These easy oven‑baked BBQ beans start with canned navy beans and bacon for a smoky, saucy side dish that’s perfect for summer cookouts, potlucks, and weeknight dinners.
Smoky Saucy BBQ baked beans: at a glance
- These beans bake up smoky from bacon and BBQ sauce, lightly sweet from brown sugar and molasses, and wonderfully saucy so they never dry out in the oven.
- These BBQ baked beans need only 15 minutes of prep time, then a short 2 hours in the oven.
- Unlike some quick and easy baked beans recipes, these BBQ baked beans don’t start with cans of baked beans, but rather canned navy beans.
- Added to the canned beans is a simple sauce, using your favourite BBQ sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, molasses and some dried mustard, for great BBQ-style flavours.
- Rich, oven‑baked beans with a classic thick, glossy sauce that clings to the beans.
- These are perfect BBQ beans for a Summer BBQ side dish; they are potluck-friendly and a great side dish for ribs, pork chops, hamburgers and hot dogs off the BBQ grill.
Love baked beans? Me, too! Here are some more of my baked bean recipes you might like …
- Sweet Sassy Baked Beans – Sweeter, sassy flavour profile, also made with canned navy beans, but with a sweeter, sassy flavour profile with maple syrup, chili sauce and a bit of molasses.
- Peppy Baked Beans – These baked beans start with cans of baked beans, with extra flavour additions to the sauce, for a “peppy” and tangy baked bean.
- Homemade Baked Beans from Dried Beans – Classic, long‑cooked oven-baked beans, made from dried navy beans
- Maple Baked Beans – Long-cooked oven baked beans, with maple syrup and bacon.
Ingredients and substitutions
A few notes about the key ingredients …
Canned navy beans – Canned navy beans will vary in size, but anywhere from 14-16 oz cans will work here. You could also use canned pinto beans if you prefer.
Bacon – You’ll just need a couple of slices, or you can omit the bacon for vegetarian BBQ baked beans.
BBQ Sauce – Use your favourite store-bought or homemade BBQ sauce in this recipe. I love and have used Stubb’s Original and Sweet Baby Rays Original, with good success.
Molasses – Fancy molasses is recommended (look for “Fancy” on the label). Cooking molasses will technically work here, though the molasses flavour may be stronger and less smooth-tasting. I don’t recommend using blackstrap molasses, as it is too strong and bitter.
Dried mustard powder – Any brand of powdered mustard is fine, or substitute about 1 Tablespoon of prepared, yellow mustard, in a pinch
Chicken broth – Broth is added to these beans for some cooking liquid that also brings some flavour to the beans. In a pinch, you could just use water or for vegetarian BBQ baked beans, substitute vegetable broth.
How to make BBQ baked beans with canned beans: step-by-step
This is a visual summary of the steps to make this recipe. Scroll down to the Recipe Card below for the complete list of ingredients and instructions.
Step 1: Drain and rinse the canned navy beans and put them into a large bowl.
Step 2: Add the diced onion and brown sugar to the bowl.
Step 3: Make the sauce by combining the BBQ sauce, ketchup, molasses and dried mustard powder.
Step 4: Add the sauce to the bowl with the beans.
Step 5: Add the partially cooked bacon. Stir it all together well.
Step 6: Pour the bean mixture into a casserole dish, cover with foil and bake.
Recipe tips!
- If you have canned navy beans that are larger, you might want to do one of two things to keep the bean-to-sauce ratio in order and ensure saucy beans. If your canned beans are a bit larger, like 18 or 19-oz cans, you can either hold back some of the extra beans (remove and reserve for another use) or increase the sauce by 50%-ish. That will ensure the beans are good and saucy, not dry.
- I have experimented a bit with the ratio of BBQ sauce 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 and avoid introducing too much fat to the finished dish that might pool. That is really just my preference. You can safely add uncooked, diced bacon to the beans, and the bacon will cook sufficiently in the beans if you prefer. You could also lay a couple of strips over the top of the beans, as an option.
Smoky Saucy BBQ baked beans FAQ
The addition of BBQ sauce and bacon to these baked beans brings the smoky flavour forward and oven baking creates a classic baked bean texture.
Yes, you can omit the bacon. Leaving out the bacon will reduce the smoky flavour and may make the beans a tiny bit drier.
Yes, simply substitute canned pinto beans for the navy beans.
Be sure to keep the beans‑to‑sauce ratio in order as detailed in the Recipe Tips above. That’s the key to saucy beans. The addition of bacon also brings some moisture and richness.
