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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Hi – I made this recipe and it was really good thank you. I’m going to make it again and I’m thinking about adding one of those packets of instant Parmesan cheese or something to make it like cheesy baked beans. I thought I would stir it through at the end of the process. Would this be your recommendation? It would be good to get it right so that I could do big batches of cheesy baked beans and freeze for the kids. Any suggestions please?
If you’re going too add parmesan than I would add the real thing – I’m not a big fan of that dried packet parmesan! But cheesy beans do sound delicious!! N x
Could these be done in a pressure cooker? I have a 6-qt Instant Pot.
Do you dark brown sugar or light brown sugar?
Made this with small red kidney beans and was excellent. Now I am doing it with the navy beans. Both my wife and myself loved the taste thank you.
Either one would be fine here Robert! N x
I hate baked beans – never got why people loved them. I was very skeptical to make this, but had a lot of dried beans that I needed to get through.
OH MY GOODNESS – so good. Whole family loved it (we ended up having it for dinner with fried eggs and Pane di casa toasted bread). Baby, Toddler and husband approved. You have redeemed baked beans for me, Nagi!
Yay!! That’s great Grace!! N x
I made these today! My husband is from England and where we are, the Heinz beans aren’t easily procured. Pork and beans are the equivalent and they are totally different!
These are a win! My mil is flying next month and this is my surprise for her! I want to see what she says about them too.😊
Oh wow – be sure to report back on the MIL British feedback! Enjoy!! N x
I prefer SPC no added salt beans over Heinz. Have you tried them ?
And we love a fried egg and HP sauce on ours with a good thick multigrain toast.
Oh yes…everything is better with HP! The fried egg is also key! N x
Looooove this recipe! Thanks so much Nagi!! So “Baked Beans” aren’t actually “baked” lol!! Love from Down Under! ;D
That’s great Deb! I’m glad you enjoyed it!! N x
Hi. Nagi. I do not have Apple cider vinegar, just ordinary is it ok to use? Pauline
Yes that’s fine Pauline! N x
I love this recipe! The first time I made it it was a touch too sweet for my taste, I reduced the brown sugar to 2 tbsp in my second batch and found the ‘sweet spot’ 😉 tasted better than Heinz in my opinion
I love to hear “better than Heinz!!!” N x
I have made beans with this recipe twice and they were wonderful. Much better than store bought. I am soaking beans now to cook tomorrow.
I freeze them and give to friends who love them.
Thank you Nagi.
You are a star!
I am glad that you like them so much Steve! N x
Just wow!
This is better than shop brought beans, I’ve tried a few online recipes, this one is perfect, it’s my go to recipe now, I now longer by baked beans. What I like it you can add any beans to this
It’s fairly versatile Nick! I’m glad you like it!! N x
Amazing taste. Thought i wouldn’t be able to have a nice jacket potato since i have a heart condition and the canned beans are too salty. Used low sodium ketchup and left out the salt and it still worked out great
Best baked beans recipe I’ve tried. I can’t thank you enough. I had to use bigger beans but the flavour was still great.
I’m English by birth but have lived in the USA for over 38 years. I’ve never come to terms with how sweet USA baked beans are and have occasionally purchased imported UK Heinz beans at an eye watering price when a craving has hit. But these – these are delicious and I wish I’d found this recipe before.
I suspect that if you are used to USA style baked beans you might find these not sweet enough. But I thought they were great. Thank you.
That’s how we do them in Australia too Jennifer! I am glad that you enjoyed them! N x
Nagi… (or anyone who can answer) can this recipe be converted to use in the instant pot easily? I’m thinking the cornflour won’t be necessary? Thanks!
Never had the need to use cornflour, I boil the beans until they are almost cooked, then make the sauce and put more water in the pot that is on the recipe. The natural starch from the beans thickens the sauce perfectly.
Thanks Stephanie 😊
I cooked the beans in the instant pot (pressure cooker) and didn’t need any cornflour.
Have made it twice and my kids like it better than tinned. Winning!
Hey Nagi. I am a fan of your recipes and truly love your posts and comments. I live in the deep south – south Georgia, USA. I am so glad that your instructions on these beans tell to drain the water the beans were soaked in and use fresh to cook them with. My Daddy calls it “rolling a log over them”. (He is 91 yrs young). It’s an old southern colloquialism . It means to squish the ummmm….farts out of them? Sorry but that’s what it means! Ha! 🙂 LOL I know, I know. Looking forward to your cookbook. Hey to Dozer!
Hey Kat – I am loving that and it is the key to good bean prep! – Australians have some killer expressions too!! Where are you from in GA? I have some mates from that neck of the woods! N x
Albany Georgia, USA
Some of your recipes remind me of ones that I grew up with. 🙂 I am always looking for simple recipes that are from scratch.
My friend is from Columbus – see the peach cobbler post as that is one she worked on! https://www.recipetineats.com/peach-cobbler/ It’s the real deal!! N x
I love baked beans, like i’m in love with bake beans, the moist red liquid covering the precious gold is just sensational, would reckomend since i’ve only had baked beans since in was 3 years 37 days old mhmhm (Chef’s Kiss)
I’m english and LOVE my baked beans, especially Heinz. This is a fantastic recipe – being able to reduce the sugar ( I used Coconut sugar as I’m diabetic ) is a bonus as well as knowing exacyly what the ingredients are. I think they’re BETTER than Heinz ! Thankyou
Made these this morning, they’re great. Very easy, and very similar to Heinz, but better (I think the key is to use a good quality.apple cider). I can imagine all sorts of things that could be added to this like cheese, leftover ham hock, smoked pork etc.
Hi. I love your recipes. As a type 2 diabetic I am concerned about the sugar in baked beans. The corn starch, as a high GI refined carb, isn’t ideal either. Do you have a sugar free version diabetics can make at home? The commercial SF offerings are far too expensive, and I can’t stand the stevia aftertaste, but do fine with sucralose.