Girl Gone Gourmet

Easy Recipes for Every Occasion

  • Home
  • About
    • Contact
    • Cookbook
    • Get the GGG Recipe Newsletter!
    • Work with Me
    • Press
    • Privacy Policy
  • Course
    • Main Dishes
    • Side Dishes
    • Appetizers
    • Salads
    • Desserts
    • Breakfast
    • Drinks
  • Ingredient
    • Pasta
    • Chicken
    • Beef Recipes
    • Pork
    • Fish & Seafood
    • Turkey
    • Meat-Free
  • Recipe Collections
    • Comfort Food Recipes
    • Quick & Easy
    • Slow Cooker
    • One-Pot
    • Soups, Stews and Chili
    • Game Day Recipes
    • Recipes for One or Two
    • Instant Pot
    • Recipe Round-Ups
  • Holiday Recipes
    • Easter
    • Cinco de Mayo
    • Memorial Day Weekend
    • 4th of July
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
  • Season
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Fall
    • Winter

May 11, 2016Updated: April 28, 2022

Baked Black Beans

Skip To RecipePrint Recipe

These baked black beans with smoky bacon are a great side dish for BBQs, potlucks, and other summer get-togethers! Canned black beans make this recipe so easy. The beans cook in a sweet and smoky sauce made with a generous amount of bacon, chili powder, apple cider vinegar, and brown sugar. Serve these beans with all of your favorite BBQ dishes.

overhead shot of baked black beans.

Table of contents

  • Ingredients
  • Recipe Steps
  • Recipe Tips and Tricks
  • More Side Dishes

Corporate life, also known as that other life I live outside this blog, is often measured by how long it is until the next company recognized holiday and, for me, the long trek between MLK Day in January to Memorial Day weekend is the equivalent of crossing the Pacific Ocean in a paddle boat.

Are we there yet?

Thankfully, we are almost there and our corporate holiday drought will end with a celebratory long weekend, sunshine (fingers crossed), and a BBQ to welcome the start of summer. There’ll be hot dogs, hamburgers, Lays Original potato chips, ice-cold beer, and the most important BBQ side dish of them all, baked beans.

In this case, sweet and smoky baked black beans.

ingredients for the recipe.

Despite everything I know about dry beans, I can never quite get organized enough to use them in recipes. Let’s face it, cooking with dried beans takes planning and a serious time commitment, both of which I’m not into right now, so I’m happy to use good-quality canned beans instead, which means this is an easy baked black bean recipe.

Ingredients

  • Thick-cut bacon
  • Diced bell pepper
  • Chopped onion
  • Minced garlic
  • Chili powder
  • Dried oregano
  • Ground mustard
  • Kosher salt
  • Brown sugar
  • Black pepper
  • Apple cider vinegar
  • Molasses
  • Canned black beans

Recipe Steps

Except for a little bit of veggie chopping, this recipe is mostly a dump and stir. It starts on the stovetop where all the smoky bacon, onion, garlic, and bell pepper cook together in a large pan or Dutch oven.

  • bacon cooking in a pan.
  • vegetables and bacon cooking in a pan.
  • molasses and other ingredients added to the pan.

Apple cider vinegar, molasses, brown sugar, chili powder, and a few other pantry spices make up the sauce. Drain the beans and then add them before the whole pot goes in the oven where it bubbles and reduces for an hour or so.

  • black beans added to the pan.
  • beans ready to go into the oven.

Thanks to the black bean short-cut there’s no waiting around for three to four hours for this side-dish deliciousness. After about an hour in the oven, they’re ready to serve.

Recipe Tips and Tricks

  • This recipe works will all kinds of beans so switch them up if you like. Pinto beans, white beans, even chickpeas or lentils would work although the last two aren’t the usual suspects in baked beans.
  • You can add other ingredients to dress it up – try adding some chopped cilantro or parsley, chopped jalapeno, or ground cumin to up the smoky factor.
  • These baked black beans keep really well, so if you have leftovers just pop them in an airtight container and keep them in the fridge. They will keep for several days.
  • The first time I made a big batch of these wonderful beans, they were even better the next day after all the flavors married together overnight in the fridge. I may or may not have heated some the next morning and piled them on a tortilla with a fried egg. It was delicious.
  • You can also make the dish ahead. Do everything a day in advance but don’t bake them. Cover them and refrigerate them instead. When you’re ready to bake them pop them in the oven – you may need to add a little extra cooking time.

