Easy BBQ Baked Beans with Bacon

These easy baked beans start with canned navy beans, that combine with bacon, onion and a simple sauce. A great Summer side dish!

I feel like I have had a bit of a bean obsession this past while, with my classic, long-cooking oven baked beans, then this delicious pork and beans dish. What can I say? I like baked beans :)

This one though is a little different. I think of these as Summer baked beans, as they start with canned navy beans, so they don’t need any soaking or lots of hours in the oven.

Unlike some easy baked beans, these ones don’t start with cans of baked beans, but rather canned navy beans. Added to the beans is a simple sauce, with your favourite BBQ sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, molasses and some dried mustard. Add some bacon to the mix and pop into the oven for about 2 hours.

These are perfect BBQ beans, alongside your Summer grilled sausage, pork chops, hot dogs or whatever you are grilling up.

Ingredients

• Canned navy beans – these vary in size, but anywhere from 14-16 oz cans will work here. You could also use canned pinto beans. And of course, you can soak/boil your own navy beans from dried, if you like.
• Bacon – just a couple of slices. Omit for a vegetarian version,
• Onion
• Ketchup
• BBQ Sauce – your favourite store-bought or homemade
• Brown sugar
• Molasses – Fancy molasses is recommended. Cooking molasses may work, though I haven’t tested it. I wouldn’t recommend blackstrap molasses, as it is too strong and bitter.
• Dried mustard powder – or use about 1 Tbsp of prepared, yellow mustard, in a pinch
• Chicken broth – for some cooking liquid with some flavour. In a pinch, you could just use water.

Step-by-Step Photos

Tips

• As noted above, depending on the brand of canned navy beans, they might be 14 -16 oz cans, but they may be up to 19oz. cans in some cases. I love the Eden organic brand when I can find them, which are 14oz. Using two 14oz cans (28oz total) will produce a nicely saucy bean dish.
• If you have canned navy beans that are larger, you can do one of two things to keep the bean to sauce ration in order. If it’s just a bit larger (up to 16oz), don’t worry about it. Just use as is. If they are quite a bit larger, like the 19oz cans, you may want to make some adjustments to keep the dish saucy. You can either hold back some of the extra beans (remove and reserve for another use) or increase the sauce by 50%-ish. That said, if you don’t want to do either of those things, even with the extra beans, it will still be a nice dish. I just like my beans good and saucy :)
• Use your favourite BBQ sauce. I have used Stubb’s Original or Sweet Baby Rays, both of which are good. Any BBQ sauce you enjoy will work well. Sometimes, if I have a couple of bottles around, I will use a combination of BBQ sauces.
• Speaking of BBQ Sauce, I have experimented a bit with the ration of BBQ to Ketchup, sometimes using 2/3 BBQ sauce and 1/3 ketchup, depending on the particular BBQ sauce I was using. You may wish to experiment a bit with your favourite BBQ sauce. You want the BBQ sauce flavour to be forward, but not overwhelming.
• I like to pre-cook the bacon, simply to cook off some of the fat (so I don’t get too much added to the beans as they cook). That is really just my preference. You can add un-cooked, diced bacon to the beans and the bacon will cook in the beans, if you prefer. You could also lay a couple of strips over the top of the beans, as an option.
• You can cook these beans early in the day (when it’s cooler to put the oven on!) and re-heat for dinner. Simply bake off, cool slightly, then cover and refrigerate. Remove from the fridge a bit ahead, then simply cover with foil and pop into a 350F oven until warmed through, about 20 minutes or so.

Get the Recipe: Easy BBQ Baked Beans

Easily made with pantry items, these bbq baked beans come together quickly and need just a couple of hours in the oven.

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Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 2 hrs

Total Time: 2 hrs 15 mins

Yield: 6 servings

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Ingredients

• 28 oz canned navy beans, two 14oz cans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 2 strips bacon, diced and partially cooked *see Note 1 below
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce, store bought or homemade
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• 2 Tbsp Fancy molasses
• 1/2 cup chicken broth

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Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 325F.
• Partially cook the bacon by dicing and cooking in a hot skillet on the stove-top, just until some of the fat cooks off and the bacon begins to brown. Spoon out onto paper towel to drain.
• Drain the canned beans and rinse well. Add to a large bowl, together with the diced onion and brown sugar.
• In a small bowl or measuring cup, make the sauce by combining the bbq sauce, ketchup, dry mustard and molasses. Stir to combine. Add to the bowl with the beans and stir to combine. Add the chicken broth and the bacon and stir to mix well.
• Pour the bean mixture into a small casserole dish (mine shown here is 5x10 inches. Cover the dish with foil.
• Bake in preheated oven, covered, for 1 1/2 hours. Remove from oven, remove foil, stir and return to oven to bake, uncovered, for a further 30-40 minutes, or until thickened, bubbly and darkened. Let the beans stand 5-10 minutes before serving, to allow the sauce to set up.
• *You can bake these ahead, refrigerate, then re-heat, covered, in a 350F oven until warmed through, about 20 minutes.

Notes

1. I like to pre-cook the bacon, simply to cook off some of the fat (so I don't get too much added to the beans as they cook). That is really just my preference. You can add un-cooked, diced bacon to the beans and the bacon will cook in the beans, if you prefer. You could also lay a couple of strips over the top of the beans, as an option.
2. Be sure to read the Ingredients and Tips section above the recipe card for substitution suggestions and more tips for making this recipe.

Cuisine: American, Canadian

Course: Side Dish

Author: Jennifer

Calories: 343kcal, Carbohydrates: 67g, Protein: 12g, Fat: 4g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 5mg, Sodium: 1082mg, Potassium: 672mg, Fiber: 7g, Sugar: 36g, Vitamin A: 156IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 105mg, Iron: 3mg

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