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Best Ever Baked Beans are meaty, perfectly sweet and 100% delicious! Try these and I can (almost) guarantee they’ll be the last bean recipe you will ever make!
Beans are the perfect side dish for summer cookouts and family gatherings. I especially love them as a side for a grilled burger, pulled pork sandwich or Tuna Noodle Casserole! (Is it normal to have baked beans with Tuna Noodle Casserole? That’s a requirement in our house!)
Just Fantastic!! I have made these many times this summer and everyone loves them. My husband is not a bean guy….until now. Thanks for the great recipe! -Julie
Plain ‘ol canned baked beans are fine. But there is no can of beans that will even begin to compare to my Aunt Teresa’s….the recipe I’m sharing with you today! Her beans, you guys, ohhhhhh my word!! They’re hearty, meaty, slightly sweet, slightly smoky (thanks to the bacon!) and they’re just downright delicious!
Ingredients for Meaty Baked Beans
- Canned baked beans – Your favorite brand of “pork n beans” or “original” baked beans
- Lean ground beef
- Bacon
- Sugar
- Brown sugar – Light or dark brown sugar
- Ketchup – You could do half ketchup and half bbq sauce if you want a little extra tang!
- Onion – I prefer to use white or yellow onion
- Vinegar – White vinegar or apple cider vinegar works great (could also sub Worcestershire sauce!)
- Yellow Mustard – You can use Dijon mustard instead if you’d like
How to make the Best Ever Baked Beans
Though there’s a little more work to put these together (thanks to the ground beef and bacon), I promise that it’s worth it!! And if you want to go all in, skip the canned beans & go right for the homemade, I’ve got a recipe for Baked Beans from Scratch too!
Let’s get cookin’! First, you’ll cook the ground beef and drain the fat. Place the bacon slices on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake at 400F until done. Let the bacon cool then chop it!
Once you’ve got the ground beef and bacon cooked, it’s super easy. You will open the cans of beans and pour the excess bean sauce out as you’ll make your own homemade sauce to mix them into.
Next, stir together the beans, the cooked beef, crispy bacon pieces and the remaining ingredients. Here are a couple different ways to cook them:
- On the Stovetop: Mix the beans in a large skillet and cook over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes. Be sure to stir occasionally.
- In the Oven: Pour the beans into a casserole dish and cover with aluminum foil (or in a Dutch oven with a lid). Bake at 350F for 1 hour.
- In the Crock Pot: Mix the ingredients and cook on high for 1 hour or on low for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.
Change it up!
- Add a variety of beans! Try my Calico Beans (aka Cowboy Beans) if you want more variety of color and texture!
- Add peppers! Add some diced green pepper or red bell pepper for a little more color and flavor.
- Turn up the heat! Add a pinch of cayenne pepper and some crushed red pepper for a little kick!
- Make them totally homemade! Baked Beans from Scratch start with dried pinto beans and are absolutely delicious!
Frequently Asked Questions
Spoon them into an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 5 days. I do not recommend freezing baked beans as they’ll be super mushy after freezing.
Baked beans go with almost any main dish. They’re especially good with sandwiches and grilled meats – hot dogs, burgers, brats, pork chops, chicken, etc!
Texture and flavor! One thing I love about this hearty side dish is the texture of the soft beans, the meaty ground beef and the crisp bacon pieces. And of course, the flavor is important!
The bacon brings a lovely smokiness to the beans and the brown sugar gives it a richer flavor. Simple canned beans are alright, but this baked beans with ground beef recipe will blow any can of beans out of the water!!
I think the better way to put this question is “what’s the best way to doctor up a can of baked beans?” I like to start by cooking a pound of ground beef and 8 slices of bacon. Once the meat is ready, I combine the beans, onion, sugars, ketchup, mustard, vinegar, beef and bacon in the vessel they’ll be cooked in.
You can cook them in either a baking dish, a slow cooker or a large saucepan. Cook until the beans are nice and hot, the sugars have dissolved and the onions are nice and soft. Yum!
Yes!! The many ways to cook these beans is one of the things I love about this recipe. The slow cooker is one of those ways. Although every slow cooker is different, it will take most a couple hours. I’d recommend cooking them on high for an hour (stirring occasionally) and then letting them cook on low an additional 2-3 hours.
Other Delicious Side Dishes
- Sweet Macaroni Salad
- Frozen Fruit Cups
- Macaroni Corn Casserole
- Tortellini Pasta Salad
- Cornbread Pudding
Print the recipe below or Pin It for later!
