This baked beans recipe tastes so similar to Heinz it’s almost scary. Except homemade baked beans don’t have underlying tones of artificial flavour, and the sauce isn’t slimy which I really hate about canned baked beans!
These British baked beans can be made with dried or canned beans. Quick and easy, very economical and utterly addictive!
Heinz baked beans recipe
So there’s no misunderstanding, let me explain upfront that this recipe is for British style baked beans which comes in a semi-clear tomato sauce and is traditionally served for breakfast. It’s completely different to Southern Baked Beans which is a Southern food staple and comes with a darker, more intense flavoured sweet/savoury sauce.
Specifically, this recipe today is a copycat of Heinz baked beans. A British export, firmly adopted by Aussies as a breakfast-lunch-dinner staple.
Crack open a can, tip it over toast and microwave – that was the standard method.
Heating it up in a saucepan was the posh method. Add a slice of cheese – now that was getting real fancy!
I think we have the evolution of cooking shows and rise and rise of the internet to thank for the discovery of homemade versions of canned food favourites. And for me, homemade baked beans was one of the greatest eye openers. How simple it is. And how much tastier it is.
And as someone who always had an issue with the sliminess of the Heinz baked beans sauce, discovering homemade baked beans was revolutionary! 😂
What you need to make baked beans from scratch
Here’s what you need to make baked beans from scratch:
Canned vs dried beans
You can make this baked beans recipe with dried or canned beans. The base recipe uses dried beans because:
you can’t get canned navy beans / haricot beans here in Australia, you can only get dried (as far as I am aware); and
cooked dried beans taste better, and you can control the texture. Canned beans are always bloated from sitting in liquid, so they’re on the soft side.
Beans used for Baked Beans
Navy beans, also known as Haricot Beans, are the beans used in commercially produced canned baked beans. They are white beans that are slightly smaller than Cannellini beans.
However, any small to medium beans will work just fine here. They don’t even need to be white!
Chicken vs vegetable stock/broth
Chicken stock gives the sauce a better flavour because it has more complex flavours than vegetable stock because it’s made from meat. It doesn’t make this dish taste “chicken-like” or meaty once cooked.
However, vegetable stock does work fine but for best results, I recommend using homemade vegetable stock (it’s the easiest of all stocks to make, and really worth doing homemade).
How to make baked beans from scratch
It is literally a “mix it all in the pot and simmer” job.
The only thing to do at the end is to add cornflour/cornstarch to thicken the sauce. This needs to be done at the end because excess stirring or prolonged cooking over heat makes cornflour lose its thickening powers (in case you were wondering why cornflour is always added at the end of recipes!!)
How to serve baked beans
Traditionally thought of as a side for breakfast (think a big English breakfast with poached, fried or scrambled eggs, bacon, mushrooms, sausages and toast) or piled onto toast (try adding CHEESE!). But there’s so much more we can do with baked beans to make it an economical, seriously delicious meal! Here are a few suggestions:
Chicken and beans – sprinkle chicken (or any chops, or sausages) with salt and pepper. Pan fry in butter. Serve with baked beans on the side which will act as the “sauce” as well as the starch for dinner;
Sausage and beans – either slice smoked sausages, squeeze the filling out of sausage casings or use ground sausage. Cook it in a pot, add baked beans, stir through spinach = dinner in a pot!
Stuff baked potatoes (add cheese to this too!)
As a side for any dinner – serve it as the starch on a dinner plate. Beans are low in GI so they’ll keep you fuller for longer!
Emergency nachos – pile over corn chips and add a ton of cheese. How can you go wrong??
Stuff an omelette – yep, really. Make an omelette and stuff it with cheesy baked beans!
Breads for dunking
Here are a few bread options – for toasting, dunking, mopping! The first 3 breads are all ideal for slicing > toasting > smothering with baked beans.
For me personally, I like to serve it in a bowl with bread for dunking. The whole “smother toast” thing doesn’t do it for me because I like to eat toast with my hands (well, put another way, I hate using a knife and fork for toast).
And if you pile baked beans over toast, eating it with your hands is messy business.
So I prefer the bowl method – spoon + bread for dunking. Practical and effective! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Watch how to make this baked beans recipe – and see how truly similar it is to Heinz baked beans!
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Homemade Heinz Baked Beans
Ingredients
Beans – choose ONE (Note 1):
- 2 cups (14 oz) dried Navy beans (aka Haricot) or other white beans
- 3 x 400g/14oz cans harricot/navy beans, cannellini or any white beans , drained
Baked beans:
- 2 cups chicken stock/broth , low sodium, OR homemade vegetable stock (Note 2)
- 1 cup water
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 6 tbsp ketchup or Aussie/British tomato sauce (Note 3)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder (or more onion powder)
- 1/2 tsp onion powder (or more garlic powder)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
Sauce thickening:
- 8 tsp cornflour / cornstarch
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
Cook dried beans:
- No need to do these steps if using canned beans, start with Step 1 under "Baked Beans" below.
