Virginia Baked Beans?
I have been slowly working on this Virginia Baked Beans recipe for a few years now. I knew I got it right when my husband stopped asking me to buy the canned stuff. I love that my Yankee-born and bred husband is starting to appreciate southern food.
We’ve been together 25 years so these things are a big deal. I call these Virginia Baked Beans because, well, I’m from Virginia and this is my recipe. I’m a smart one, huh? I’m pretty picky about my baked beans. They gotta have that right mix of sweet and smoky. I think you are really going to like this combination of flavors if you give it a try.
Ingredients:
½ pound bacon
1 medium onion, diced
3 (16 oz.) cans pork & beans (undrained)
3 tbsp. mustard (yellow, spicy brown or dijon if you’re feelin’ fancy)
¾ cup maple-flavored syrup (or the real stuff)
2/3 cup ketchup
1/3 cup molasses
¼ cup brown sugar
salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a skillet, fry bacon until crispy, then crumble bacon. Don’t toss the bacon drippings. You should have about a 1/4 cup of drippings left in the pan if your bacon was fatty enough. 
Finely chop the onions and saute them (over medium heat) in the bacon drippings until onion is clear (it will brown up a little too from frying in the bacon fat). If you used very lean bacon (which I don’t recommend) then you may have to add a tablespoon or so of oil. But the bacon fat is really what adds the flavor here.
Now mix all the remaining ingredients together (including crumbled bacon.) Stir throughly. Pour into a 9×13 baking dish.
Cover with aluminum foil and put into preheated oven for about an hour (until brown and bubbly.)
If you like your beans to be a little less sauce-y (which I do), take the aluminum foil off and bake for about another 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. This will thicken the sauce up. Depending on your oven, it may take up to another 45 minutes. Just be sure to stir beans occasionally.
Stir before serving.
Cook’s note: If your bacon produced a large amount of grease then you may need to set aside some of it for later use. You really don’t want more than about a 1/4 cup of bacon grease for this recipe. Anything more and it will be greasy baked beans.
Enjoy!
- ½ pound bacon
- 1 medium onion
- 3 16 oz cans pork and beans undrained
- 3 tbsp mustard yellow or dijon
- ¾ cup maple syrup
- 2/3 cup ketchup
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- In a skillet, fry bacon until crispy, then crumble bacon.
- Don’t toss the bacon drippings.
- You should have about a 1/4 cup of drippings left in the pan if your bacon was fatty enough.
- Finely chop the onions and saute them over medium heat in the bacon drippings until onion is clear (it will brown up a little too from frying in the bacon fat).
- If you used very lean bacon (which I don’t recommend) then you may have to add a tablespoon or so of oil.
- But the bacon fat is really what adds the flavor here.
- At this point I will add in a little salt & pepper.
- Now mix all the remaining ingredients together and add the onions (with bacon fat) and crumbled bacon and pour into a 9 x 13 glass baking dish and bake covered (with aluminum foil) for about an hour (until brown and bubbly).
- If you like your beans to be a little less sauce-y (which I do), take the aluminum foil off and bake for about another 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- This will thicken up the sauce a bit.
- Depending on your oven, this could take up to 45 minutes.
- Just be sure to stir the beans occasionally.
- The longer you cook it, the thicker it will get.
- Stir before serving.
Recipe Video
If your bacon produced a large amount of grease then you may need to set aside some of it for later use. You really don’t want more than about a 1/4 cup of bacon grease for this recipe. Anything more and it will be greasy baked beans.
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I agree. It's not Spring…YET but it's starting to feel like it. I love these baked beans. They are one of my favorite sides.
My family love beans, and did amazing job!!! Yummy!
Those look great! Our family loves beans too, must try these for our next cook out! Yum… Happy Valentines Day!
These sound and look delicious! The first bit of warm weather and we are both out grilling! Can't wait to try this recipe!
Brandie, my hubby would LOVE these!!! I will have to whip him up a batch soon~thanks for sharing your perfected recipe 🙂 Happy Valentine's Day, my friend!
I am longing for spring as well! today it was like 45 and it was wonderful hahaha these look great and I cant wait to start cooking some summer food!
Great recipe! My son is a huge fan of baked beans. I know he would love them and the bacon in it is such a good idea!
I love the looks of the beans, just looking at them makes me feel all sunny inside…can't wait for Spring!
Is there really anyone who doesn't like bacon? I can't imagine baked beans without them! This looks like one great mix of sweet, spicy, and smoky. Into the file! (It's warmer, rue; I can't wait for spring.)
Thank you!
I love baked beans and these look so delicious!Thanks so much for sharing!
I loooooove baked beans! I could eat them just like they are. A big huge bowl with a few jalapenos on top. Yum, this recipe looks so good.
Brandie-So happy to see your recipe for the baked beans. It brings back such good memories of them. I used to make this years ago, but did not know the proper equivalent. Thanks for sharing your oh, so yummy reipe!
Wonderful baked beans! I love grilling too, as you said it keeps kitchen neat and clean! And it is so leovely to spend some time outside with the family. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Oh! don't do this! It's still cold winter and these baked beans just make me yearn for summer all the more! Yum!
Yum! Now I am in the mood for a cook out!
I am so ready for some good baked beans. These look amazing, Brandie! Thanks for sharing your recipe. Come on summer!
Those beans look fantastic! You had me at "Virginia"…I'm a daughter of the Commonwealth too, now far away in San Francisco. Cheers!
this recipe is similar to the baked beans that my Mom used to make. Even though we're in the Midwest, we grill in the winter. We last grilled last Sat. night. You just have to keep the path shoveled to the grill:)
Brandie these are lookin mighty scrumptious girl! Mmmm
Whoa! These are AMAZING!!
Hi Brandie,
When we start getting our Baked Bean recipes out I know that spring and summer is not far off. Your Virginia Baked Beans look so delicious. T
I put mustard in my baked (vegetarian :D) beans too!
Those beans are wonderful!!!Perfect for a picnic – and pretty soon it'll be warm enough -)
Oh goodness! I love baked beans. My aunt makes great baked beans but wont share her recipe. Maybe these will impress her 🙂
This looks really good. It brings me home.
::Sigh:: I love baked beans. They look so, so very good and make me think of all things summer. Thank you for starting the season early for us!
Love the recipes. Keep them coming 🙂
I added a chopped bell pepper to this recipe, oh so good!!!!
We have made these for years. Sometime I brown hamburger or hotdogs and add that to the dish before baking. Delish!
Can I use this recipe but use a crock pot instead of the oven?
How long do you recommend it being in the crock pot for?
This was a fantastic recipe! Made this for my husband who is a southerner and my parents. They loved the beans. I also cooked them longer without the foil to thicken them up .
I have been making these beans for 40 years! Never fail…always delicious!
Best baked beans I've ever had! Everyone who has tried them, LOVED them!
Thanks April, so glad everyone loves them as much as we do!
Good recipe you came up with, I have been making baked beans for 40 years using all the same ingredients you used except I use Grandma Brown’s baked beans instead of pork and beans! I would never be able to write down my recipe though because I never measured anything…