Use canned beans to cut down on time, while still making party-worthy baked beans on the stovetop. Richly flavored with molasses and brown sugar, these beans won’t disappoint.

Photography Credit: Sally Vargas

As an early experimental cook, I decided to make baked beans from scratch, a project that entails soaking dry beans overnight and then cooking them in a sweet, sticky broth for six to eight hours.

As good as they were (and they were really good!), I don’t want to turn on the oven for eight hours and hang around to stir them every once in a while. (Maybe next time I’ll try cooking the beans in a pressure cooker!)

That’s what makes this stovetop recipe using canned beans so appealing. It tastes like they were made completely from scratch, but they are ready in forty minutes or less with very little hands-on time.

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BEST BEANS FOR BAKED BEANS



Navy beans are the bean of choice for New England-style baked beans. They are small and thus soak up a lot of sweet molasses goodness that is the hallmark of baked beans. You could also use Great Northern beans or another variety of small beans if you can’t find them, but the small pea beans (navy beans) are the most authentic for Boston-style baked beans.

MAKE AHEAD: STORING AND FREEZING

Once cooked, stovetop beans will keep for at least four days in the fridge. Be sure to tuck them away, well-covered with a lid, within two hours of cooking.

They can be frozen for up to six months, but the texture can become a little mushy. If you know ahead of time you will freeze the beans, reduce the cooking time by about 10 minutes so the beans are not too soft. Let them cool on the counter and then chill thoroughly in the fridge before transferring to freezer-safe containers and freezing. Defrost in the refrigerator before reheating.

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