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.
Specifically for me, I always had an issue with the sliminess of the Heinz baked beans sauce. No sliminess with homemade! 
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!
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 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!) 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!
For me personally, I like to serve it in a bowl with bread for dunking. The whole “pour over 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. – 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!
Homemade Heinz Baked Beans
Ingredients
Beans - choose ONE (Note 1):
- 2 cups (14 oz / 400g) dried Navy beans (aka Haricot) or other white beans
- 3 cans harricot/navy beans, cannellini or any white beans , drained (400g/14oz cans)
Baked beans:
- 2 cups chicken stock/broth (low sodium), veg also ok
- 1 cup water
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 6 tbsp ketchup or Aussie/British tomato sauce (Note 2)
- 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:
-
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 so), cover then cook for 1 - 1.5 hrs until just tender, still slightly firm on inside - the beans are cooked more in the sauce. (Start checking at 45 minutes). 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. 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!
Notes
Originally published May 2014. Updated with new photos, new video and Life of Dozer section added in May 2020!
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