Our family’s go-to baked beans recipe for decades – Anastasia’s Best Ever Baked Beans – can be made in the oven or slow cooker. These are a must-have at barbecues and get-togethers. This shortcut recipe is easy to make and darn good. Rave reviews!
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The Best Versatile Baked Beans Recipe for the Oven or Crock Pot
My sister Anastasia’s famous baked beans recipe is an easy-to-make, go-to favorite side dish. Made with canned pork and beans, sautéed onions, molasses, brown sugar, ketchup, mustard, and bacon, it’s a big ol’ dish of comfort! The perfect side for so many meals, holidays, potlucks, picnics, and barbecues. Simple to make, so good, and sure to become a new favorite.
This favorite family recipe has so many rave reviews and even won best baked beans at a festival!
My friend, Marsha, from The Better Baker, even won PEOPLE’S CHOICE at her local Beans Day festival with my sister’s recipe!
INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO MAKE THIS FAVORITE BBQ SIDE DISH (full recipe below in the recipe card)
- canned pork and beans – I like VanCamps’s canned Pork and Beans (this is not a paid link), but you can use your favorite similar brand
- onion (yellow)
- butter
- ketchup
- molasses, unsulphured
- yellow mustard
- brown sugar
- bacon
How to make the best baked beans in the oven
Preheat oven to 325 degrees f. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
Sauté onions over medium to medium-high heat in butter until onions are tender and translucent.
Mix beans, ketchup, mustard, molasses and brown sugar…
Next, add the sautéd onions and mix well and pour in prepared baking dish.
Top with uncooked bacon in single layer.
Bake on middle rack of oven uncovered for 2–3 hours.
Beans are ready when the top is dark and caramelized. Serve warm. Enjoy!
How To Make Baked Beans in the Slow Cooker
These can also be thrown together and cooked in the slow cooker set on low for 6 to 8 hours. You won’t get that nice caramelized top, but they will still be delicious. Mix everything the same way as the oven method, including sautéing the onions. However, you will need to pre-cook the bacon.
Frequently Asked Questions
Prep time for the baked beans is about 20 mins. They are baked low and slow fin the oven for 2–3 hours, until the bacon is dark and caramelized.
The oven is best. The oven allows the bacon to caramelize. So good.
We use VanCamp’s, but others have used different brands and love the results.
Yes! You can prepare everything the night before, then pop them in the oven the next day.
For this recipe, use unsulphured molasses. 
Store leftover baked beans in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3–4 days. You can reheat the baked beans in the microwave, stove or oven.
Want More Great Side Dishes for your next get-together?
PLEASE NOTE: This is not a paid sponsored post. I have no affiliation with any of the products shared or linked in this recipe. The original recipe post date was April 3, 2016. This post was updated, May 1, 2024.
Best Ever Baked Beans (Anastasia’s Recipe)
Ingredients
- 5 cans pork and beans (15 ounce cans) VanCamps’s Pork and Beans or similar
- 1 large yellow or sweet onion, chopped (or 2 medium size onions)
- 1 – 2 Tablespoons butter (for sautéing onions)
- ¾ cup ketchup
- 3 Tablespoons yellow mustard
- ½ cup molasses, unsulphured
- ¼ – ½ cup brown sugar (use less for less sweetness)
- 6-8 slices uncooked bacon (each slice cut in half or thirds)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees f. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- Sauté onions over medium to medium-high heat in butter until onions are tender and translucent.
- Mix beans, ketchup, mustard, molasses and brown sugar.
- Add the sautéd onions and mix well and pour in prepared baking dish.
- Top with uncooked bacon in single layer. Bake on middle rack of oven uncovered for 2–3 hours. Beans are ready when the top is dark and caramelized.
Notes
These can also be thrown together and cooked in the slow cooker set on low for 6 to 8 hours. You won’t get that nice caramelized top, but they will still be delicious. Mix everything the same way as the oven method, including sautéing the onions. However, you will need to pre-cook the bacon. Please Note: Oven method is the best!
Sara
This is my go to baked bean recipe. Whole family loves it and they go perfect with anything! If you are thinking about making these, please do!! You will not be disappointed!
Dorothy Nelson
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.
Faye
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 🙂
Cindy L Auler
I know this is a delicious recipe because it is exactly the way we have made them since my great grandma. Family favorite.
Zoey
Just wondering if I can substitute plain baked beans
William
added bell pepper to this and baked in a 10″ cast iron skillet. It was lovely. Thank you.
Faye
Yes, those cast iron skillets add something different to food 🙂
Jean
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.
Staci Denison
Do you use dry or liquid mustard?
Mary Neumann
Regular yellow mustard (liquid), Staci.
Suzy Bone
Do you mean “ground mustard” or “prepared mustard”. If so, then the recipe would mean prepared yellow mustard
Barbara Jordan
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!
Katy
These are the best!!! Always my go to baked beans recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Nicole
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.
Debbie L.
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. 🙂
Donna Pollock
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
Faye
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!!!
Vicki
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.
Mike
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
Mary Neumann
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!!
shari cox
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
Sue
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?
Mary Neumann
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.
Jeannie Branch
am trying to get the recipe for the slow cooker queso chicken taco .it said its not available. i just seen it on facebook
Mary Neumann
Hi Jeannie – here is the link to the recipe–> https://sweetlittlebluebird.com/slow-cooker-queso-chicken-tacos/
Theresa
Do you drain the beans?
Mary Neumann
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.
Vickie
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!
Susan Z.
Has anyone made this with thick-sliced bacon? I’m wondering if it would be too greasy.
SCV
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 .
Angie
Do you drain the canned pork n beans?
Gail McDuffie
These are the best baked beans ever!
Lisa Ann Barksdale
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.
Gail
Can you use turkey bacon instead?