Honey Bacon Baked Beans

10 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Baked Beans Recipe – a tried and true homemade baked beans recipe created from multiple attempts and taste tests. I hope you will enjoy this baked beans recipe enough that your baked beans search ends here!

baked beans recipe with bacon and honey in skillets

Baked Beans RECIPE: A BBQ Must-Have

I don’t know about you, but I am a total sucker for BBQ parties, with the buffet of side dishes to go with the grilled meats. Add in these baked beans with bacon, honey and a bit of brown sugar, and I’m sold. Anytime we do ribs or grilled bbq chicken at the house or for holiday parties, these baked beans make an appearance. It is hard to turn them down. These baked beans are also easy to make from scratch. They’re sticky, salty and sweet and a perfect addition to your BBQ or picnic.

Baked Beans in two small skillets ready to serve

Homemade Baked Beans

A few years ago, I had a wild idea to make my own baked beans. I don’t know what gave me the motivation since I was used to the canned kind and they always seemed to be on sale at the grocery store. I also happen to be married to a very sweet, intelligent man who doesn’t care for coleslaw or baked beans [I know, crazy right?]. It wasn’t until I created this baked bean recipe that I convinced him baked beans were amazing [I’m still trying to convince him about coleslaw!].

I tried 3 or 4 different baked bean recipes — some even called for you to throw in a can of already made baked beans. (I couldn’t understand that logic when I was going through the effort of making them anyway!) It wasn’t until I took three recipes and made a frankenbean recipe that took parts from each one, that I created this dish.  I hope you will enjoy this baked beans recipe enough that your baked beans search ends here!
how to make baked beans with bacon

How to Make Baked Beans with Bacon

This baked beans recipe is easier to make than you might have guessed. Forget about canned baked beans, homemade baked beans are lightyears better.

  1. Place bacon in a large cast-iron or another heavy bottomed oven-safe skillet.
  2. Cook over medium heat until browned and most of the fat is rendered.
  3. Remove the bacon.
  4. Cook the onion in the bacon fat until caramelized and brown.
  5. Pour out the excess bacon fat [you can use this bacon fat to make my delicious Yukon Potato Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette!]
  6. Add the bacon back into the pan.
  7. Add in the beans and the rest of the ingredients.
  8. Cover tightly and cook for 1 hour.

homemade baked beans recipe with bacon and onionsBeans set out for baked beans recipe

baked beans with bacon in skillet

homemade baked beans recipe with bacon

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Honey Bacon Baked Beans

These baked beans are sticky, salty [from the delicious bacon!] and sweet and a perfect addition to your BBQ or picnic.
Yield 10 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 4 slices thick cut bacon , cut into cubes
  • 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
  • 1 (16-oz) can pinto beans , drained and rinsed
  • 1 (16-oz) can white beans , drained and rinsed
  • 1 (16-oz) can dark red kidney beans , drained and rinsed
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2/3 cup ketchup
  • 1/3 cup molasses
  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon yellow mustard

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • Place bacon in a large cast iron or other heavy bottomed oven safe skillet.
  • Cook over medium heat until browned and most of the fat is rendered.
  • Remove the bacon.
  • Cook the onion in the bacon fat until caramelized and brown.
  • Pour out the excess bacon fat [you can use this bacon fat to make my delicious Yukon Potato Salad with Bacon Vinaigrette!]
  • Add the bacon back into the pan.
  • Add in the beans and the rest of the ingredients.
  • Cover tightly and cook in the oven for 1 hour.

Nutrition

Calories: 157kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 281mg | Potassium: 278mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 87IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 1mg
Keyword: baked beans, Honey Baked Beans

baked beans with bacon served in individual cast iron skillets

baked beans

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. These have to be the best baked beans I’ve ever had and I’ve had quite a few in my days. I made them in my cast iron fry pan and they were incredible.

  2. I made this tonight and wow, what a fantastic, easy dish. Didn’t have pintos, so I just used more of both the red kidney and cannellini beans. Subbed Dijon for yellow mustard since it was what I had, and it worked perfectly.

    I don’t know what grade of molasses you used, but I had both blackstrap and “robust” (midpoint between fancy/light and blackstrap) and used the latter so it wouldn’t be too harsh-tasting.

    If anyone is on the fence about making this, don’t be. It is wonderful.

  3. Absolutely brilliant. I made this for a potluck and the entire class loved it! It was pretty much gone.

    To those who are looking to make this:

    In my trying of this recipe, I only had 1/3 a cup of ketchup. I replaced the rest with BBQ sauce from the fridge. I also used 4 cans of beans (the extra being kidney) instead of three, which is more than enough. I fed around 30-40 people at my potluck, but wanted some for dinner so I made extra. A side note, the pinto beans (at least the ones I had) were more firm than the other beans at the end. They were still PLENTY soft, but it does provide a nice texture. It just may not be your thing.

    Overall, a brilliant recipe! Super simple and easy, no hard stuff. Will make again! Thanks.

  4. Can I make these in the slow cooker? How long? Also, are white beans and butter beans similar? Thanks bunches!

    1. Butter beans are the same as Lima beans so they aren’t the same as white beans. I would recommend using cannellini or Northern beans. Unfortunately, you won’t get the same amazing flavor from making this in a slow cooker. The bacon in this recipe really does better in an oven.

      1. Cannellini beans are White Kidney beans. I have another recipe that called for just White Beans and didnt specify what kind of white beans. So I narrowed it down by the picture. That’s when I discovered that cannellini beans are just another name for white kidney beans. They have a slight different taste than the red ones do.

    1. Oh no! I’m just seeing your question now and hope that I didn’t ruin a Labor Day recipe you were planning on making!! I’m so sorry. The oven comes into play at the end and I realized that was a bit confusing in the instructions so I updated it.

  5. Wow, these look delicious, my mouth is watering! I am pinning these to make at my next BBQ!

  6. I love making anything in the cast iron skillet. So good. Love making homemade baked beans too. Taste so much better.

  7. I love baked beans at summer get togethers, but I usually cheat and buy them already made or just buy canned and doctor them up. I’m TOTALLY making your recipe! It looks so good.

    1. Thanks! I do see a lot of doctored up versions out there. This one was a breeze so I didn’t feel put out.

  8. I have not been able to stomach even the smell of baked beans as an adult, but I want so badly to cook them for my kiddos to see if they will eat them. This recipe is something I will certainly give a try to, and shared on my FB page so I can come back to it again!

  9. Those look so good! We have baked beans at every family cookout and they are even better with baked beans.

  10. Yum! These look and sound incredible. My husband would flip if I ever did this for him., I will have to for his birthday!

  11. Okay, so these look all kinds of perfect. I cannot and I mean I CANNOT wait to make these. Honey, bacon, and beans? You are speaking to this southern girl’s soul right now. lol

  12. I love baked beans so these are calling my name. I can’t get enough grilling either, I grill every single day .

  13. Those sound awesome. I always put bacon in by baked beans. I think bacon makes everything better.

    1. I may be wrong, but I really think bacon can solve all the world’s problems. Who could be unhappy while eating a warm crispy piece of bacon

  14. What an easy way to get baked beans made and ready to enjoy! I’ll have to keep this in mind when I don’t feel like cooking it all from scratch.

      1. I was looking forward to reading reviews of the recipe after making. Why are there only comments of how good the beans look before making them. Pretty useless reviews.