I hope you love this black bean recipe! It’s a nice change from classic baked beans and the flavors go with all the summer main dishes. Enjoy!

Happy Cooking,

April
baked black beans in a pan.

More Side Dishes

  • 30 Summer Side Dishes
  • Lemon-Honey Glazed Carrots
  • Orzo Pasta Salad
  • Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges
  • Slow Cooker Baked Beans – from The Goodie Godmother
  • Easiest Instant Pot Baked Beans – from Crunchy, Creamy, Sweet
Print

Baked Black Beans

overhead shot of baked black beans.
Print Recipe
Save Recipe Recipe Saved

★★★★★

4.8 from 5 reviews

This recipe is adapted from one published online by the New York Times. Instead of using dried navy beans, which need to soak and then cook for several hours, I used canned black beans which shorten the cooking time considerably. The beans cook in a sweet and smoky sauce made with a generous amount of bacon, chili powder, apple cider vinegar, and brown sugar. Serve these beans with all of your favorite BBQ dishes.

  • Author: April Anderson
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
  • Yield: 8 servings 1x
  • Category: Side Dishes
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale
  • 6 slices thick cut bacon, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 bell pepper, diced
  • 1 small yellow onion, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon ground mustard
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup molasses
  • 2 (15-oz) cans black beans, drained and rinsed

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F degrees.
  2. In a dutch oven or large oven-safe pot, cook the bacon over medium heat until it starts to brown. Add the bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Cook the vegetables until they soften for about five or so minutes.
  3. Add the chili powder, dried oregano, ground mustard, salt, pepper, and brown sugar. Stir it all together and cook another two minutes.
  4. Add the apple cider vinegar, molasses, and black beans. Stir everything to combine and then add water until it just covers the beans (about a 1/2 cup depending on the size of your pot).
  5. Transfer the pot, uncovered, to the preheated oven. bake the beans for approximately one hour, or until the sauce has thickened.

Nutrition

  • Calories: 270
  • Sugar: 19.5g
  • Sodium: 876.4mg
  • Fat: 9g
  • Carbohydrates: 38.7g
  • Fiber: 8.3g
  • Protein: 9.6g

Keywords: baked black beans

Never Miss a Recipe!

📧 Sign up for the Girl Gone Gourmet Newsletter and get recipes delivered to your inbox

Post and photos updated from the archives. First published in May 2016.


14 Comments

About April Anderson

I’m a passionate home cook, cookbook author, recipe developer, freelance writer, food photographer, and dog mom ❤ I garnish (almost) everything with parsley and believe you can make deliciously amazing dishes with everyday ingredients.

« Creamy Pesto Tortellini with Roasted Mushrooms & Tomatoes
No-Bake Cheesecake Parfaits »

Comments

  1. Rob says

    September 25, 2020 at 1:25 pm

    I used this recipe as a base and did a 20 minutes stovetop version. Rave reviews! I’m always modding recipes but am sure if i actually followed the instructions (subbing something for the molasses) it would be awesome. Thanks for sharing!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • April Anderson says

      September 25, 2020 at 2:24 pm

      Glad you liked it! Thank you for the rating, too 🙂

      Reply
  2. Deylah says

    April 9, 2020 at 12:55 pm

    What do you recommend I use, if I have no molasses on hand?

    Reply
    • April Anderson says

      April 11, 2020 at 9:22 am

      You can sub the same amount of maple syrup – or you could try the same amount of honey. I haven’t tried these subs but it will change the flavor – hope that helps.

      Reply
  3. Beth says

    April 14, 2019 at 2:44 pm

    This was absolutely delicious! I only put a dash of chili powder in as I live with heat phobic people. I used about 2/3 a pack of bacon (not thick slice) and drained most of the grease or before gong on to the next step. The final dish was heavenly. I recommend people double the recipe if they are going to make this!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • April says

      April 16, 2019 at 3:51 pm

      So glad you liked it!

