Southern-Style Baked Beans with Bacon (2024)

A classic Southern-style baked beans recipe made with brown sugar topped with crispy bacon.

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You know how you lay slices of bacon on top of baked beans and they cook up all glorious? Except that they shrink up so much that when the beans are done only the center of your dish has bacon? And you’ll have like 5 slices but it’s impossible to cut them with the serving spoon so only 5 people actually get the bacon.

And the other people are walking around mumbling under their breath like, That heifer just had to get that last slice of bacon.

And, He was all ‘ooops, didn't mean to snag that bacon but oh well!’ knowing good and well he hooked it with his thumb.

And, That youngin ain't got no raisin’ taking that bacon like that. His mama ought to teach him better. Bless her heart.

There are the recipes that call for cooking the bacon first and crumbling it on top. But, as I've said many, many times around here, ain't nobody got time for that. So here’s what I do! I mix up my very favorite baked beans then top them with a gozillion nuggets of bacon that crisp up and work their magic while the beans are cooking.

End result? Bacon for everyone!

HOW TO COOK SOUTHERN-STYLE BAKED BEANS

Mix together ketchup, barbeque sauce, brown sugar, mustard, worcestershire sauce, Liquid Smoke, garlic and pepper then set aside.
Open each can of beans then pour off all the standing liquid in the top of the can then gently stir beans into the ketchup mixture. Pour into a shallow baking dish.
Cut bacon into 1/2 inch pieces then place pieces evenly in a single layer on top of bean.
Bake beans, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 1 to 1.5 hours or until bacon is cooked through and starting to crisp.

NOTES ABOUT MAKING SOUTHERN-STYLE BAKED BEANS

In the recipe card, you’ll notice I call for canned “plain pork and beans”. What I mean by that is we just want plain jane pork and beans, not “baked beans” or “barbeque beans” or anything fancy like that as they’re already jazzed up. I usually buy Van Camp’s or Libby’s.
We’re going to pour off the standing liquid in the cans to ensure our beans are rich and thick. Be sure to keep the cans upright until you’re ready to cook. You want all the liquid to settle on top so you can pour it off easily.
Once the bacon is cut into small pieces, I like to kinda crumple each piece a bit when topping the beans instead of laying the bacon pieces flat over the beans – like little inchworms (the cute ride-on toys from the 80’s not actual worms). This is totally optional but it makes the finished dish look extra gorgeous!

Recipe for Southern Style Baked Beans with Bacon