Best Ever Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 8 slices bacon
- 3 15-ounce cans baked beans drained
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef, drain and set aside.1 pound ground beef
- Cook the bacon until crispy in the oven or in a skillet. Let cool then crumble or chop into small pieces.8 slices bacon
- In a large mixing bowl (or in the slow cooker), combine the beans, ground beef, bacon, onions, sugar, brown sugar, ketchup, mustard and vinegar.3 15-ounce cans baked beans, 1 cup chopped onion, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup ketchup, 1 teaspoon mustard, 1 tablespoon vinegar
- Cook the beans:In a slow cooker on high for 1 hour (stirring occasionally) or low for 2-3 hours ORIn a saucepan on medium-low heat for 30 minutes (stirring occasionally) ORIn a baking dish in a 350°F oven for 1 hour
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Sounds so good. I am a little confused about the homestyle pork & beans. Are you referring to canned homestyle baked beans or regular pork & beans?
Hi Mary – Good question!! “Homestyle” is the variety of canned baked beans. So you’ll use a big can of the “pork & beans” variety and a small can of the “homestyle.” If you can’t find the homestyle variety, just get an 8 oz can of the pork & beans. Therefore you’d use a 28 oz can of the pork & beans which you will drain AND an 8 oz can of pork & beans that you will not drain. Does that make sense?
I hope you LOVE these beans!!
-Kelsey
Makes perfect sense. Thank you so much!
Hello I used this recipe somewhere else and all I could taste was ketchup and my pallet couldn’t get over that they were pork n beans. Did I do something wrong? I taste them before I cooked them. Will that ketchup and pork n bean taste go away after I cook them? I love baked beans me
I make my baked beans almost the same as this but don’t use the ground beef. What do you taste with the ground beef?
Hi Toni! I really like the texture the ground beef adds as I think it gives it a heartier feel. Soooo tasty!
If you take out regular sugar and brown sugar
Substitute. Dark Molasses. Mix with the mustard,, ketchup, ,, molasses. Yummy add a little liquid. Smoke. Takes it over the top. Mine are called Mom’s Beans.
Always leave with empty pans. Try it it won’t disappoint.
How much molasses do you use? Do you still include the vinegar?
I realize your post was 2019 but can you add the amount of substitutions you used, i.e molasses. Thank you. This recipe looks so close to my old recipe i had that i lost but loved!!
I can’t wait to try both ways…love molasses. My mom always made her baked beans with molasses and lined the top with bacon…
what kind of vinegar?
Hi Stacey! I always use plain vinegar, but apple cider vinegar would work fine too!
I’m all for doctoring up an already good thing! We served this with grilled chicken and we were all stuffed! this recipe is a keeper. Bookmarked!
So happy to hear that!! We just love these baked beans – glad you all did too! 🙂
Aunt Teresa knows her way around beans – these are a meal all by themselves! Delicious recipe year round!
We were able to do a little grilling this last week – and I tried these. Holy smokes!! They really WERE the BEST ever beans!
Little miss is just the sweetest ever and our family just loved these beans! I may never try cooking them any other way!
These are one of my husband’s favorites! The weather is perfect for grilling right now and these are the perfect side!
If you ve never jazzed up beans with all the sweet, tanginess of molasses, ketchup, and mustard, have you really been living? THESE are the baked beans that we ve been waiting for all our lives.
Why must 8oz can of pork and beans be drained?
Hi Denise! I like to drain them as I prefer my beans thick. However, you could certainly include the juices if you wish! 🙂
Sorry, had another question: if i do not use hamburger b/c of picky eaters…do i need to add more cans of beans to compensate?
I would swap the 8 oz can of homestyle pork and beans for a 28 oz can. That’ll help compensate for the hamburger not being in there!! I hope you enjoy! 🙂 -Kelsey
I lessened the sugar a bit but my supper club loved these beans! The family got the leftovers and it went over just as well.
Glad to hear, Sarah!!! Thanks so much for the review! -Kelsey
I just couldn’t bring myself to add a cup of white sugar in addition to the cup of brown sugar. It was plenty sweet without. In fact, next time I may not even add a whole cup of brown sugar. Other than that, we really liked it.
I have made these beans for over.25 years and are always a hit wherever I bring them!
If I’m making as recipe I make it from scratch. I soak my beans overnight.. I for some reason can’t stand the taste of can stuff. Other than that recipe sounds half way decent
These were amazing but I had to make some substitutions. My daughter gets deathly ill if she eats beef so I used ground pork. It doesn’t change the taste and was still delicious. Yay for pig! I threw in just a little minced jalapeño and about a Tbs. of Worcestershire sauce. I’ll be making these again!
Try a bag of smokies in the pot…..great
Tried this recipe for the first time and it certainly won’t be the last. They are the best – hubby really loved them. Next time I make them, I am going to try cutting the recipe down as it makes quite a bit. Thanks for this recipe.
The baked beans was really good but just a little too sweet so I cut a little sugar out and it was prefect