      Reply
  4. Lonnie says

    September 30, 2018 at 11:08 am

    Really liked this recipe! The blend of flavors is stellar – I’ve served them both warm and cold and they are delicious!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  5. Stephanie says

    July 7, 2018 at 2:38 pm

    Using the slow cooker simplifies cooking with dried beans. I like to soak the dried beans anywhere from 12-24 hours to improve digestibility, then drain and cook in slow cooker 8 hours low. Then drain the water, add the rest of the baked bean ingredients and cook low 4-8 hours. You can also take the beans out of the slow cooker and use stovetop, or freeze in batches for future use. It takes some planning ahead but you can soak all day or overnight, cook beans all day or overnight, then have cooked beans ready to go. 1 1/2 cups of beans equals one 15 oz can. Thanks for a great recipe.

    Reply
    • Carol says

      February 2, 2020 at 8:09 am

      I am also of the mind to use dried beans as well. I find that the soaking is not so time consuming and flavour is so much better. After making huge batches and having some to put in freezer, as well, I am convinced that it is worth the effort to make the beauty beans from scratch.

      Reply
  6. Marc says

    May 29, 2018 at 2:49 pm

    I was dismayed to find out that I didn’t have any canned pinto beans in my pantry and the ribs were coming out in 75min. This recipe saved our dinner and we really enjoyed it. My only comment is beware of the molasses you use. Ours left a bitter after taste. I’m reasonably sure that our Wholesome’s Organic Molasses was to blame. It’s good for some things, but not the best choice for this recipe.

    ★★★★

    Reply
  7. Molly says

    April 13, 2018 at 9:27 am

    These have a really good smoky flavor – thanks for the recipe!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  8. Patty says

    July 7, 2016 at 3:41 pm

    Excellent recipe My friends all loved it. Thank you

    Reply
    • April says

      July 7, 2016 at 4:39 pm

      Thanks so much for letting me know, Patty – your comment made my day 🙂

      Reply
  9. Vivian | stayaliveandcooking says

    May 11, 2016 at 6:26 am

    This looks like such a delicious side dish! Lately I’ve been eating beans more and more (instead of meat/potatoes/rice/pasta e.g.) and I’m surprised at how versatile they actually are. Great share, will remember this one! 😀

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Welcome to Girl Gone Gourmet

Hi, I’m April! Welcome to my food world where I share easy recipes made with everyday ingredients ❤ Whether you’re looking for great dinner recipes or ideas for breakfast, appetizers, sides, or desserts, I have so many delicious recipes to share with you! Learn more… 

Trending Recipes

Dinner for One: Easy Pasta with Olive Oil & Garlic
Creamy Poblano Chicken Enchiladas
Italian Sandwich Sliders
Truffle Mushroom Pasta
Eggplant Casserole
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta - Quick & Easy!
No Bean Chili (Slow Cooker)
Easy Dinner Recipes for Two
Breaded Baked Chicken

You might also like

pesto pasta

Creamy Pesto Sauce

a stack of cucumber avocado wraps on a plate.

Cucumber Avocado Wraps

a bowl of white bean soup.

Italian White Bean Soup

honey mustard salmon in foil on a sheet pan.

Honey Mustard Salmon

a pan of meatball stroganoff.

Meatball Stroganoff

About Girl Gone Gourmet * Recipes * Newsletter Sign Up * Gourmet Cooking for One (or Two) * Media Mentions * Web Stories * Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Girl Gone Gourmet

Girl Gone GourmetLogo Header Menu
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact
    • Cookbook
    • Get the GGG Recipe Newsletter!
    • Work with Me
    • Press
    • Privacy Policy
  • Course
    • Main Dishes
    • Side Dishes
    • Appetizers
    • Salads
    • Desserts
    • Breakfast
    • Drinks
  • Ingredient
    • Pasta
    • Chicken
    • Beef Recipes
    • Pork
    • Fish & Seafood
    • Turkey
    • Meat-Free
  • Recipe Collections
    • Comfort Food Recipes
    • Quick & Easy
    • Slow Cooker
    • One-Pot
    • Soups, Stews and Chili
    • Game Day Recipes
    • Recipes for One or Two
    • Instant Pot
    • Recipe Round-Ups
  • Holiday Recipes
    • Easter
    • Cinco de Mayo
    • Memorial Day Weekend
    • 4th of July
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
  • Season
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Fall
    • Winter