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These Crockpot Baked Beans are packed with flavor, slow-cooked to perfection with brown sugar, barbecue sauce, crispy bacon and more.
Baked beans are a staple side dish for barbecues and potlucks, but plain canned beans can be a bit boring. Instead of serving them straight from the can, jazz them up with this easy recipe. A few pantry staples add rich, smoky, sweet, and tangy flavor—transforming canned baked beans into something everyone will want seconds of.
What you’ll Need
Here is what you need to doctor up canned baked beans. Find the full recipe in the recipe card below the images.
- Bush’s Baked Beans – I use the Homestyle or Original varieties. I avoid flavored options like maple or onion—they can be too strong and taste artificial.
- Bacon – If you’re short on time, pre-cooked bacon works fine too.
- Other ingredients: Barbecue sauce (I like Sweet Baby Ray’s), light brown sugar, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and diced sweet yellow onion.
- A Large Slow Cooker
How to make Crockpot Baked Beans
Making baked beans in a crockpot may be one of the easiest side dishes you’ll ever make. Cook the bacon part way, then add it along with the remaining ingredients. Cook low and slow—canned beans hold their shape well, even with the long cooking time. See the recipe card below the images for the entire recipe.
Cook’s Notes
Instead of bacon, you can use one pound of ground beef or ground sausage, 1–2 cups of diced ham, or the same amount of cooked turkey bacon. One sliced kielbasa sausage will also make the beans heartier.
For extra flavor, add a dash of vinegar, a touch of bacon grease, or Dijon mustard.
To make it vegetarian, add bell peppers and another type of bean.
Instead of brown sugar, use two tablespoons of one of the following: honey, white sugar or pure maple syrup.
What goes good with Baked Beans?
- Baked beans always pair well with delicious barbecued foods like hamburgers, hot dogs and crockpot ribs.
- They also pair well with other meals like pork chops or chicken thighs. We love to serve baked beans alongside crockpot spiral ham on Easter! Or Slow Cooker Whole Chicken for a Sunday dinner.
- Other side dishes that taste great are cornbread, crockpot mac and cheese and collard greens.
- For a leftover serving idea, you can add sliced hot dogs to the baked beans and make beanies and weenies.
Featured Comment
“My boyfriend and i are literally OBSESSED with this recipe! We’ve made it many, many times and plan to make it again tonight!”
– Brey
Crockpot Baked Beans
How to Video
Ingredients
- 8 oz. bacon, (half of a 16 oz. package)
- 56 oz. Homestyle Bush's Baked Beans
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
- 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp. yellow mustard
- 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Slice the raw bacon into 1/2 inch pieces. Cook on the stove top in a skillet until HALFWAY browned, drain. Add to the slow cooker. Browning the bacon and draining prevents the beans from being greasy.
- Add the remaining ingredients and stir.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker.
- Cook on LOW for 5 hours or HIGH for 3.5 hours.
- Stir, serve and enjoy!
Sarah’s Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Other baked bean recipes to try:
- If I’m not making these homemade baked beans, I make these sweet Hawaiian baked beans or beefy land your man baked beans.
- Baked Beans and Little Smokies make a hearty fun dish, while Apple Pie Baked Beans add a sweet and spiced twist.
- Loaded Baked Beans are packed with savory ingredients (and plenty of meat), making them a perfect addition to any meal.
- Cowboy Beans bring bold heat, and Root Beer Baked Beans offer a rich, caramelized flavor.
Too much onion for my taste. If I make it again, I will use only 1/2 cup onion and maybe a little less Worcestershire sauce.
Can these be frozen and for how long will they stay
I freeze my baked beans all the time in washed out cottage cheese/sour cream containers. They sometimes develop ice crystals on top, but I just scrape them off and let thaw on counter. We just pulled some out of the freezer over Labor Day, from when i froze them in 2019. Tasted great, like I had just made them.
What size crockpot is needed?
4-quart or larger. Thanks for asking. I will add it to the recipe. I missed this one.
You Go Deb! The beans were great, I was looking for “crockpot” baked beans and this is it!
Hi! Can I double the recipe in the same crock pot? Would the cook time be the same?
Hi! I do believe the cook time will be the same. Most of the ingredients are room temperature, so it will be fine. 🙂
These were a great, easy alternative to time consuming baked beans from scratch. I added a diced green pepper. I will definitely make these again!
How was it with the diced green pepper? Will you add that again? Not sure if I should try it. 🙂
A definite yes on the diced green bell pepper!!
That’s the only change I made to this recipe & it got rave reviews at our July 4th cookout!
I always put red or green pepper in my baked beans!
These sound delicious! Thank you for adding the directions fir using pork and beans. I don’t always have both kinds in my pantry.
What do you think would happen if I froze these before cooking. Prepared for a granddaughter’s birthday party and was cancelled due to illness of her little brother.
Hi! I think it would do fine!
I had these at my mom’s house and they were the best baked beans I’ve ever had. They were so good I had to make them again. I followed the recipe to a T and they came out just as good.
Do I need the meat? Can I just cook the beans?
Yes, you can skip the meat.