Last Updated on 22nd April 2022 by
There are a few different varieties of baked beans, and depending on where you are in the world, when you get baked beans, it may be a slightly different dish. Some versions are sweeter than others, some include barbecue sauce or ketchup, and others are much simpler, more stripped down dishes with minimal ingredients.
Because there are a few different versions out there, I’m going to share with you a couple different methods for how to make baked beans from scratch or using canned beans. This will give you some options to work with, and hopefully you can find a version that suits your taste and is just like the baked bean dish you prefer.
How to Make Baked Beans from Canned Beans
How do you make baked beans? A lot of people will simply take baked beans, heat them up, and serve them like that, but you can make a better dish if you do a few tweaks to your beans. How to make canned baked beans better? You want to boost the flavor and perhaps change it as well if you’re going to improve on the basic canned baked beans.
When I make baked beans from canned beans, I may add a little salt to help bring out the flavor or black pepper to change the flavor slightly. Just a dash or two is all you need, and these can be added as it’s cooking on the stovetop. The best way to heat your canned baked beans is definitely in a saucepan on the stove. Pour all the liquid from the can as well as the beans into the saucepan and cook it all together. You can add salt and pepper as it’s warming on medium to medium low heat. Once the liquid starts to bubble, your beans should be done. You should stir them as they’re cooking, so they don’t burn on the bottom.
Another method for how to make baked beans better is to add a little ketchup, tomato paste, or Italian seasoning to them. Typically, canned baked beans will have lots of sugar and salt in them, so you may not want to add either of those ingredients to them.
How to Make Healthy Baked Beans
How to make baked beans for canned beans that are healthy? The key ingredients you want to keep to a minimum as you’re making baked beans healthier are sugar and salt. Don’t add any extra to the beans, and then consider buying baked beans that have very little of these ingredients already in them.
Try making your own homemade sauce and draining out the liquid from the baked beans to make a healthier dish. You can even wash off the baked beans from the can, rinsing off a lot of the extra, unhealthy ingredients.
How to make baked beans better with your own homemade sauce? Try this simple, homemade recipe.
Directions:
- Cook up some garlic by chopping it small and sauteing it in olive oil.
- Mix in a little smoked paprika, tomato paste, and passata, and stir everything together.
- Allow your sauce to cook on low heat for about 20 minutes, simmering until the sauce becomes somewhat thick.
- Then, add in your rinsed and drained beans and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
This method for how to make homemade baked beans takes about 30 minutes, but it gives you healthy, flavorful beans, and you can control each of the ingredients that goes into the dish. That allows you to track how healthy it is, how much salt it contains, and its sugar content.
How to Make BBQ Baked Beans
There’s a really simple way to make smoky, savory barbecue baked beans using canned beans. For the simple version, you have two options. You can either drain out the liquid in the baked beans and replace it with barbecue sauce, or you can add sauce to the liquid that’s already in the baked beans. Either way, you want to warm up everything together until it’s all heated.
Using the same stovetop method I gave you above, pouring your beans and sauce into a sauce pan on the stovetop and cooking on a low heat. Allow it to simmer for about 5 minutes, until your sauce starts to bubble. That’s when you know the sauce has been heated through.
You can choose whatever kind of barbecue sauce is to your liking, using a different type of barbecue sauce each time to give your baked bean dishes some variety.
You could also try making barbecue sauce from scratch for a more complex but interesting baked bean dish. Try a combination of apple cider vinegar, ketchup, honey, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and lemon juice to make homemade barbecue sauce. Ketchup will serve as your base, since you’ll use more of that than anything else.
What to Make with Baked Beans
What goes well with thanks beans? In the United States, they are usually served with a lot of Southern staples, like cornbread, fried chicken, and biscuits. For a lighter meal, baked beans may be served alongside potato salad, potato chips, and hotdogs or burgers.
In the UK, baked beans tend to be less sweet, and they are served sometimes on toast or as a side with sausage rolls, biscuits, or fish and chips.
You could also use baked beans in bean soup, adding in meat, veggies, or additional types of beans. What goes well with canned baked beans and bean soup? Try adding in northern beans, pinto beans, and/or red kidney beans to make a complex bean soup.
Hopefully, this gives you a few ideas of what you can do with baked beans. You don’t simply have to heat up canned baked beans and tolerate whatever seasonings and sauces are already included.
There’s a lot more that can be done with baked beans to make them more interesting, healthier, and more flavorful. Choosing the right pairing with your baked beans is important as well, as you can help to create a balanced, varied meal with many different textures and flavors by choosing the right foods to go with it.
I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!