- Soak beans in a big bowl of water for 8 – 24 hrs, then drain.
- Skim foam – Place beans in a large pot of water over high heat. Bring to a simmer, then skim off foam.
- Simmer Reduce heat so it's simmering gently (medium or medium low). Partially cover with lid (leaving a crack for steam to escape), then cook for 1 – 1.5 hrs until just tender. (Start checking at 45 min). Beans should be still slightly firm on inside (they're cooked more in the sauce). Drain, use per recipe.
Baked Beans:
- Mix – Place all Baked Beans ingredients in a pot (except beans) and stir, then add beans.
- Simmer – Bring to a simmer, then lower heat to medium low and simmer for 20 minutes, without the lid. Stir every now and then so the beans don't catch on the bottom of the pot.
Thicken sauce:
- Mix cornflour with water. Pour into pot while stirring, then cook for 2 minutes until sauce thickens – it will thicken quickly. (Note 3)
- Check for salt: Taste and add more salt if needed.
- Serve it the traditional way – piled over hot buttered toast. Or ladle into bowls, eat with a spoon and dunk in hot crusty bread! Popular breads – simple crusty Artisan bread, Irish Soda Bread (No yeast) and No Yeast Sandwich Bread
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published May 2014. Updated with more streamlined, better recipe (skipped unnecessary extras that didn’t add to the end result), new photos, new video and Life of Dozer section added in May 2020!
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This recipe is awesome. I usually have to stock up when I return to the UK. I shan’t bother in future as your version tastes so much better and minus any ingredients I don’t like the sound of!
I didn’t realize how much this would make. Any idea how I can’t store these for more than a few days? Can I freeze them?
While they are similar to Heinz, there’s a slight difference that I can’t put my finger on. I will make them again though!
This was so much better than canned beans and so easy to make. Thanks for another great recipe.
I’m not a massive fan of canned baked beans and neither is the family, but I thought I’d give this recipe a shot to see if they were nicer…they sure were! Very tasty! I think this recipe will stick.
Oh. These beans are the best. I actually drank the sauce. I like baked beans but this recipe elevates British BB to a whole new level. Sodabread. More like a scone but fine with peanut butter.
I make this very often! A big hit! Can wait for your book in Greece! Thanks Nagi!
As a British person, I would say that the use of baked beans with breakfast is a minority pursuit. Few people eat full English or Scottish breakfasts today.
Instead they are much more often served as beans on toast as a snack or light meal. However the beans are not put on toast and then microwaved. They are microwaved and then put on toast!
Hi. Beans are excellent. Can I put them in jars and process the so they don’t require refrigeration. Best, Lina
I have made these quite a few times. They are way better than store bought canned beans. Thank you!
I cooked my Navy Beans for 20 minutes in a pressure cooker to shorten the cooking time. What a delightful recipe. This is a keeper.
Hi Nagi,
I love this recipe, and I grew up eating Heinz and bachelors beans. Do you have a different recipe for the batches Beans?
I followed your instructions, exactly, and I even gave the cook time extra, but for the life of me, I cannot soften the beans, and I feel like my sauce has dried out a little. Any tips?
Thanks Monica đź’•
Hi. You need to soak beans overnight with baking soda and water.
Did you get a response or anywhere with softening the beans? I’m having the same issue. I used tinned beans but they’re so hard
Hi Again,
That was supposed to read, do you have another recipe for batchelors baked beans ?
Thanks, Monica
Can these be stored in sterilised jars instead of freezer
These are fantastic. I just canned a bunch using this recipe (but without thickening the sauce) and the usda bean canning instructions. The beans released starch and thickened the sauce while pressure canning and they taste just like Heinz but at a fraction of the price!
I made this recipe as written. It is delicious!! The directions are clear and complete. Thank you for putting in the dried bean alternative.
This recipe bangs! Better than Heinz! Poured over jacket potato, perfect. I was able to halve everything, as it was just for me and the toddler, and it worked well. Ta very much Nagi!
Can you freeze them?
Heinz are now €1.75 a tin in Spain so I just made these, wow they’re yummy and a real taste of home (UK).
Thank you for this great stuff.
Will be making it now and promise to report my success.
Made this today and it is delicious. Heinz beans are now $4 a can here, so it saves a bundle to cook them from scratch.
Made this recipe twice now. Once with Navy beans and another time with Great Northern. The great northerns fell apart a little more but still tasted great. This recipe is just like the Heinz back in Australia.
This was amazing. I did it in the Instant Pot – put all the ingredients as listed and put on high pressure for an hour with 10mins release. They turned out perfectly.