix.
Anonymous says
What went wrong? I followed all the instructions, but the beans weren’t softening, even after cooking well for 9 hrs my beans are still hardish! I added more water when they needed it. The flavour is great, but they’re almost the same texture as after you soak them. The package said organic, gmo free beans. Were they bad beans ?
Kimberly Killebrew says
That’s always a major frustration when that happens. The beans weren’t necessarily “bad” but they were likely pretty old, yes. There’s never any way of knowing how long the beans have been sitting at the store and how long they were stored in giant warehouses before they even made it the store. Depending on the age and storage condition of the beans, some can remain hard even after many hours of cooking. A classic trick 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).
Andrea Dyson says
These beans were absolutely delicious! Normally I don’t comment (and maybe I should more often) but these were so good and so easy. Your instructions were excellent. I always thought making my own beans would be such a pain after hearing others struggle to get them cooked right. I’m happy they turned out the first time. Will be making these again for sure! Thanks for sharing this with us. :)
Kimberly Killebrew says
I’m so thrilled that you enjoyed this, Andrea, thank you very much for taking the time to leave feedback!
Kathy says
I made the bean recipe exactly as published. They were very tasty but not really tasted like baked beans. They were more like enhanced pork and beans or barbecue beans. Good flavor.
Alan says
We tried this recipe today and did the 2X version. One thing I’d point out is that the recipe doubles up all the ingredients but the line about adding a cup and a half of water from the beans post boiling doesn’t get doubled up when choosing the 2X option. I’m a newbie so I didn’t realize this until the beans had bean going for a while and were quite dry.
Otherwise, they turned out great for us! Thanks 🙏
Ann says
This says 6 servings. Is that as a main dish or even using as a side with lots of other food. I’m trying to figure out how much to make as a dish to pass for a party of 45 people.
Kimberly Killebrew says
Hi Ann, that’s 6 servings as a side dish.
Anonymous says
8×6 is 48 so 8 lbs. of beans
Kelly says
Made this recipe today…absolutely perfect! I didn’t change anything. This is totally going onto the menu for Cabane a Sucre in March.
Kimberly Killebrew says
Fantastic, Kelly, thanks so much!
Mike says
Made this recipe today and it turned out great, even with two-and-a-half-year-old navy beans. Thanks for the tip about reserving the bean water; even with the lid on, enough liquid boiled off that more needed to be added. Depending on how well done the beans are in the first step, it may be a good idea to check the baking beans at one-and-a-half hours.
Kimberly Killebrew says
Thanks so much for the feedback, Mike, I’m happy you enjoyed them!