We’re ringing in the season with a nostalgic recipe that just screams summer BBQ. Is there anything more festive than fresh, juicy watermelon, burgers and hot dogs on the grill, and a side of saucy baked beans?
I was craving this comforting side dish a couple of summers ago and let’s just say these homemade slow cooker baked beans did not disappoint. The boys and I gobbled them up for dinner and couldn’t help but go back for seconds. These baked beans are deliciously saucy and sweet, but not overly so, and have a kick of heat from my fav spicy BBQ sauce.
Yes, there’s savory bacon involved but yes, you can easily make them vegetarian! Skip the canned stuff and easily whip up these slow cooker baked beans all summer and for game day this fall. Enjoy!
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How are baked beans traditionally made?
Traditional, old-fashioned baked beans recipes typically involve soaking dried beans overnight until they’re tender, then bringing them to a simmer in a large pot with a sweet and savory sauce, and finally, baking them right in the oven. Everyone’s “sauce” is a bit different and many include apple cider vinegar or even apple juice as well.
We’re skipping the bake portion of the recipe and making the entire recipe right in the slow cooker for ease!
Everything you’ll need to make slow cooker baked beans
Trust me when I say these homemade baked beans are the BEST you’ll ever taste. Deliciously saucy, sweet and a little spicy if you’d like. Here’s what you’ll need to make them from scratch:
- Bacon: I love the savory element that bacon adds to the baked beans.
- Veggies: we’re also cooking down some onion and garlic for extra flavor.
- Beans: the three beans I like to use are pinto beans, kidney beans, and northern white beans. Feel free to use any combination you’d like, including black beans. Many baked beans recipes use navy beans!
- Sauce: that sweet & spicy flavor comes from ketchup, BBQ sauce (I love this spicy kind to balance the sweetness), Worcestershire sauce, and some yellow mustard (or dijon).
- Sweetness: add some extra sweetness with dark brown sugar and a little molasses.
Customize your baked beans
These crockpot baked beans are super easy to customize to your taste preference and what you have on hand:
- Add more beans. If you like more beans than sauce, feel free to add another can of beans! As I mentioned, you can use any beans you’d like.
- Choose your sweetener. I find that dark brown sugar gives the baked beans the best rich flavor, but light brown sugar and coconut sugar will also work. You can also use a sweeter BBQ sauce if you want extra sweetness.
- Make them vegetarian. Simply skip the bacon to keep these slow cooker baked beans vegetarian.
Make the best homemade baked beans right in your slow cooker
This is truly the best, no-fuss way to make perfect baked beans. Plus, you can keep your house cooler by keeping the stove off in the summer!
- Cook your bacon. Start by dicing up your bacon and cooking it until it’s nice and crispy.
- Cook the onion & garlic. Next, drain most of the grease from the same pan and cook down that onion and garlic until they’re slightly golden. Set those aside with the bacon.
- Add it all to your slow cooker. Finally, add all of the beans, sauces, sugar, bacon, onion & garlic mixture to your slow cooker and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-7. Done!
Amazing ways to serve baked beans
These easy baked beans make the perfect summer side dish as-is, but it doesn’t stop there.
- Scoop them over delicious nachos or add them to quesadillas and burritos.
- Use them as a dip with some melted cheese on top.
- Serve them with chicken sausage, grilled chicken, or your fav burger recipe at your next BBQ!
- Baked beans + homemade cornbread? Match made in heaven.
Storing tips
- In the fridge: store any leftover baked beans in airtight bags or containers in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Simply reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop and give them a stir.
- In the freezer: yes, you can freeze these slow cooker baked beans! Let them cool completely, then transfer them to freezer-safe bags or containers. Freeze the beans for up to 3 months. To reheat, let the beans thaw in the refrigerator before heating them on the stovetop.
More summer side dishes you’ll love
- Grilled Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
- Sesame Garlic Grilled Sweet Potato Fries with Yogurt Curry Dip
- Best Healthy Coleslaw Ever (no mayo!)
- Avocado Peach Tomato Salad with Dilly Tahini Dressing
- Tony’s Melt-In-Your-Mouth Grilled Brussels Sprouts
Get all of our summer recipes here!
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I hope you love these homemade slow cooker baked beans! If you make them be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Homemade Slow Cooker Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 8 ounces uncooked bacon, diced
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 (15 ounce) can northern white beans, rinsed and drained
- ½ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup molasses
- ¼ cup spicy bbq sauce (or your favorite bbq sauce -- use a sweet one if you like sweeter baked beans)
- ½ cup packed dark brown sugar (or sub coconut sugar)
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- ½ tablespoon yellow mustard (or sub dijon)
Instructions
- Cook your bacon: add diced bacon to a large skillet or pan and place over medium heat, cook bacon until crispy and golden brown. If the pan starts to smoke at any point, simply lower the heat. I always cook my bacon on medium low heat. Once bacon is done, blot with a paper towel to absorb excess grease. Allow bacon to cool.
- Drain the bacon grease, leaving a little on the bottom of the pan and add in the diced onion, cooking for 5-8 minutes or until they are slightly golden. During the last minute of cooking, add in your garlic and cook for 1 min. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Add the drained and rinsed pinto, kidney and northern beans to the slow cooker, then add in the bacon and onion/garlic. Next add in the ketchup, molasses, bbq sauce, brown sugar, worcestershire and yellow mustard. Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is well combined. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-7 hours.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on July 1st, 2021, republished on June 28th, 2022, and republished on June 12th, 2024.