Traditional baked beans are typically made with ingredients like molasses, brown sugar and ketchup. BBQ baked beans use a similar base, but add barbecue sauce and often bacon, for a deeper smoky flavour. They’re the saucy, smoky version you’ll most often see alongside burgers, sausages and other summer BBQ favourites.
Making BBQ baked beans ahead and storing
You can cook these BBQ beans up to 24 hours ahead (maybe when it’s cooler to put the oven on!). Allow to cool slightly, then cover tightly and refrigerate.
To reheat, 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 or rewarm in the microwave.
Store cooked ahead beans or leftover in the refrigerator, covered tightly, for up to 3 days.
You can freeze cooked baked beans for up to 3 months.
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Get the Recipe: Easy BBQ Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 28 oz canned navy beans, two 14oz cans, drained and rinsed *see Note 1 below
- 1/2 cup onion, diced
- 2 strips bacon, diced and partially cooked *see Note 2 below
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
- 1/2 cup BBQ sauce, your favourite store bought or homemade
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dry powdered mustard, or 1 Tablespoon yellow prepared mustard
- 2 Tablespoons Fancy molasses
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F. (regular bake setting/not fan assisted)
- Partially cook the 2 strips bacon (diced and partially cooked *see Note 2 below) by dicing and cooking in a hot skillet on the stovetop, just until some of the fat cooks off and the bacon begins to brown. Carefully spoon the bacon out onto paper towels, leaving the fat behind in the skillet. Set aside.
- Drain the 28 oz canned navy beans (two 14oz cans, drained and rinsed *see Note 1 below) and rinse well. Add to a large bowl, together with the 1/2 cup onion (diced) and 1/2 cup brown sugar (loosely packed).
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, make the sauce by combining the 1/2 cup BBQ sauce (your favourite store bought or homemade), 1/2 cup ketchup, 1 1/2 teaspoons dry powdered mustard (or 1 Tablespoon yellow prepared mustard) and 2 Tablespoons Fancy molasses. Stir to combine. Add to the bowl with the beans and stir to combine. Add the 1/2 cup chicken broth and the bacon and stir to mix well.
- Pour the bean mixture into a small casserole dish (mine shown here is 5×10 inches. Cover the dish with foil.
- Bake in preheated oven, covered, for 1 1/2 hours. Remove from the oven, remove the foil, stir and return to the 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 beans up to 24 hours ahead. Allow to cool slightly, then wrap tightly and refrigerate. Reheat, covered, in a 350F oven until warmed through, about 20 minutes or microwave to rewarm.
Notes
More baked bean recipes to love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress-free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Made these yesterday for the first time and it will not be my last. They were delicious.
Thanks for sharing your recipe.
So glad to hear, Sharon :) Thanks so much!
Didn’t have navy beans so used pinto beans and followed your receipe. Very tasty and went well with hot dogs done in a skillet. (We’re having to to adjust to no BBQ because of fire regulations.)
Think we’ve made all your baked bean receipes! All successes!!
Glad you are enjoying my beans :) A perfect side with hot dogs, however you cook them!
Another 5 start recipe! The family all loved these baked beans. All of your recipes turn out perfectly every time – thank you so much Jennifer!
So glad to hear, Linda :) Thanks so much!
I printed the recipe, then printed pages 10 and 11 of the tips. Seems last two lines of paragraph talking about BBQ sauce does not print.
So thinking someone should look at that.
Page 10 ended with words “depending on the particular BBQ….
so what did not print was words starting with “sauce I was using
….. all the way through “forward not overwhelming”.
I love your recipes, just would be setting to print and then when making it – missed some the instructions.
Hi Ellen and thanks :) Unfortunately, complete web pages just don’t print well, as printers can’t decipher html. I could put all the tips in the recipe card (which does print well), but then it makes the recipe card too long for those that want to print the recipe on only one page. I’m thinking you’d be better off copying/pasting into a Word or text document just the parts that you want.
It wouldn’t be a summer BBQ without homemade baked beans Jennifer. We really enjoy them. These look delicious!
One of our faves! Delicious as a side, but I could totally make a whole meal out of just these with a hunk of bread!!
Thanks Dawn and yes, I could eat them on their own, too :)
I could dive right in!! My mouth is literally watering just looking at them! So summery and delicious!
Thanks so much, Annie :)
These beans are easy to make and so delicious! Must have recipe for summer and beyond:)
Thanks Milena and yes, they are great year round for a quicker version of beans, for sure :)
Our favorite! We love summer baked beans. Picnics, potlucks and parties wouldn’t be the same without bacon topped baked beans :) These look terrific Jennifer! Hope you are enjoying a fine summer.
Thanks Tricia and yes, we are having a hot and dry Summer here! Enjoying it. Hope you are as well!