Today I am sharing my family’s go-to baked beans recipe that has been in the family for decades – Anastasia’s Best-Ever Baked Beans! These are a must-have at family barbecues! Simple to make, so darn good.
Read rave reviews from people who tried this recipe on Pinterest!
More Great Reviews.
Pork and beans with sauteed onions, molasses, brown sugar, ketchup, mustard, and bacon… a big ol’ dish of comfort.
Did I mention….bacon?!! These are the best stinkin’ baked beans!! My sister always gets asked for the recipe when she brings this side dish to parties and gatherings.
These make the perfect side dish for so many meals, potlucks, picnics and barbecues. Simple to make. So good. Sure to become a new favorite.
UPDATE: My friend, Marsha, aka The Better Baker, recently won PEOPLE’S CHOICE at her local Beans Day festival using this recipe! Head over to read her fun post!
Pinnable Image
Anastasia’s Best-Ever Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 5 cans of pork and beans (15 ounce cans – VanCamps’s Pork and Beans or similar)
- 2 medium or 1 large onion, chopped (yellow or sweet onion, not vidalia)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons butter (for sauteing onions)
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 3 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup brown sugar (use less for less sweetness)
- 6 to 8 slices uncooked bacon, each cut in half or thirds
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees f. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
Saute onions over medium to medium-high heat in butter until onions are tender and translucent.
Mix beans, sauteed onions, ketchup, mustard, molasses and brown sugar until blended well. Pour in prepared baking dish. Top with uncooked bacon in single layer (see photo above). Bake on middle rack of oven uncovered for 2-3 hours. Beans are ready when the top is dark and caramelized. Serve warm. Enjoy!
TIP – Make in Slow Cooker
These can also be thrown together and cooked in the slow cooker set on low for 6 to 8 hours as well. It won’t get that nice caramelize top, but it will still be delicious if you’re in a pinch for time. Be sure to saute the onions first and pre-cook the bacon.
BEANS FROM SCRATCH – If you want to make baked beans from scratch, head here for a great recipe – Boston Baked Beans – “A wonderful old-fashioned baked bean flavor. This recipe has served by family for 29 years and originally came from my mother-in-law. It tastes great served with fresh cornbread or biscuits and honey. Although you need to allow time for soaking and simmering the beans, this recipe is still quite easy.”
TIP – Make in Slow Cooker
These can also be thrown together and cooked in the slow cooker set on low for 6 to 8 hours as well. It won’t get that nice caramelize top, but it will still be delicious if you’re in a pinch for time. Be sure to saute the onions first and pre-cook the bacon.
BEANS FROM SCRATCH – If you want to make baked beans from scratch, head here for a great recipe – Boston Baked Beans – “A wonderful old-fashioned baked bean flavor. This recipe has served by family for 29 years and originally came from my mother-in-law. It tastes great served with fresh cornbread or biscuits and honey. Although you need to allow time for soaking and simmering the beans, this recipe is still quite easy.”
Sharing this recipe at Weekend Potluck.
Thanks for stopping by!
Cheers!
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If you use the brown sugar, ketchup and mustard wisely you do not need the extra molasses calories. Much better. and don’t forget to taste test to make sure enough mustard vs ketchup. And the bacon if you noticed it goes really fast. Cut the strips in 3/4 and stir throughout the beans before cooking. It shares the taste plus you might luck out. Finally if you want to cut down in oven time micro wave until hot and then transfer to oven.
GOOD GOSH! Seems like I can smell and taste the beans just by looking at the photo! And btw, you had me at BACON!! I may add some red and green peppers the second time I make these after I try this recipe first 🙂
I know this is a delicious recipe because it is exactly the way we have made them since my great grandma. Family favorite.
Just wondering if I can substitute plain baked beans
added bell pepper to this and baked in a 10″ cast iron skillet. It was lovely. Thank you.
Yes, those cast iron skillets add something different to food 🙂
I don”t do comments but I had to for these baked beans.These are the BEST! Not a fan of molasses but I think it is what sets these apart. I am so glad to have this recipe. Thank you.
