Molasses Baked Beans are wonderfully rich in flavor and the perfect addition to your next cookout. So sweet, smoky, and delicious. A combination of pulled pork and bacon gives them lots of meaty flavor.
A mixture of BBQ sauce, brown sugar, and molasses plus cayenne pepper create a wonderful blend of sweet and spicy.
The smoky flavor from the bacon and pulled pork makes these beans taste like they were simmered on an open fire. Makes a great side for burgers, hot dogs, BBQ chicken, ribs, or pulled pork. This is a super easy recipe to make with 2 cans of pork and beans. You’ll want to cook this baked bean recipe in the oven for about an hour to really develop the flavors. For the first half of cooking, you’ll cook them covered. Then cook them uncovered to get them thickened up some and let the bacon crisp up.
These Baked Beans with Molasses are right up there with Baked Beans with Smoked Sausage when it comes to my favorite baked beans. If you are looking for a slow cooker baked bean recipe, try these Slow Cooker Bourbon Baked Beans.
Why Is Molasses Used in Baked Beans?
Molasses adds a wonderful sweetness to baked beans, but less so than brown sugar does. It also has a complexity of flavor than you get with brown sugar. As an added bonus, it gives the beans a dark, rich-looking color.
Molasses Baked Beans Recipe Tips
- The pulled pork can be left out but I really love it in these beans. You can use leftover pulled pork or you can use pulled pork that you purchase from your local bbq restaurant. If you leave the pork out, you may want to add a few extra slices of bacon.
- If you like your beans thick, bake the beans for a little longer than the recipe suggests. If you like soupier beans, bake for a little less time.
- Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 5 days or can be frozen for 2 months.
Here are some more great side dishes for your next cookout:
- Buttermilk Coleslaw
- Jalapeno Popper Deviled Eggs
- Southern Potato Salad
- BBQ Ranch Pasta Salad
- Creamy Italian Cucumber Salad
Watch the short video below to see how easy this recipe is to make.
Molasses Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 2 (28-ounce) cans baked beans, I use Bush's
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1/3 cup finely diced green bell pepper
- 1/2 cup BBQ Sauce, I use Stubb's
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper leave out if you don't want it spicy
- 1 cup chopped pulled pork
- 6 slices bacon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients except bacon. Transfer to prepared baking dish.
- Lay bacon strips across the top.
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.Uncover and bake another 20 to 30 minutes. (If bacon is not crispy you can turn the broiler on for a few minutes.)
Notes
Nutrition
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Which Bush bean flavor?
You can use whichever is your favorite.
A minor point, but molasses is somewhat acidic and will inhibit the softening of beans if you try to do this with raw beans (even fully soaked raw beans). Thus it is important that you use pre-cooked beans, or if you want to use raw beans that you fully cook them until they have the texture that you want at service, before you add any acidic components to the sauce.
I’ve made these for our homeless shelter, at home, at pot lucks. This is the real deal. So filling.
Love this recipe, will make it again.
Best we have ever had thankyou for sharing!!!
Is there anyway to make this without using canned beans and premade BBQ sauce? If you’re going through the effort of making “homemade” bakes beans why use canned?
The best beans were B&M. Do you have any Recipes that would be close to them
Bush says their Boston have molasses, but they’re out of stock everywhere around here.
Awesome baked beans! The best I ever made thank you !!
Good morning to you !
My first post on here and I do enjoy your recipes. I have made the above only just yesterday but have made it for years, essentially adding a few cloves of fresh garlic sauteed first. I don’t lay bacon over the top.. it is cookd separately and added later with onion and garlic. Also, the original recipe I had found uses a combo of spices called “Magic Dust”. Never added the chopped pulled pork but will definitely try that ! Can’t wait to put this in the oven. Perfect side for a gathering ( which not too many of us are having as of late). Thanks for a keeper.