Delicious baked beans, made with canned beans, so they are both easier and quicker. The sweet and sassy sauce uses maple syrup, molasses and chili sauce. And bacon is added to the mix, too!
Why you’ll love these sweet and sassy beans
✓ These baked beans start with canned beans, so no long soaking or pre-cooking needed.
✓ They also bake up pretty quickly (for baked beans :)
✓ These beans have great flavour, from the combination of maple syrup (the sweet) and chili sauce (the sassy). And don’t forget the bacon, which adds a nice salty note, as well.
✓ These beans are even better the next day, so they are great for making ahead.
✓ They’ll keep several days in the fridge and they re-heat easily.
✓ They are great as a side dish for dinners, picnics and BBQs.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Canned Beans – for me, baked beans are always navy beans. You’ll need two cans of navy beans, about 19 oz. or close to that. It doesn’t need to be exact. Prepare the beans by draining and rinsing well with cold water. You could use canned kidney beans here, if you like.
Chili Sauce – this is the bottled chili sauce, widely available around the ketchup in most grocery stores. Heinz™ makes a popular version.
Maple Syrup – real maple syrup is highly recommended here. In the absence of maple syrup, I would seek out a recipe for brown sugar syrup, which is quite easy to make at home.
Molasses – there is just a touch of molasses in these beans. You could add a bit more, if you like. I recommend “Fancy” molasses for the best flavour.
Dry Mustard – this is the powdered mustard. You can substitute regular yellow, prepared mustard, as detailed in the Recipe Card below.
Bacon – the bacon adds a nice salty note to these beans, but you can omit for a vegetarian dish.
Step-by-Step Photos
- Drain and rinse beans and add to baking dish.
- Add diced onion and chopped bacon.
- Mix sauce together and add to bean mixture.
- Stir to combine.
- Cover with lid or foil.
- Bake and enjoy!
Making ahead, storage and freezing
These beans are maybe even better after they sit and when re-heated, so don’t hesitate to make them ahead.
Baked beans will keep well in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Re-heat beans in the microwave or loosely covered with foil in a 350F oven until warmed through.
Baked beans will keep well in the freezer up to 6 months.
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Get the Recipe: Sweet Sassy Baked Beans from Canned Beans
Ingredients
- 36-38 oz. canned navy beans, drained and rinsed (2 x 18 or 19oz cans)
- 1/2 cup onion, chopped
- 2 slices bacon, chopped
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup chili sauce
- 1 Tablespoon molasses, Fancy molasses recommended
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard, or about 2 teaspoons of prepared yellow mustard
- 3 Tablespoons hot water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Drain and rinse beans and add to a baking dish. Scatter the onion and bacon over-top.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, stir together the maple syrup, chili sauce, molasses, dry mustard, hot water and salt. Pour over beans and stir to combine. Cover the baking dish with a lid or tightly with aluminum foil.
- Place into preheated oven and bake, covered, 2 hours and 15 minutes. Remove cover, increase the oven temperature to 400F and bake uncovered for 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to stand 10 minutes before serving. *Have a small taste of the beans before serving, You may find you need a touch more salt. If so, season and stir in before serving.
- Refrigerate leftovers for 3-4 days. Reheat in the microwave or loosely covered in a 350F oven until warmed through. You can also freeze baked beans for up to 6 months.
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!
Thank you for fixing that slight omission. These beans were so good, better than my much loved canned version. So easy and flavorful
Sandy
So glad you enjoyed them, Sandy! Thanks :)
Can you please tell me when to add the 3 Tbsp of hot water. I may have missed this step in the instructions.
Thank you
Sandy
Hi Sandy and sorry, it looks like I omitted it in the instructions. It goes in with the sauce ingredients. I’ve fixed it now. Thanks for letting me know :)
Hi Jennifer,
You have done it again!
I have always made my grandmother’s baked beans recipe so when I saw yours I was sceptical.
I decided to try your recipe as my time was limited and I had not soaked the beans overnight.
2.5 hours later, I had perfect baked beans and your recipe is a well balanced combination of flavours.
I made them a second time, just to be sure, and they were even better, if that is possible. Using the canned beans insures tender beans.
Perfect summer cottage food.
Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes and practical suggestions.
Carole Ann
So glad to hear, Carole Ann and yes, I’m not always up to soaking and cooking dried beans, so it’s nice to have a quicker option :) And yes, perfect Summer cottage food, too. Thanks so much!
I was surprised by how good these tasted. They are sweeter than I usually eat but they sure are tasty! I used “old” dried beans, so my beans weren’t as tender as they should have been.
So glad you enjoyed them, AJ! Thanks so much :)