Homemade Baked Beans With Canned Beans

These homemade baked beans with canned beans are the perfect side dish for family meals, cookouts, and other gatherings. This dish is easy to make with simple ingredients. Plus, using canned beans (without sauce) still allows you to make baked beans from scratch without the hassle of soaking and boiling dry beans. 

Why Make Baked Beans using Canned Beans

• Easy side dish recipe: Make homemade baked beans the easy way by using a can of prepared beans instead of dried beans. By starting with tender beans, you can cut the cooking time of this classic side dish in half
• Uses barbecue sauce: This recipe uses barbecue sauce as an easy substitute for some ingredients in old fashioned baked beans, like molasses and apple cider vinegar.
• Go-to crowd-pleaser: It’s a perfect side dish for family dinner or gatherings like a family reunion.

Ingredients Needed

Here is what you need to gather to make this easy baked beans recipe successfully. Be sure to check out the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the exact ingredient amounts.

• Bacon: I use no sugar-added bacon, but you can use any bacon that you prefer. I cut some into bite-sized pieces to saute the onions and garlic in bacon grease. But, I use the rest of the bacon strips to top the beans before cooking them in the oven.
• Yellow onion: Diced
• Garlic cloves: Fresh garlic cloves have so much flavor so I use those. I mince them with a garlic press.
• Low-sodium chicken broth
• Cannellini beans: Drained and rinsed, or another prepared small white bean
• BBQ seasoning: I’m using a homemade spice blend that includes things like brown sugar, chili powder, black pepper, garlic powder, and more.
• BBQ sauce: I prefer Hickory or Kansas City-style barbecue sauce. Flavors like maple and bourbon also work. I’m using bbq sauce an easy substitute for some ingredients in old-fashioned baked beans, like molasses, tomato sauce, dry mustard (or prepared yellow mustard), Worcestershire sauce, and apple cider vinegar.
• Brown sugar
• Hennessy: This adds a unique flavor to the baked beans sauce. You can omit it if you don’t have it or substitute another option like cognac.

How To Make Canned Beans Baked Beans

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add 3 slices of bacon from the package to a large skillet over medium heat (the goal is to get some bacon fat in the pan). After the bacon is crisp, remove it from the pan (leave the drippings), crumble it, and set aside.
2. In the same skillet with the bacon fat, add the onions and garlic cloves and sauté until translucent. Stir occasionally. Pour chicken broth into the pan to deglaze it. Remove the pan from the heat.
3. Add the beans and remaining ingredients (use the remaining raw bacon as a topper before baking), including the crumbled bacon pieces, and stir to combine.
4. Transfer the beans to a casserole dish. Top the beans with the remaining raw bacon (I line the slices up and spread them evenly with the strips). Bake uncovered in the oven for 90-100 minutes (or 1 hr 30 minutes to 1 hr 40 minutes).

Recipe Tips & FAQs

Alternative for Cannellini beans: You can use any other prepared white beans, like navy beans.

Storage & Leftovers

I store my leftover baked beans in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Since this dish has a savory sauce, you can also store it in the freezer in a freezer bag. Just thaw it overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.

Variations

• Add some peppers: You can add a green bell pepper to this recipe in the same step as the onions. For some added spice, you can also add deseeded jalapeno peppers.
• Make it a main dish: you can add a pound of your favorite ground meat to this recipe like I do in baked beans with ground beef. Just be sure to brown the meat.
• Cook it in a slow cooker: you can make baked beans with canned beans in a slow cooker using this slow cooker recipe.

More Baked Beans Canned Beans

If you lack the time or the patience for soaking and boiling dried beans, these homemade baked beans recipes use canned beans to save time:

• Baked Beans With Ground Beef
• Slow Cooker Baked Beans With Canned Beans

More Summer BBQ Recipes

• Grilled Salmon With Lemon
• Instant Pot Potato Salad
• Sweet Potato Pie With Canned Yams
• Sprite Cake With Cake Mix

Print Pin

5 from 2 votes

Baked Beans with Canned Beans

These homemade baked beans with canned beans use a simple brown sugar, bacon, cognac, and bbq sauce. Perfect for family meals and cookouts without the hassle of soaking dry beans. 

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes

Servings 16

Calories 260kcal

Ingredients

• 16 oz bacon
• 1.25 cup yellow onion diced
• 6 garlic cloves minced
• 1 cup chicken broth low-sodium
• 4 cans cannellini beans 15.5 oz each, drained and rinsed, or another prepared small white bean
• 1/3 cup BBQ seasoning I'm using my bbq chicken rub recipe (click to get it)
• 3/4 cup BBQ sauce hickory or Kansas City style works best
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp Hennessy optional

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Add 3 slices of bacon out of the package to a large skillet over medium heat, the goal is to get some fat in the pan. After the bacon is crisp, remove it from the pan (leave the drippings), crumble and set aside.
• In the same skillet with the bacon fat, add the onions and garlic cloves and sauté until translucent. Stir occasionally.
• Pour chicken broth into the pan to deglaze it. Remove the pan from the heat.
• Add the beans and remaining ingredients (save the remaining raw bacon to top the beans), including the crumbled bacon pieces, and stir to combine.
• Transfer the beans to a baking dish, I used a 9×11 casserole dish or smaller rectangle foil pan.
• Top the beans with the remaining raw bacon – I line the slices up and spread them evenly with the strips.
• Bake uncovered in the oven for 90-100 minutes (or 1 hr 30 minutes to 1 hr 40 minutes). The sauce will thicken and reduce. The bacon will become very cooked and look almost burnt in some places and the liquid will turn to a more syrup-like consistency. You can start to check for doneness about the 1 hour and 15 minutes mark.

Notes

If you use a larger baking dish, this will cook faster. So, be sure to check in on your beans if you have a pan that’s bigger than the one listed in the directions.

Nutrition

Calories: 260kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 19mg | Sodium: 619mg | Potassium: 151mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 171IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 129mg | Iron: 4mg