Best Baked Bean Recipe

The best homemade Boston Baked Beans are made with dried navy beans, smoky bacon, sweet red bell peppers, onions, and garlic in a sweet and tangy tomato sauce.

Course side

Cuisine American

Keyword baked beans from scratch, baked beans with bacon, homemade baked beans, how to make baked beans

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1 20

Servings servings

Calories 237kcal

Author Beth Pierce

Ingredients

1 lb. dried navy beans
1 teaspoon salt
8 slices bacon
1 sweet medium onion minced
1 red pepper finely chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
1/3 cup ketchup
1/3 cup BBQ sauce
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup molasses
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
⅛ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Instructions

In a Dutch Oven or large stockpot, add the beans, salt, and enough water to cover two inches over the top of the beans. Bring to a boil; cook for 3 minutes. Reduce and heat and simmer until tender. This can take up to 2 hours. Reserve a couple of cups of the water and then drain the beans.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place bacon in a single layer on a baking sheet. Cook for 6 minutes. Reserve the bacon grease. Chop bacon into bite-size pieces.
Add the bacon grease to a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and red bell pepper, cooking until soft; 5-7 minutes. Reduce the heat and add the garlic, cooking for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
In the serving dish, combine the cooked, drained beans, cooked onion/pepper mixture, tomato sauce, ketchup, barbecue sauce, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, molasses, smoked paprika, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Sprinkle the chopped bacon over the top. Bake covered with foil in a preheated oven for 1 hour. Remove the foil and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes. Check on them several times, and if they get too thick, use the liquid you reserved from cooking the beans to thin them out.

Notes

Par-bake the bacon to give it a little head start and to reserve the bacon grease.
Don't skip the step for sautéing the onions, peppers, and garlic in bacon grease, as the caramelization process brings out amazing flavor.
I like Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce with these beans, but it does add a little extra kick. Sweet barbecue works well too. It really is just a matter of personal taste.
You can skip the dried beans and add 4 (15.5 ounces) cans of pork and beans. Simply omit the tomato sauce in the recipe.
If needed, you can substitute brown sugar for the molasses.
These beans are even better the next day. Heat them up in the microwave, adding more water if they are too thick.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven or in the microwave.
Be sure to read my section on ways to soften dried beans.

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