This easy Baked beans recipe makes the perfect comfort food. Even better, making your own will ensure that they’re healthy too. Using canned beans and tomatoes, they’re quick to make and full of rich tomato flavours. Ready in under half an hour and gives you superior baked beans in a delicious tomato sauce. Want to know how? Read on.
Homemade Baked beans go really well with so many different foods. Simply on toast… with a jacket potato… a side dish to your favourite veggie burger. Making your own couldn’t be simpler and it allows you to control the amount of sugar and salt in the recipe so they’re healthier than many that you buy ready-made.
Ok. Those canned baked beans that you can simply buy from the supermarket cost less but making your own is definitely worth the little bit of extra effort and you’ll be rewarded with incredible flavour.
This is a quick recipe and one I use it a lot at home.
What are Baked Beans?
Once in their culinary history, baked beans were baked but these days they’re cooked on the hob.
They’re generally made from haricot, cannelini or even pinto beans in a tomato sauce and the canned varieties of this simple dish are extremely popular the world over.
Despite how quick it is to open a tin of ready-made baked beas, making your own is still quick, delicous and convenient.
Ingredients in this recipe
- haricot beans – small creamy white coloured beans. I think they’re also called navy beans in the US. These are the beans that you’ll find in the tinned version of baked beans in the shops. (You can soak and cook your own beans or use a tinned variety.)
- maple syrup – the recipe uses just a little bit to really enhance the tomato flavour and reduce the acidity of ythe tomatoes a little.
- tinned tomatoes – these form the basis of the delicious, tomatoey sauce.
- tomato ketchup– intensifies the tomato flavour and is definitely worth using.
- garlic & onion – these are all in the bean dish for flavour. Adjust the amounts to suit your own tastes.
How to make Homemade Baked Beans
To make this simple bean recipe, begin by sauteing the onion and garlic in oil in a pan. Cook until the onion is translucent.
Add the beans, tomatoes, tomato ketchup and maple syrup to the pan and stir. Cook for approximately 20 minutes until the sauce has thickened, stirring every now and then. Taste the beans and make any adjustments to the seasoning and the sweetness that you need.
That’s it. It is a quick, easy bean recipe that can be on the plate in not time at all.
How to serve Homemade Vegetarian Baked Beans
I suspect you already have loads of ideas.
- on buttered toast
- ladled over a fluffy, jacket potato, perhaps with a little cheese grated over the top. Try Hasselback potatoes for a change.
- serve it with eggs; scrambled poached, tofu scramble or an omlet.
- serve alongside your favourite veggie burger or sausages.
Variations to the basic recipe
There are a few things that you can change about this recipe.
You can use different beans, such as cannellini beans, butter beans, pinto beans or even tinned bean mixes. You can also use dried beans, soaked overnight and cooked before using. Home cooked beans often have more texture than the tinned ones you buy but they do take more planning and cooking time.
Tinned tomatoes can be pretty acidic so it helps to sweeten a them a little to let that tomato flavour shine through. Sweeten with sugar or agave nectar if you’re not happy using maple syrup.
Storing the Baked Beans
These quick Baked Beans will last happily in the fridge for up to 3 days.
If you don’t think you’re going to eat them all in that time, then freeze them. Select a suitable container with a little bit of space to allow the contents to expand and pop the cooled beans into the freezer.
They will be ok for 3 months. Defrost them before use and heat through thoroughly before eating.
Suitable for Vegan and Vegetarian Diets
These delicious beans are perfectly suitable for those eating a vegan, plant-based or vegetarian diet.
What’s you favourite way to eat Baked Beans?
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A homemade Baked beans Recipe
Equipment
- 1 large saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil olive or sunflower
- 14 ounce haricot beans – tin drained weight approximately 246. Also known as navy beans
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 14 ounce tinned tomatoes
- 2 tablespoon tomato ketchup
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup adjust to suit your taste
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the oil to a large saucepan. Add the diced onion and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes or so until they are very soft.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato ketchup and the drained beans. Stir this around for a minute of two.
- Add the maple syrup and stir. Taste the sauce and decide if it needs any more sweetener. Add a little more until you're happy that it suits your own taste.
- Add the seasoning (salt and pepper) stir and check that it is seasoned enough for you.
- Cook for about 20 minutes and serve hot.
Notes
Nutrition
Why not save this easy Baked Beans recipe for later?
These homemade baked beans are so much better than the ones in the can!
I agree with you. You can do so many things with them too.
These are so easy and delicious! I make a big pot and serve it as a side to summertime barbecue. Easy to double or triple to feed a crowd.
Those baked beans look amazing! Have to try them out soon! Thanks for the great recipe!
These baked beans look fantastic. I’m loving the flavours and that you use natural sugar in maple syrup.
There a few little tricks you can use with these beans… add a little chilli or smoked paprika to go with BBQ style foods. Hope you try it.
Yay, so glad these are freezer friendly! I loved baked beans but my husband doesn’t like them. I will for sure be making these and saving the leftovers for later! Thanks!
Glad you’re going to give them a try.
I never even thought of making my own baked beans but now I’m doing it. These sound and look delicious!!
They’re easy and quite delicious… be brave and give them a try.
love beans they are loaded with protein, and great that it can be veganize. Thanks for sharing!
Now’s the time to try something new… they are so simple and quite lovely – they go with so many other meals too.
I have never had baked beans in my life. These look amazing. I need to try them because I am starting to see them everywhere now. I love the sweet yet tanginess that you describe in the recipe.
Good to hear from you Gabriela. Now is your chance for an adventure then. I hope you try these beans… they work with so many other different foods.. BBQ’s, on toast, as toppings for baked potatoes – so many choices.
Definitely healthier and tastier than the canned ones! I keep saying that I have to make my own; now that I have the recipe provided, I must!