What Kind of Beans Can I use for Homemade Baked Beans?
Can I use canned beans to make homemade baked beans?
Yes, I have heard of people using one can of beans to give the beans a little variety. If you want to use just canned beans, you will skip the first part of this recipe. The recipe directions have you cook the dry beans first and then add all the other ingredients and cook them a second time. If you use canned beans just skip the first cook and start with adding all your ingredients together.
What Ingredients do I need to Make Homemade Baked Beans?
- Great Northern Beans (or any dry beans you have on hand)
- water
- salt
- bacon
- onion
- barbecue sauce
- ketchup
- brown sugar
- white vinegar
- molasses
Tips for Making Baked Beans in a Pressure Cooker
We will have two different cooking processes. The first one is to cook the beans. The second is to cook everything together. If you are using canned beans, be sure to rinse them off first and the start the recipe at the bacon cooking step.
To make these beans vegetarian and vegan, go ahead and skip the bacon. You could add a little liquid smoke to give it that smokey flavor that you get from using bacon. If you like things a little spicy you could add some jalapeno with the onion. If you prefer a sweeter baked bean recipe you could add a little crushed pineapple. Its easy to adjust this recipe to make it your own.
What recipes can I serve baked beans with?
Baked beans are perfect when served with hamburgers or ribs! I love grilling hotdogs and covering them with these baked beans, it is one of those summer recipes I look forward to every year.
I also love to pair my baked beans with spicy homemade pickles! They add a great spicy, sweet combo that I enjoy!
Instant Pot Baked Beans are delicious and an easy recipe to make using a pressure cooker. This no-soak method is the perfect barbecue side dish and so much better than the canned version. You just need a few ingredients including bacon, onion, vinegar, molasses, brown sugar, ketchup and beans! You can omit the bacon for a vegetarian/vegan recipe version.
- 1 lb dry Great Northern Beans
- 8 cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 8 slices raw bacon cut into small pieces
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2/3 cup barbecue sauce
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons molasses
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Add beans, 8 cups of water and salt to the inner pot of the pressure cooker. Place the lid on the pressure cooker and seal shut. Make sure that the pressure valve is set to closed. Set the pressure cooker to manual, high pressure for 25 minutes. When cooking cycle is complete, carefully naturally release the pressure. Open the pressure cooker and drain the beans. Set aside.
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Add bacon and onion to the pot and turn pressure cooker on to the saute mode. Cook until the bacon is done. Turn off the pressure cooker and drain greese. In the same pot stir in the barbecue sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, water, vinegar and molasses. Mix well.
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Return the beans to the pot and stir. Place the lid on the pressure cooker and seal shut. Close the pressure release valve. Set the instant pot to manual, low pressure for 15 minutes. When cooking cycle is complete, naturally release the pressure.
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Carefully open the pressure cooker, and serve immediately.
*Serves 12-16
Teresa says
I tried making the baked beans last night. When I got to the final step (pressure cook on low for 15 mins) I kept getting a burn notifications. Not sure as to why. I followed the recipe to a t. Any suggestions?
Victoria Paul says
Just had the same problem. Maybe we need more water? But then I don’t know if it would water the beans down too much.
MamaBear386 says
I don’t have the Instant brand pot, so maybe that altered the cooking results, but my beans were still partially solid! I even cooked them 30 minutes on the bean setting, drained, sautéed onions, added beans and remaining ingredients, cooked 15 minutes, tried them, cooked another 15 minutes, tried them again, cooked ANOTHER 15 minutes, and still had some solid beans. The flavor is fantastic; the kids even like them! But I’ll be pre-soaking next time to see if that changes anything.
Mom says
I have made this several times and didn’t have that problem. So sorry that happened.
Laurie says
Could your beans be old? I have had trouble getting older beans to soften.
Kristi says
I had the same issue. 15 minutes still hard, tried twice more at another 15 minutes a d still had a bite.
Heather M says
I had that trouble when I added salt to my beans when cooking them. I add a tablespoon or so of olive oil, and no salt. That fixed my solid bean issue. Hope that helps!
Pamela says
I love this recipe and have made it often. I Doha even a question, can one double this recipe with an Instapot? If so what would be the cooking time?
Mom says
Yes you can if your pressure cooker can hold it all. The cooking time would remain the same, however, it will take longer for the pressure cooker to come to pressure.
Debbie says
These were so easy to make and were really good!
Mom says
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for letting us know!
Mary Karen says
I want to make these in advance for a rib dinner…. why serve immediately? Aren’t beans, like stew, better the next day? I’ve never made them before….
Thank you.
Mom says
I prefer them hot right out of the IP. If you try to make them in advance please come back and let us know how it turned out.
Laurie says
I always make sure there is nothing on the bottom of the pot that might cause the burn notice to come on. I scrape the pot and sometimes add a bit of water to deglaze the bottom in between cycles.
Melanie says
In the first step after the beans have been cooked- it doesnt state how long to naturally release the beans for, could you clarify?
Tina says
I made these tonight and the beans were still hard. I had to do the second round of cooking twice because I got a burn notice the first time. I just stirred them and nothing was actually burned so I tried it again with success. The beans were still hard and dried out looking. I didn’t serve them as planned with dinner. I might try microwaving them when I reheat them. I bought the beans just yesterday so I doubt it was a freshness issue. I’m not a bean connoisseur so I honestly couldn’t tell you if they are undercooked or overcooked. I think I’ll stick with baking my baked beans in the future. That way I don’t have to cook the bacon separately either. Another suggestion would be to cook the bacon first by itself, then sauté the onions in the bacon grease or some oil separately. Onions were scorched and pan was black and bacon wasn’t finished cooking.