The Best Southern Baked Beans Recipe (from scratch!)

a pot of beautiful baked beans that are a warm acorn color.

The Best Southern Baked Beans Recipe (from scratch!)

This baked bean recipe is rich, smoky, and loaded with savory flavor thanks to simple ingredients like navy beans, sweet brown sugar, and tangy barbecue sauce. It's the best baked beans recipe to serve as a comforting side for pulled pork, hot dogs, or anything else sizzling on your summer BBQ grill.

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 50

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Servings people

Equipment

Ingredients

4 16 oz cans Navy Beans drained and rinsed
2 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 large Yellow Onion finely chopped
1 large Green Pepper finely chopped
4 cloves Garlic minced
1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1.5 cup BBQ Sauce
½ cup Brown Sugar
2 tablespoon Maple Syrup
⅓ cup Ketchup
3 tablespoon Yellow Mustard
1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
½ cup Water
Kosher Salt and Fresh Cracked Pepper to taste

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Instructions

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a braising pot or small dutch oven heated over medium heat, add olive oil, onion, green pepper, and a hefty pinch of salt. Cook down until soft—about 5-7 minutes.
Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Then stir in the smoked paprika and the garlic powder.
Add the beans to the pan along with the BBQ sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire and water. Stir to combine and bring back to a simmer.
Put the lid on the pot and place in the oven—bake for 45 minutes.
Uncover and bake 5–10 more minutes until bubbly and caramelized.
Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

If you want to add bacon, simply chop up 4 strips of thick cut bacon and fry over medium heat before you add onions and pepppers.

Once crispy, remove from heat and leave about 2 tablespoon of the grease. Follow the recipe as written but remove the olive oil (bc you're subbing it for bacon fat). And then add the crispy bacon back in when you add the beans and remaining ingredients.

**Also If you don't like your beans too thick, you can thin the finished product out with ½ cup of water.

Keyword baked beans, bean recipes, grilling recipes, memorial day, southern recipes, summer recipes

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