Homemade baked beans – just like Heinz

Tins of baked beans are currently flying off the shelves in the supermarkets, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to get your hands on them. For those of you who are uable to get any, don’t despair – this recipe for homemade baked beans tastes just like your favourite brand, and they are so simple to make at home with only a few ingredients. You’ll wonder why you never made your own homemade baked beans before!

Baked beans – England’s favourite food

We British love our baked beans. There are over 1.5 million tins of baked beans sold in the UK every single day, making us the number one country for baked bean consumption. We eat them on toast, we eat them on top of baked potatoes, and of course no full English breakfast would be complete without a large portion of baked beans on the plate.

So it was something of a shock to find the empty baked bean shelves in the supermarket due to the panic buying currently going on.

Fortunately, there is a solution – just make your own! Baked beans are so easy to make at home, with the minimun of ingredients, and as a bonus, this recipe tastes just as good as the original brand we all know and love.

And not only are they easy to make, they are economical too. A 500g packet of dried haricot beans swells up to more than 4 times its size when soaked, meaning you get far more beans for your money than you would from a can of shop-bought beans.

How to make homemade baked beans

You can get the complete recipe on the printable recipe card below.

To make your own beans at home you will need a 500g packet of dried haricot beans. If you can’t get haricot beans then you can substitute with dried cannellini beans.

Put the beans into a LARGE container – the beans will swell up to at least 4 times their original size. Cover with plenty of cold water and leave them to soak overnight.

Next day, tip the beans into a colander and leave to drain.

Peel and chop 2 largish onions into small dice. This should yield about 2 cups of chopped onion.

Fry the chopped onions in a little cooking oil until they become translucent and start to brown, then stir in 1 teaspoon of paprika, 1 teaspoon of mixed herbs, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper.

Next, stir in:

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 cup (250ml) tomato pasata
• 1 cup (250ml) cold water

Then add the beans and stir well to mix thoroughly.

Bring to the boil, then cover with a lid, turn the heat down to a simmer. Leave for about 2 and a half hours until the beans are soft and the sauce has thickened. If you find that the sauce starts to dry up half-way through cooking, you can add a little extra water. I needed to add an additional 1/2 cup.

Leave the beans, covered with the lid, to cool completely.

You can either store the beans in sterilised jars (see below for instructions), or you can pack into freezer bags and store in the freezer.

How to sterilise jars

To sterilise jars in the oven:

• Wash the jars and the lids in hot soapy water, rinse, but do not dry them.
• Stand them upside down on a baking tray while they’re still wet.
• Place the tray of clean, wet jars and lids in to a preheated oven at 180ºC / 350ºF for 15 mins.

To sterilise jars in the microwave:

• Wash the jars and the lids in hot soapy water, rinse, but do not dry them.
• Place them in the microwave whilst still wet.
• Microwave on full power for 2 minutes
• If the lids are made of metal DO NOT MICROWAVE.  Instead, place the lids in a pot of boiling water and boil for 5 minutes.

What to eat with baked beans

• Serve baked beans with a plate of sausages and my crispy potato fries, or alongside a slide of potato frittata.
• Add some to a dish of bolognese for extra goodness and flavour.
• Make some homemade sausage rolls and serve with baked beans for an easy light lunch.
• Or even serve on top of a slice of seeded Irish soda bread for a breakfast that will keep you satisfied until lunch time.

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Convert your recipes

To help you convert your recipes, I have created a handy Cookery Conversion Calculator which will convert ingredients between grams, ounces, tablespoons, cups and millilitres. I hope you will find it useful.

If you live at a high altitude you may find you need to adjust your baking recipes to compensate for this. You can read about how to do this in this post on baking at high altitudes.

Recipe – Homemade Baked Beans

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5 from 4 votes

Homemade baked beans

Homemade baked beans are so easy to make, and taste just like your favourite brand.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time2 hrs 30 mins

Soaking time12 hrs

Total Time14 hrs 45 mins

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: British

Servings: 7 x 300g freezer portions

Calories: 81kcal

Author: VJ

Equipment

• Large bowl
• Colander
• Sharp Knife
• Chopping Board
• Large saucepan
• Spatula
• Jars or freezer bags for storage

Ingredients

• 500 g dried haricot beans
• 2 large onions approx 2 cups chopped
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon mixed herbs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 cup tomato passata 250 ml
• 1 cup cold water plus extra if needed

Instructions

• Place the dried beans in a large bowl, cover with plenty of cold water and allow to stand overnight to soak
• Once the beans have soaked, drain through a colander and set aside.
• Chop 2 large onions into small dice.
• Heat the 2 tablespoons oil in a large saucepan, add the onions and saute until translucent and starting to brown.
• Remove from the heat and stir in 1 teaspoon paprika, 1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• Add 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 cup of tomato passata and 1 cup of cold water, then mix in the drained beans.
• Return to the heat and bring to the boil.
• Turn down the heat as low as it will go, cover with a lid and leave for 2½ hours to simmer. Check periodically and top up with more water if necessary.
• Once the beans are soft, remove from the heat and leave covered until completely cool.
• Pack into sterilised glass jars, or spoon into freezer bags and freeze for up to 12 months.

Notes

These beans quadruple is volume when they are soaked.  Be sure to use a large container.

Keep the heat as low as possible when simmering the beans, and cover the pan with a tightly fitting lid..  If necessary add more water as they are cooking.  Do not allow them to dry out.

Nutrition has been calculated on dividing the beans into 7 x 300 gram portions and the nutrition facts are for 1 x 300g portion.

I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only.  If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.

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