Do you use dry or liquid mustard?
Regular yellow mustard (liquid), Staci.
Do you mean “ground mustard” or “prepared mustard”. If so, then the recipe would mean prepared yellow mustard
I made these with slightly smaller pieces of bacon to shingle on the top of the beans and I call it bbq baked beans with a bacon roof. This time I used small red beans, pinto beans and butter beans but you can use any combination of beans. Delicious and everyone loves them. Sometimes I put sausage or ground beef in with the beans. Thanks!
These are the best!!! Always my go to baked beans recipe. Thanks for sharing.
I chopped up a whole pack of bacon and cooked it, then sautéed the onion in the bacon grease. Dumped out the grease and mixed the bacon and onion with the bean mixture and cooked. Followed rest of recipe exactly and everyone loved it.
I always cook up a pound of bacon for my beans and add them into the mixture, otherwise everyone eats the bacon off the top and there’s no more bacon. 🙂
What a lovely recipe. I make something very close to what your recipe is. I add about 1 cup of chopped up Velveeta cheese in to my beans. I let them cook low and very slow, sometimes in a slow cooker. They are so so good. You can’t taste the cheese at all, but they have a most delicious taste to them. Try it sometime.
Donna
If I’m doubling the recipe (need to feed 15-20, not worried about leftovers if it’s that yummy! am I extending the cook time? If so how long? Novice here new to your site. Thank you!!!
Love the texture and ease of recipe. One thing I will do next time is reduce the amount of molasses as we all thought the taste was a bit overpowering.
Looking forward to making this dish it looks delicious! One question, if making with dry beans do I go through the entire Boston baked beans recipe first then add your recipes ingredients and bake in the dish? Seems like duplicating the same ingredients twice. Or can I use the plain prepped beans in your recipe?
Thanks
Hi Mike,
If you want to do my sister’s recipe use canned beans and follow the recipe I shared. If you want to do beans from scratch, follow the Boston Baked Beans recipe. I would do one or the other, don’t try to combine the two. My sister’s recipe is AWESOME!!
My dad always made these same baked beans with the only difference being, he added about 5-6 cooked sausage links to the bean mixture then also topped with bacon. They were so so good…..I miss him coming over to our BBQ’S with this recipe..You are SO right, they are delish
This recipe looks amazing! But I am confused about one thing: It calls for:
“2 medium or 1 large onion, chopped (yellow or sweet onion, not vidalia)”
Why can’t I use a Vidalia? It’s just a trademarked sweet onion–which you say is okay, immediately before you say a Vidalia isn’t. That…doesn’t make any sense to me. Did you mean white or red onion, instead of sweet onion?
Hi Sue, Vidalia onions are my favorite but for this recipe we don’t use them, they are too sweet (compared to OTHER sweet onions).
Head here for a good read about the difference between sweet and vidalia onions- https://www.eatlikenoone.com/why-are-vidalia-onions-sweeter-than-other-onions.htm
*If all you have on hand are vidalia onions, use them – it’s just a taste preference, the beans will still be great.
am trying to get the recipe for the slow cooker queso chicken taco .it said its not available. i just seen it on facebook
Hi Jeannie – here is the link to the recipe–> https://sweetlittlebluebird.com/slow-cooker-queso-chicken-tacos/
Do you drain the beans?
If you are you using a can of beans swimming in liquid, drain some of it – if not, do not drain, the liquid bakes off in the oven.
Drain an 8 oz. can of crushed pineapple, squeeze out most of the juice, add this, & your beans will be even more of a hit!
Has anyone made this with thick-sliced bacon? I’m wondering if it would be too greasy.
How else would you make baked beans. This is the way my great grandmother and my , grandmother and my mother and now me have always made them .
Do you drain the canned pork n beans?
These are the best baked beans ever!
This is how I make my baked beans, I actually have 2 pans in the oven right now for a party tomorrow. The only thing different I do is par cook the bacon so the beans aren’t so greasy.
Can you use turkey bacon instead?