Easy Southern Style Baked Beans

I adore baked beans.  If there’s barbecue or burgers, I want baked beans on the side.  I realized I’ve never made baked beans aside from opening a can of Bush’s!;) So I found this recipe and it’s semi-homemade as it does start with Pork & Beans, but you could easily soak your beans overnight and cook them and then use this recipe from there.  These were fantastic! The beans got a little sweet and caramelized and had a nice tanginess from the barbecue sauce and vinegar. I love this if you don’t have time to soak beans overnight or if you forget to do so and it uses mostly pantry ingredients that are kept on hand.  This is great side dish for a cookout or for Memorial Day or the Fourth of July! The recipe below is for an 8 x8 dish but you can easily double for a 9 x 13 to serve a crowd.

Easy Southern Style Baked Beans
Source: The Pioneer Woman originally by Pam Anderson
Makes an 8 x 8 dish

Ingredients:
2 16 ounce cans pork & beans
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 medium onion, minced
1/4 cup plus 1/8 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. ground mustard or 1 tbsp. dijon prepared mustard
1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. honey or molasses

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Spray an 8 x 8 baking dish with cooking spray, set aside.

In a skillet over medium heat, add olive oil. Once hot, add in onions and cook until translucent. Add in beans and all remaining ingredients.  Stir together and bring to a simmer.  Pour into prepared baking dish.  Bake for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes, or beans are bubbly and a syrupy consistency.  (If for some reason you cook them too long and they get too thick, add in a splash of water and stir to thin out then cook for a few minutes to heat through).

*You can top with partially cooked bacon before baking in the oven if desired. I opted not to to save some calories but I’m sure it would add great flavor!

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Comments

  1. Oh my goodness! you are speaking my language! 🙂 LOVE baked beans! 🙂 I’m pinning these!

  2. Mmm..these look amazing. When I was a kid if you asked me what my favorite foods were, I would always say grapefruit and baked beans 🙂 I could eat baked beans everyday and still love them just as much. I will definitely be making these soon!

  3. Ohh yum perfect time of year for baked beans!

  4. Mmm these sound really good – perfect for summer BBQ’s!

  5. OH yes!! My whole household will adore these. Thanks! I’ve never made homemade baked beans, either. I think I’d like to do what you suggested and soak/cook beans and try for the whole thing. I’ll let you know how it goes! Definitely with barbeque.

  6. This is one thing I have never made! It looks sooo good. Thanks for the idea! I’ll be back soon to make these beans. Yum! I could just sit with that whole dish and spoon it into my mouth 🙂

  7. Glynda Anderson says

    I make baked beans similar to this but I add chopped bell pepper, which I saute with the onion before I add the beans in the oil. Then, instead of the honey or molasses, I add canned peach syrup and some of the canned peaches, chopped. Not the whole can, about half. The peaches take on the color and no one can tell what it is but everyone asks me what it is. They are surprised when I tell them. I discovered this by accident when we had a BBQ once and the kids wanted some peaches so I had a few too, and they were next to the baked beans on my plate and I got a bite of both and loved it. Just a little extra twist.