Easy Baked Beans Recipe: 3 Tips for Making Baked Beans

Baked beans is a side dish consisting of beans cooked low and slow in a sweet and savory sauce. The sauce is often built from animal fat—usually bacon or salt pork—and a sweetener like maple syrup, brown sugar, or molasses, depending on the region and personal preference. Modern recipes may include BBQ sauce, ketchup, green bell pepper, dry mustard powder, tangy yellow mustard, funky, umami-packed Worcestershire sauce, or liquid smoke.

Baked beans are a staple at BBQ joints, picnic potlucks, and summer gatherings, where they are often served alongside barbecue, hot dogs, and potato salad. There are many global variations on the baked bean format, including French cassoulet, English beans on toast, and Mexican frijoles charros (pinto beans stewed with onion, bacon, and garlic).

A great baked bean recipe has all the intrigue of a secret sauce: Ingredients vary, but balance is key. Here are a few tips to consider when crafting your masterpiece side dish:

1. 1. The beans: The best baked beans feature varieties that maintain their shape while they cook, turning creamy and soft on the inside but still retaining the slightest hint of a snap when bitten. The ideal beans for this dish are thicker-skinned varieties like navy beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, or Great Northern beans.
   
2. 2. Dried beans versus canned: Using dried beans is a cost-effective, healthy way to build homemade baked beans from scratch, even if it takes an extra hour to soak or cook them. Some cooks opt to use canned beans for convenience. Some recipes may also call for canned baked beans, a pre-seasoned product known as “pork and beans.” It’s all a matter of preference.
3. 3. Alternative cooking methods: Depending on timing or how much control you want at every step of the cooking process, baked beans can be made using a slow cooker, pressure cooker, sautéed on the stovetop, or baked in a baking dish.