Easy Baked Beans From Scratch
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One of my favourite childhood breakfasts was Heinz baked beans on toast. In particular, I would get the British-style baked beans. I don’t eat them that often anymore, but when I do, I certainly get a rush of nostalgia every time!
Now, something that has been on my bucket list for many years was to prepare these beans from scratch. I had tried a couple of times here and there, but nothing was ever super “wow-worthy” until this recipe. For the cold weather and comforting breakfasts, you’ll definitely be craving these homemade baked beans from scratch! Additionally, I recently learned that the breakfast of choice of soccer player Jude Bellingham is a good baked bean breakfast with eggs!
If you’ve always wanted to make your own baked beans from scratch, then this recipe is the perfect opportunity to check it off your bucket list too! You can make it as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! Get started on your cooking journey for free by signing up for my free email newsletter, plus all of my new recipes will be sent straight to your inbox!
To follow along as we make a powerhouse of a breakfast like soccer star Jude Bellingham, then be sure to watch the video at the bottom of this post! If you are not already, it would mean a lot if you would please subscribe to my YouTube channel! Don’t forget to press the bell button so you’re notified when all of my latest video recipes are live! Let’s get cooking!
Why You’ll Love This Baked Beans Recipe!
Fresh: The taste of these baked beans will be so fresh and satisfying that you won’t be able to get enough of it!
No extra salt or preservatives: I grew up on the Heinz baked beans and absolutely loved them. However, they do have lots of extra added salt that our bodies do not necessarily need. Here we know exactly what’s going int our baked beans, and you have full control of the salt!
Easy to make: It’s not too difficult to make your very own baked beans from scratch at all! It is mostly some prep work, then everything will come together simply!
Super tasty: This is bound to be a new breakfast favourite! Serve with eggs, bacon, and/or even dinner rolls!
What Beans should I use for Homemade baked beans?
Typically, baked beans use small white navy beans. However, if you don’t have these, then that’s no problem at all! As I mention in my free motivational guide to explore your potential in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun!!, if there is a substitute that is suitable already in your home, then by all means use that! I especially discourage you to go shopping for a niche ingredient which you may use only once and it is only available in bulk. It is a waste of space and money for you, so you can get away with using another type of bean. Here are some choices:
Cannellini beans (white kidney beans)
Ingredients for Heinz-Style Beans
Believe it or not, we don’t need too many ingredients to make the perfect baked beans from scratch at home! For the complete ingredient list with their quantities and to save the recipe for later, scroll to the bottom of this post or press the “Jump to Recipe” button for the FULL PRINTABLE recipe card. You can also scale the recipe based on how many portions of baked beans you want to make, so that you know exactly how much dried beans you need to soak, in addition to not having to mentally calculate ratios! Everything is done for you!
Great Northern Beans and Pinto Beans: My choice of beans here. I will be using dried beans and cooking them in my Instant Pot, but feel free to use canned if you want. Canned beans will also save you some time, but I prefer the flavour of dried beans.
Water: Add water as needed to cook your beans.
Onions
salt to taste
How to Make The Best Baked Beans from SCratch
To Cook the Pinto Beans
Using a Stove top Pressure Cooker (for both beans)
Soak the beans overnight or for at least 4-6 hours.
Add dried beans with 4 times the volume of water. Cook for 2-3 whistles on high heat, then turn down the heat to medium and cook for 15-20 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally.
Using an Instant Pot
For Pinto Beans, rinse well and add soaked beans to the Instant Pot and add 4 times the volume of water, along with salt. Set Instant Pot to Pressure Cook mode on High and cook for 18-20 minutes. Ensure Instant Pot is in Sealing mode.
Let the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes and then do a manual pressure release.
To Cook the Great Northern beans
For Great Northern Beans, rinse well and add soaked beans to the Instant Pot and add 4 times the volume of water, along with salt. Set Instant Pot to Pressure Cook mode on High and cook for 8 minutes. Ensure Instant Pot is in Sealing mode. Let the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes and then do a manual pressure release.
For the Baked Beans
Preheat oven to 300 F.
Heat a large oven-safe pan on medium heat and once warm, add the olive oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add diced onions and saute until they have softened. Add the apple cider vinegar and mix well.
Once most of the liquid has evaporated, add the passata, molasses, maple syrup, dijon mustard, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, Worcestershire sauce.
Then, add the cooked pinto and great northern beans. Add the water and then gently mix everything until combined.
Bring the beans up to a simmer and then transfer the pan to the middle rack of the preheated oven. Bake for 2 - 2 1/2 hours and while baking, check every 30 minutes or so after the 1 hour mark has passed. If the beans look too dry, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water and mix. Continue cooking until the baked beans have a thick sauce, to your liking.
Season with salt and adjust as necessary. Serve warm with buttered toast and eggs.
Tips FOr Making Heinz-Style Baked Beans From Scratch
Make homemade beans instead of purchasing the canned variety. You will thank me later, there’s is just so much more flavour when cooked fresh.
Be patient and enjoy the hands off experience in preparing these baked beans. It really barely takes any effort to make these beans which are not only great for breakfast or brunch, but amazing in wraps as well.
For those who enjoy sweet for breakfast, just omit the spicy cayenne and add additional maple or brown sugar to achieve the desired flavour.
The beans store really well, although I’d recommend enjoying them as fresh as you can for the best consistency and flavour.
How to Serve Baked Beans
With toast: For me, it’s ON the toast, but of course you can just serve your beans on the side!
Sausage: Some nice sausage links or serve with a patty, like my Spicy Italian Calabrian Chilli Sausage, Pork & Bacon Sausage, or Mild Italian Turkey Sausage.
Bacon: You know the saying, “everything is better with bacon.” So are these beans!
An all-purpose side dish: You can serve this for lunch and dinner with a main, such as California Grilled Chicken Burgers, Greek Souvlaki Chicken Skewers or Brazilian Churrasco Skewers, Air Fryer French Fries, Croque Monsieur or Croque Madame, or a even Smash Burger Sliders!
Eggs: Scrambled, Poached, or an Omelette (perhaps even a French omelette!), the choice is yours!
Can I use Canned Beans for this recipe?
Of course! You would save close to an hour, but I’d argue that you will lose out on some of the flavour. Canned beans are just not on the same level as fresh, and you will notice the difference if you try both variations. Make sure to rinse the canned beans well and discard any of the liquid from the can before using in this recipe.
Can I make the baked beans in a slow cooker?
Absolutely, instead of transferring the pan to the oven, you can transfer the contents of the pan to a slow cooker and cook on high for 2-4 hours. Still, keep a close eye on the moisture level after the 2 hour mark. And if too dry, add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of water and continue to cook.
Even better, for an Instant Pot, simply leverage the Saute function throughout all the steps until all the ingredients have been added to the pan and then switch to the Slow Cook function to finish cooking.
Cooking like this, however, will turn these into slow cooked beans, rather than baked beans.
Can I Make baked beans from scratch in Advance?
Of course you can! Actually, I would certainly make a large batch to have your breakfasts or side dishes prepped in advance! This can save you lots of cooking time for busy days, and you’ve got deliciousness waiting for you in the fridge!
To store your Homemade Baked Beans, simply transfer the contents into an airtight container or place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, and keep this in the refrigerator. The baked beans will last about one week in the fridge since we don’t have any dairy in our beans!
More Bean & legume Recipes
Watch How to Make easy baked beans from scratch Here:
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!