Take canned beans to the next level with these easy Spicy Baked Beans. A zippy, flavorful take on the classic summer potluck dish.
As we prepare to fire up the grill on Memorial Day weekend, I’m sharing a delicious take on a classic BBQ side dish – baked beans. Like my Calico Beans, this is another no-sweat, easy summer side dish recipe that starts with canned beans. Both of these recipes are long time family favorites that I turn to over and over again in the summer grilling season.
These Spicy Baked Beans have plenty of old-fashioned flavor, punched up with bacon, smoked paprika, diced jalapeno, and a little cayenne. The heat level is very easy to control by scaling back on the jalapeno and cayenne, or even omitting them altogether. So, if you’re feeding lots of kiddos, I’d recommend doing just that. But, if you like a little spice in your life, this recipe is for you! Over the years, my boys have grown to love spicy foods and now they can all handle far more heat than their mama.
Canned Beans vs. Dry Beans
These aren’t the soak the dry beans in water overnight and bake them for ten hours until soft, kind of beans. These are the open some cans, throw in some good stuff and voila… beans, kind of beans. And, they are excellent! If you’re looking for a baked bean recipe that calls for dry beans, check out my Baked Beans from Scratch or Instant Pot Baked Beans. All of these methods result in delicious baked beans worthy of serving to guests. So, do what works best for you and your schedule.
Ingredient Notes
- Bacon
- Diced yellow onion
- Minced garlic
- Diced bell pepper – Either green or red bell pepper for color and flavor.
- Jalapeno pepper – Remove the seeds and ribs before dicing the jalapeno if you want a milder result.
- Canned beans – Be sure to use a good brand of basic baked beans with their liquid, like Bush’s Original Baked Beans. The rest of the ingredients add a lot of flavor so you don’t need any of the fancy combinations that are out there. You’ll also need a can of kidney beans and pinto beans, rinsed and drained.
- Ketchup
- Yellow mustard – Good, old-fashioned prepared yellow mustard.
- Brown sugar
- Seasoning – Smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Adjust the amount of cayenne for mildly spicy to very spicy baked beans.
How to Make Spicy Baked Beans
- Cook the bacon in a Dutch oven until browned and then transfer it to paper towels to drain. Drain all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease from the pot and return it to the heat.
- Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, and jalapeno pepper. Cook, stirring, until the onion and peppers are tender.
- Crumble the bacon and add it to the pot along with all the beans, ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper.
- Cover the Dutch oven and bake at 350 degrees F. for one hour.
Controlling the Heat Level
As written, this recipe results in baked beans that are in the mild to medium heat range. For milder beans, trim the ribs and remove all the seeds from the jalapeno and omit the cayenne pepper. For spicy beans, feel free to increase the amount of cayenne to suit your taste.
Make-Ahead Instructions
Baked beans reheat very well and can be made up to two days in advance.
- Allow the cooked beans to cool and then transfer them to an airtight container and refrigerate promptly.
- Reheat them gently on the stove or covered in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes, or just until warmed through.
Alternate Slow Cooker Instructions
Prepare the beans on the stove, as directed and then transfer them to a 6-quart or larger slow cooker. Cook on low for 3 hours at the most, stirring about halfway through the cooking time. Canned beans are already cooked so you want to avoid cooking them longer than 3 hours in a slow cooker or they can take on a mushy texture.
How to Freeze Baked Beans
Transfer the cooked and cooled beans to freezer-safe containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Allow frozen beans to thaw safely in the refrigerator before reheating.
More Bean Recipes You’ll Love
Spicy Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 6 slices bacon
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 small green or red bell pepper, diced
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded as desired and diced
- 56 ounces Bush's Best Original Baked Beans, undrained (2 28-ounce cans)
- 15 ounces canned kidney beans, drained
- 15 ounces canned pinto beans, drained
- 1 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons mustard
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 5 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place a Dutch oven over MEDIUM-HIGH heat and add the bacon. Cook until browned and crisped. Transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain, allow to cool, and then crumble and set aside.
- Drain all but about 2 tablespoons bacon grease from the pot and return it to MEDIUM heat. Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, and jalapeno pepper and cook, stirring, until the onion and peppers are tender. Return the crumbled bacon to the Dutch oven. Mix in the canned baked beans with their liquid and the drained kidney and pinto beans. Stir in the ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper.
- Cover the Dutch oven and bake for one hour. Stir the beans once about halfway through the cooking time.
Slow Cooker Method
- Prepare the beans on the stove, as directed and then transfer them to a 6-quart or larger slow cooker. Cook on low for 3 hours at the most, stirring about halfway through the cooking time. Canned beans are already cooked so you want to avoid cooking them longer than 3 hours in a slow cooker or they can take on a mushy texture.
Notes
- Allow the cooked beans to cool and then transfer them to an airtight container and refrigerate promptly.
- Reheat them gently on the stove or covered in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes, or just until warmed through.
- Transfer the cooked and cooled beans to freezer-safe containers and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Allow frozen beans to thaw safely in the refrigerator before reheating.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
More Easy Summer Side Dishes
This post was originally published on May 22, 2013. It has been updated with new text and images.
This recipe for Spicy Baked Beans was a huge hit at my nephew’s 40th birthday celebration! The only substitution I made was out of necessity, I did not want to make another trip to the store because of our snow-packed roads. I was almost out of ketsup so I filled the rest of my 1-cup measure with 3/4 C. Smokey Kansas City style BBQ sauce! The added smokey flavor to the beans was delicious! Thank you for this recipe. It is a keeper!
So happy it was a success! Thanks for the tips. 🙂
I just made the overnight version-after 22 hours in the oven I sneaked a taste-heaven! Thank you.
We absolutely love your recipe for Spicy Baked Beans. This is the second time I’ve made it. The first time was for a big BBQ and everybody raved about them! Katie loved them so much that she had them for breakfast the next day! We will make this recipe year round. Thanks a bunch! Linda and Bill
Oh, we love those beans too. I’m so glad you guys loved them! Thanks, Linda 🙂
I am planning a surprise bday for my husband and am going to make this bean recipe in the crock pot. He loves spicy food!
Thank you for this recipe!
I made these beans for our Memorial Day BBQ and they are so good! I left a lot of the seeds and membranes intact on the jalapeno and they were very spicy but so, so, yummy! Happy Birthday to your husband and I hope he enjoys them 🙂
Just found the recipe and followed it exactly! It was just what my husband wanted, he has grown tired of the typical sweet baked beans. He just tasted them and gave a big thumbs up! I haven’t taken them to the party, yet but sure to be coming home with an empty pan! Thanks Valerie
I’m just about to get these started myself! I’m so glad the recipe worked out for you. Enjoy 🙂
Perfect for this weekend! What a fabulous pot of beans! Have a great weekend Valerie!
We LOVE Bush’s beans in this house so it makes me so happy that you used them in this dynamite recipe, Valerie! I am so cookin’ up these spicy beans for my next BBQ. Great recipe that will def. appeal to the guys in my life!