Homemade Baked Beans
Sweet, tangy and savory, these homemade baked beans are a total game-changer and barely take any effort to make. Once you learn how to make these from scratch, you'll never go back to those canned beans again!
The recipe is foolproof, absolutely delicious and needs just under 15 minutes of hands-on kitchen time. You can also make these in a batch and use them to make doctored up baked beans as a side.
Making kitchen staples from scratch is what I love doing, and a LOT of you have resonated with me on that one. With all the crazy information about how packaged and ultra processed foods are ruining our bodies, I really wanted to try making as much as I could, in my kitchen.
My Italian stewed tomatoes were a big hit, and you've got to try out the recipe, especially if you love Italian food. You can also try making some homemade ginger garlic paste and yellow curry paste if you love making curries and Indian foods, and make some date sugar and date syrup from scratch to sweeten all your homemade desserts and recipes.
Quick Look
- 🔪 Prep time: 8 hours (overnight bean soak).
- ⏲️ Cook time: 45 minutes.
- ⏰ Total time: 8 hours 45 minutes.
- 👪 Servings: 4.
- 📋 Main ingredients: Navy beans (Haricot), ketchup, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, chicken broth, brown sugar, cornflour, garlic powder, onion powder.
- ♨️ Cooking method: Soak beans overnight 🡢 cook beans until firm-soft 🡢 build sauce in separate pan 🡢 add beans to sauce 🡢 thicken with cornflour slurry.
- ⭐ Difficulty: Easy.
- 🥣 Serving ideas: Serve on toast for a classic British breakfast, topped with a sprinkle of Air Fryer dried parsley.
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What's So Great About the Recipe?
- My favorite part about this recipe is how easy it is to make. All you'll need is some pantry staples and dried beans.
- It's also a fantastic inexpensive way to make a breakfast staple and a delicious side dish that works with pretty much anything- just like my favorite cherry tomato confit.
Ingredients for Homemade Baked Beans
- Beans: Navy beans aka Haricot beans are the best choice!
- Apple cider vinegar: For that tart, tangy flavor. I used apple cider vinegar for the fruitiness, but you can use white vinegar too.
- Worcestershire sauce: For that savory, umami flavor.
- Cornflour: To thicken the sauce. You can use arrowroot powder if you can't find this.
- Ketchup: For that tangy, tomato flavor. I love using my fire roasted tomatoes or tomato passata here instead of ketchup.
- Brown sugar: For a bit of sweetness, to balance the tanginess.
- Chicken broth: The base of the sauce. Sometimes, I end up using my homemade low sodium vegetable broth here.
- Seasonings: To season, I used a mix of onion and garlic powder, some salt and pepper.
See recipe card for quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
- If you don't want to use brown sugar, use a natural sweetener like date puree.
- You can also add a spoonful of homemade BBQ sauce to bring a deeper, smoky flavor to the baked beans.
- To make a vegetarian version of these homemade baked beans, use mushroom broth or some homemade corn stock as the base.
How to Make Homemade Baked Beans
Step 1: Soak the dry beans overnight in a bowl of warm water.
Step 2: Add the seasonings to a pan. Meanwhile, cook the beans over medium heat until soft, but firm, and drain.
Step 3: Add the ketchup, apple cider vinegar, stock and Worcestershire sauce to the pan and bring it to a boil.
Step 4: Add the drained beans to the pot and continue cooking until the beans turn softer. Now add the cornflour slurry, give it a quick mix and take it off heat once it thickens.
💭Top Tip
Cornflour slurry is just a mix of cornflour and some water. Always add it towards the end, and mix it well to get ensure it doesn't make any lumps.
Tips & Tricks to Nail the Recipe
- Check the beans at the 45 minute mark to see if they're soft. If you feel they're still tough, you can add half a teaspoon of baking soda into the liquid to help them soften.
- You can also pressure cook the beans to make things quicker.
- Reserve a bit of the liquid after you've cooked the beans. This starchy liquid can help the sauce cling to the beans nicely and also thicken the sauce.
- Experiment with different seasonings to bring flavor variations to the sauce. I love using my garlic parsley salt and homemade herb salt. If you love a spicy kick, try using jalapeno salt or Sriracha salt to season the mixture.
How to Use Homemade Baked Beans
These homemade baked beans are first and foremost a breakfast classic- served on thick white or sourdough toast with a poached or fried egg on the side, they're one of the most satisfying, warming breakfasts you can make. But the versatility goes well beyond toast. Stuff them into baked potatoes and top with grated cheddar and a sprinkle of homemade celery salt for a complete meal in one.
You can also stir leftover baked beans through cooked pasta with a sprinkle of Parmesan croutons for an unexpectedly brilliant quick dinner.
Troubleshooting & FAQs
You can! White beans are the absolute classic, but you can also try using kidney beans or any other beans of your choice. Just make sure you use small or medium sized beans.
Store your leftover baked beans for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Use an airtight container or a mason jar to keep it fresh, and reheat whenever you want to.
You can meal prep these baked beans. Simply make them in a big batch, let them cool down completely and then transfer them to freezer safe containers. This can stay fresh for 3-6 months.
You can reheat baked beans in a pan over low heat until they are warmed through. To reheat them from frozen, first allow them to thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then reheat them. You can also microwave them on high, pausing at every 20 second interval to give them a quick stir.
More Side Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
If you tried this homemade baked beans recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Homemade Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup navy beans
- 1 cup ketchup
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 ½ cup chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon cornflour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Soak the dry beans overnight in a bowl of warm water.
- Add the seasonings to a pan. Meanwhile, cook the beans over medium heat until soft, but firm, and drain.
- Add the ketchup, apple cider vinegar, stock and Worcestershire sauce to the pan and bring it to a boil.
- Add the drained beans to the pot and continue cooking until the beans turn softer. Now add the cornflour slurry, give it a quick mix and take it off heat once it thickens.
Notes
- Check the beans at the 45 minute mark to see if they're soft. If you feel they're still tough, you can add half a teaspoon of baking soda into the liquid to help them soften.
- You can also pressure cook the beans to make things quicker.
- Reserve a bit of the liquid after you've cooked the beans. This starchy liquid can help the sauce cling to the beans nicely and also thicken the sauce.
- Experiment with different seasonings to bring flavor variations to the sauce. I love using my garlic parsley salt and homemade herb salt. If you love a spicy kick, try using jalapeno salt or Sriracha salt to season the mixture.
- Cornflour slurry is just a mix of cornflour and some water. Always add it towards the end, and mix it well to get ensure it doesn't make any lumps.
