Our Best Baked Beans

These baked beans start with canned beans but finish tasting homemade after a long, slow simmer in the crockpot. Bacon, brown sugar, barbecue sauce, ketchup, and mustard build a sticky, smoky-sweet sauce that thickens and caramelizes around the beans over 8-12 hours.

Everything goes into the slow cooker at once. No pre-cooking besides the bacon, no stirring, no watching. Turn it on in the morning and by dinner you’ve got the kind of baked beans that make people ask for the recipe at every cookout.

The green bell pepper and onion soften completely during the long cook, melting into the sauce rather than staying as distinct pieces.

Pro Tips

• Drain the canned beans before adding. The canning liquid is starchy and thin, and it dilutes the flavor of the sauce you’re building.
• Cook the bacon crispy before crumbling it in. Limp bacon disappears into the sauce. Crispy pieces hold their texture and add smoky bites throughout.
• Low and slow is better than high and fast. The longer cook gives the brown sugar time to caramelize and the flavors time to merge.

Variations

• Add diced jalapeno for a spicy kick that cuts through the sweetness.
• Stir in a can of drained pinto or kidney beans for a multi-bean version.
• Use maple syrup instead of brown sugar for a deeper, more complex sweetness.