These beans are a hit!
I’ve made them twice now and have gotten rave reviews both times.
Doubled the recipe for our 4th of July crowd, but didn’t need to change the cook time at all.
10/10!
So happy to hear that! And noted on the cook time 🙂
Try adding chorizo!!!! 🥰
That sounds amazing!!
I am having a picnic and would need to double this recipe. Would you recommend changing the cooking time? They look delicious!
It should work find cooking the same amount of time!
Fantastic recipe! I have made these a few times now and have only modified by adding a small can of Bush’s home style baked beans. Everyone has enjoyed them. These will be my go to beans recipe. Thank you for this fantastic recipe!
So happy to hear that!!
Your slow cooker may vary but it was apparent from the ingredients that there is not nearly enough liquid in this to survive six hours in the slow cooker. Besides, there’s not nearly enough sauce and it’s fairly tasteless. I would recommend tripling all sauce ingredients, leave the liquid from the cans and add about 1½ cups of water. Sampling this was I went along, I also ended up adding about 1½T of hot sauce. Check every two hours to get the stickiness desired — not too wet and not too dry.
This recipe was a big hit at our family get together! Definitely a keeper! We cooked the bacon on the saute mode in my instant pot then used the slow cook mode for the rest of the recipe. Thank you!
I’m so glad! Such a great side 🙂
Best baked beans I’ve ever tasted.
So happy to hear that!
Can I add ground beef to this recipe.
I haven’t tested it, but I don’t see why not!
I’ve made these multiple times and they’re a hit! Can this be done in an instant pot to reduce the time on busy days?
So happy to hear that! I actually don’t own an Instant Pot, so I’m not 100% sure what the instructions would be.
I need to travel with these beans to a luncheon. Would it be possible to bake them in the oven and then keep them warm in the crockpot? The recipe sounds delicious! Thank you.
That should work!
Fantastic recipe! Best baked beans ever!!!! I like to use 2 cans of pinto beans and 1 can of great white northern. They were much creamier than the kidney beans
Amazing! Glad you enjoyed!
Made this recipe for the Fourth of July. I definitely used bacon for the greese to sauté the onions and garlic, and then crumbed it up into the beans while they cooked. I didn’t have a spicy BBQ sauce so I used Sweet Baby Ray’s original and added some chipotle and roastes garlic seasoning. I also used one extra can of white beans. It was fantastic! Everyone loved it and wanted to take leftovers home. Great recipe! Thanks for posting it, I will definitely make it again.
Love that! Glad it was a hit!
SO GOOD. The best baked beans I’ve ever had. We omitted the molasses and used coconut sugar – they were still plenty sweet for me & my husband who has a major sweet tooth. Thank you so much for sharing such a delicious recipe – we will be enjoying these forever!
Amazing! Glad they were a hit!
These taste like candy and not in a good way, I think the brown sugar is probably unnecessary considering the sugar from the molasses, ketchup, and BBQ sauce are going to be sweet enough. I feel like I just wasted 3 cans of beans and 4 hours making this bean dessert that is way way too sweet, despite using a BBQ sauce that’s not very sweet on its own.
Sorry to hear that! It does depend on the sweetness of your BBQ sauce – I use a low sugar one and find these to be perfectly sweet with the sugar and molasses added. Feel free to omit both next time!
Rave reviews from friends – Memorial Day side item. This recipe is a keeper!
So happy to hear that!
This recipe sounds amazing, I have soaked a large batch of pinto beans, do I need to alter the cooking with time for these beans?
I use all canned beans in this recipe, so you should be able to make it as is with your soaked pinto beans!
Made this and it was a huge hit! Everybody loved them. Is there a liquid you could recommend adding just a bit of when it starts getting a little thicker over time? It’s so flavorful I thought about adding just a touch of water but I’m not sure.
So glad these were a hit! Hmm I’d suggest trying some chicken broth – let me know how it goes if you do 🙂
Great, easy recipe! Did not change a thing. No leftovers!
So happy to hear that!
Absolutely delicious. I made the recipe as is, only adding in a bit of red pepper flakes as I only had a sweet bbq sauce. I would cook it longer next time but it’s the only change I would make. Thanks for this great easy recipe that only includes pantry staples.
Love it! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Is there a sub for molasses? Thanks!
Not that I’ve tested and loved, sorry!
I live in the UK and I just made this recipe today. The beans tasted very good, but molasses is hard to find here and I had to substitute with honey, so it came out a little sweet. I made this recipe in a 6.5 litre slow cooker. I think that’s around 5.7 quarts. I could have easily fit x3 qty of this recipe in there, maybe even x4. Serving size is a bit tricky to work out. I ended up with x4 cups, so 10 servings would work out at a slightly heaped 1/3 cup each. Or approx. 6.5 tablespoons per serving. You might need to keep an eye on it if cooking on low, mine was done in 5.5 hours. I think they might have dried out, or burned if left for 7 hours. As the other posts here are old, this info probably won’t help them, but I figure it might help someone else in the future. 😃
Thanks for your notes on this! Honey does tend to burn more easily, too, which could’ve been the culprit (and it’s very sweet).
I’ve made this recipe multiple times and it’s a hit with the family!
We double the batch then freeze in single serve blocks for last minute simple defrosting for hungry kids 🙂
Love that!!