Southern Baked Beans
These Southern Baked Beans are the best homemade baked beans you will ever make! An easy, delicious side dish for any cookout or BBQ!
A DELICIOUS HOMEMADE BAKED BEANS RECIPE
I worked on this baked bean recipe for a few years before first publishing it in 2011. It is still my absolute favorite way to make baked beans. Everyone asks me to bring this to the cookout! I love a good thick, flavorful sauce with a good smoky bacon flavor. These Southern Baked Beans are pretty simple to make and I promise everyone will be asking you for the recipe after they try them!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ’S)
You bet! Just make them and store them covered in the fridge up to 3 days in advance. Reheat them in the oven before serving.
The longer these beans are cooked, the thicker they continue to get after the aluminum foil is removed, so if you prefer thicker, richer beans, just continue to cook until it reaches your desired thickness.
To bulk them out and make them last even longer, add some cooked ground beef, ground pork, or ground turkey. Or go old school and add sone sliced hot dogs or kielbasa. To add some heat, try adding some sliced jalapeños.
Yep! Check out my recipe for Crock Pot Baked Beans.
Yes, once they’ve cooled transfer them to a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.
Leftover beans should cool down to room temp before placing them in a container and refrigerating them for up to 5 days.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
- bacon – it’s important you fry this up fresh and not use precooked bacon. We need that bacon grease for flavor.
- onion – if you don’t like onions, just leave it out.
- canned pork & beans – you need 48 ounces total. Sometimes you can find the larger 16 ounce cans and sometimes stores only carry the smaller 8 ounce ones. So as long as you get a total of 48 ounces, you are good.
- mustard – you are not going to taste this as a separate flavor. It just adds depth of flavor.
- maple syrup – use the real stuff or the corn syrup stuff, they both work just fine here.
- ketchup – it’s always got to be Heinz for me but use your favorite.
- molasses– this is the ingredient that really gives these beans the extra depth of fantastic flavor.
- brown sugar – you can use light or dark brown, I prefer the light.
HOW TO MAKE SOUTHERN BAKED BEANS:
In a large frying pan, fry bacon until crispy, drain on a paper towel then crumble the bacon. Reserve about 1/4 cup of the bacon grease in the pan. Finely chop the onions and saute them over medium heat in the bacon drippings until onion is clear. If your bacon didn’t produce enough grease, just add a little oil to your pan if necessary.
Add in all the remaining ingredients into the pan (including cooked and crumbled bacon) and stir.
Pour bean mixture into an ungreased 9×13-inch 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, take the aluminum foil off and bake for about another 20-30 minutes (stirring the beans occasionally.) The longer it cooks, the thicker it gets. So if you want them thicker, just let them continue to cook for longer. Stir again before serving.
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
- Crock Pot Baked Beans
- Sausage Baked Beans
- Beanie Weenie Casserole
- Calico Baked Beans
- Root Beer Baked Beans
- Beef and Bean Cowboy Casserole
- Crock Pot Beans and Ham
- Appalachian Soup Beans
- Red Beans and Rice
- Black Eyed Peas Recipe
- Best Grilled Ribs
- Grilled Chicken Marinade
- Grilled BBQ Chicken
- Grilled Steak Marinade
Originally published: February 2011
Updated photos & republished: March 2024
Southern Baked Beans
Ingredients
- ½ pound bacon
- 1 medium onion
- 3 (16 ounce) cans pork and beans, undrained or 8 (6 ounce) cans
- 3 Tablespoons mustard (yellow or dijon)
- ¾ cup maple syrup
- ⅔ cup ketchup
- ⅓ cup molasses
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large frying pan, fry ½ pound bacon until crispy, drain on a paper towel then crumble the bacon. Reserve about 1/4 cup of the bacon grease in the pan
- Finely chop 1 medium onion and sauté over medium heat in the bacon drippings until onion is clear. If your bacon didn't produce enough grease, just add a little oil to your pan if necessary.
- Then add in 3 (16 ounce) cans pork and beans, undrained,3 Tablespoons mustard,¾ cup maple syrup,2/3 cup ketchup,1/3 cup molasses,1/4 cup brown sugar and salt and pepper, to taste and crumbled bacon and stir.
- Pour bean mixture into an ungreased 9×13-inch 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, take the aluminum foil off and bake for about another 20-30 minutes (stirring the beans occasionally.) The longer it cooks, the thicker it gets. So if you want them thicker, just let them continue to cook for longer.
- Stir again before serving.
Notes
- Please refer to my FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) and ingredient list above for other substitutions or for the answers to the most common questions.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
I really want to make these baked beans but I’m having a heat wave here with no ac in my home. Can I make them in a crock pot or in the microwave instead?
This looks really good. It brings me home.
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…
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!
I have been making these beans for 40 years! Never fail…always delicious!
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 .
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?
We have made these for years. Sometime I brown hamburger or hotdogs and add that to the dish before baking. Delish!
I added a chopped bell pepper to this recipe, oh so good!!!!
Love the recipes. Keep them coming 🙂
::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!