Goodbye canned beans.
After trying this homemade baked beans recipe, it’s hard to imagine going back to canned. Bush’s is good and all, but it just doesn’t compare to the heightened flavor and superior texture of baked beans made from scratch. Since July is National Baked Bean Month, there’s never been a better time to learn how to make your own healthy baked beans. It’s much easier than you might think…
When I first started learning to cook, one of my favorite meals to make was a large sweet potato topped with Bush’s baked beans and melted cheddar cheese. I wasn’t even a vegetarian yet, but I’d eat this meal at least once a week. It was quick and simple, and I loved the revelation that I no longer needed to rely on someone else to always cook for me.
In middle school, feeling independent is of the upmost importance… I remember around the same time, my friends’ moms and mine would take us to the mall and sit on a bench while we shopped. We had to check back in every thirty minutes, but we felt super cool, shopping by ourselves. Other people in the mall were probably rolling their eyes at the 7th graders who strutted around the mall like they owned the place. But we didn’t notice or care. And then I’d come home and prepare my very own homemade dinner, feeling very grown up.
Never mind that said “homemade dinner” was as simple as popping a potato in the oven, opening a can of beans, and microwaving everything together. That’s beside the point 
.
I felt the same sense of accomplishment the first time I made this vegetarian baked beans recipe from scratch a few days ago. Never mind the fact that it’s as simple as throwing all the ingredients into a crockpot, putting on the lid, and waiting for it to cook.
That’s beside the point.
Baked Beans Recipe
Baked Beans Recipe – Healthy & Homemade
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb pinto or white beans, soaked overnight in water
- 1 can “no salt added” tomato sauce (15oz)
- 2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce or gluten-free soy sauce (45g)
- 1 3/4 cup water or vegetable broth (420g)
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (30g)
- 2 tsp minced garlic (10g)
- 1 tbsp molasses (blackstrap or regular) (15g)
- 1/8 tsp pure stevia extract, or 4 tbsp brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp cumin powder
- 1 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
Instructions
Crockpot baked beans recipe: Drain and rinse the beans. Lightly grease a crockpot (mine is 4 quarts), then add all ingredients. Cover with the lid, and cook on high 7 hours or until beans are soft. Turning off the crockpot, but keeping the lid closed, let sit 1 hour. Serve immediately, or transfer to a container and refrigerate for up to 4 days. If reheating, add a little water (up to 1/2 cup for the entire recipe) and stir, then heat. Yields about 3 1/2 cups.
Question of the Day:
Do you remember the first thing you learned to cook?
Link of the Day: Homemade Larabars Recipes
My boyfriends favorite favorite food ever… but the canned ones are just so awful for you. Thank you for this recipe! I made this today for our 4th of July cookout. It came out amazing! I used pinto beans and braggs amino instead of the soy sauce. It was absolutely delicious. I had to quadruple the recipe because I knew my boyfriend would eat more than half on his own. Also, he totally approves!
Thank you so much for trying them, and also for reporting back that they work well with the Braggs. Someone else had wondered about that :).
Hi Katie, your recipe calls for 1/2 lb of beans; if I’m doing the math correctly that is about half a can (a typical can being 15 oz.)? That doesn’t seem like it would yield a large amount. In my family baked beans are usually made with a lot of different types of beans thrown in (black, kidney, white, etc.) Also, cooking 7 hours on high seems like a lot. Do you stir frequently or just leave them alone?
Dry beans will cook up. In other words, 1/4 cup dry beans makes something like 1 cup cooked. And no need to stir.
holy smoke shows, I MUST make this. my husband and I depend on the canned Bush’ beans waaaayyyy too much. (but they’re so good right?)
Im pretty sure the first thing I ever cooked myself was a pot of soup.. my mom loved to cook and I was always in the kitchen “helping”, or just watching, so I did a lot while being supervised. but I think soup was my first on my own meal.
This recipe is such great timing for me – thank you!
Yummy!
Although I’ve made a few adaptations to this recipe, I don’t think I’ll be able to go back to plain beans anymore. This recipe is addictive, and it’s really sweet without adding that much sugar.
Re: Variations
I thought I might like to share with everybody what you can do differently
If you don’t want to cook it in a crockpot, here’s what I do and it turns out fine
If you prepare 1 cup of dry beans as directed on the package, it should make about 3 cups of cooked beans. I usually just make the sauce and pour it over the beans.
If you want to use fresh tomatoes, what I do is, I put them in my Ninja blender, and I make about 2 cups of tomato puree, which I then reduce (reduce means to boil out the water) to 1 cup. I would suggest starting out with 3 cups of raw tomato smoothie, but if you don’t have that much, 2 cups should do.
If you want your recipe to be lower in sodium, you can use Worcestershire sauce instead of soy sauce, omit the salt and use slightly more of the other spices, and the vinegar.
I’ve been successful using date puree in place of the 4 TBSP of sugar. To make my date puree, I use my Ninja blender, I only put in enough dates to cover the bottom, then I blend them until they form a kind of squishy mess that balls up like dough. Like the larabars without the nuts. This works in a 1 to 1 substitution. I highly recommend keeping in the molasses, though.
The first thing I learned to “cook” was a toasted cheese sandwich. (My family called it toasted cheese instead of grilled cheese.) 2 slices of white sandwich bread, toasted. Then microwave for 25 seconds on power level 5 with a slice of fat free Kraft singles in the middle. When I think about it now, ew!!
Can’t wait to try these beans! I have made several of your recipes and they are all delish!
Katie, I want to try this recipe tomorrow and don’t have a scale. How many cups is 1/2 lb of dried pinto beans? Thanks!
I’m going to have to try this baked beans recipe! My youngest son is very fussy when it comes to food, but baked beans is one thing he will eat (along with eggs, cheese, bread, apples and rice. He seems happy with anything white or yellow. Especially if it’s covered in tomato sauce!) I’m trying very hard to lead a healthier lifestyle, running, exercising and ‘eating clean’ I believe is the American term, cooking and baking for my family instead of feeding them store-bought packaged foods. I love your website! But it’s dangerous – I keep following all the links! The problem with that? I can’t eat everything all at once!!!