These Easy Baked Beans Are My Most Requested Summer Side Dish Recipe

Only 11 minutes of hands-on time goes into the summer side dish recipe that my friends and family can't stop raving over. Who doesn't love an easy win? With our Homemade Baked Beans, that's exactly what you'll get.

No matter whether there's a brisket on the smoker or burgers on the grill, our Baked Beans with bacon are always in my oven. I've been making a version of this summertime staple for more than a decade at this point, and they still go down as one of my most requested side dishes of all time. When I pass along the recipe — against my inclination to disregard the request with a nonchalant "oh, it's just something I whipped together" — it's always eyed suspiciously, almost as if the reader is determining whether or not the flavor payoff is worth crisping bacon and sautéing onions. After the first bite they realize the answer is a resounding, yes! (Please do not skip those steps.)

How To Pull This Recipe Together

After the aforementioned bacon crisping and onion sautéing, grab four (15-ounce) cans pork and beans in tomato sauce and give them a good drain. Then follow these steps:

1. Grab your trusty casserole, lightly grease it, then pour in the beans and next five ingredients (ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, brown sugar, and molasses or sorghum syrup).
2. Give the mixture a stir and you'll be rewarded with a thick and flavorful concoction that'll have you taste-testing before it even hits the oven—trust me, it's that good. Oh, and don't forget to top it with the bacon.
3. Once the beans hit the oven to bake at 350° for 45 minutes, you'll almost immediately start getting wafts of savory, sweet, barbecue-y goodness. It's been my experience that this is typically when our dinner guests start arriving — and the timing could not be more ideal. I don't even need to usher them into the house, somehow, the scents coming from the oven lead them in a type of trance straight to the kitchen.

What Readers Say About This Recipe

There's no going wrong with a multi-generational rave review: "This is the recipe my grandmother, mother, sister, and I have used for probably over 80+ years. There are some canned things that are perfect for the start of a recipe/casserole and this is one of them. We are all from Louisiana, if that matters, but always get great comments when I bring them to barbecues, etc."

And another reviewer said: "This is exactly how I make mine, and Mom made hers. I use all brown sugar most of the time because I don’t always keep molasses, but either way, I almost hate to share!"

We will admit that there were a few comments about using canned beans (we know, we know) so we'll leave that decision up to you.