This recipe for baked beans with ground beef is made with seasoned ground beef and simple homemade baked beans. Skip the canned baked beans! Instead, try this lightly sweetened, savory combination of saucy beans and hamburger that's an easy one-pot meal or hearty side dish.
If you like baked beans, you'll love this recipe that combines the sweet BBQ flavor of baked beans with hamburger meat.
There are two ways to make baked beans with ground meat:
- Buy 2 cans of store-bought baked beans or "pork n' beans" and combine the baked beans with cooked ground beef. Add additional brown sugar, ketchup and other ingredients to doctor up the baked beans and ground beef.
- Combine cooked and seasoned ground beef with 2 cans of white beans and make a quick and easy homemade baked bean sauce. The end result tastes less sweet and more homemade and is just as easy to make.
This recipe focuses on option #2, combining ground beef with canned white beans and a simple, flavorful homemade baked bean sauce. The result is a hearty, flavorful dish that's ready in just over 30 minutes.
Looking for more ground beef recipes? Try Instant Pot hamburger helper or Instant Pot bowtie pasta with meat sauce.
If you like the saucy BBQ flavor of these beans, then you'll also like Instant Pot black eyed peas and lentil Sloppy Joes.
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Ingredients & Substitutions
Ground beef: The ground hamburger meat is sautéed with yellow onion and seasoned with smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. I use 80/20 ground beef, which is 80% lean, but you can also use 90/20 which is considered lean ground beef.
You can substitute other types of ground meat (ground turkey, chicken or pork).
Canned White Beans: You can use any variety of canned white bean to make this recipe. Navy beans are small white beans and have a firmer texture. Great Northern and Cannellini are larger and softer. Instead of canned beans, you can also make Instant Pot dried white beans.
You can substitute pinto beans if you want to, and call the dish "Cowboy Beans."
Baked Bean Sauce: The homemade "baked bean" sauce for this recipe is made from water, ketchup, molasses, brown sugar, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. This combination makes a sauce that is lightly sweetened and similar to the flavor of BBQ sauce. It's delicious!
The best mustard option is Dijon or stone ground mustard, but you can substitute yellow mustard or spicy brown mustard if needed. For sweetener, you can use maple syrup in place of brown sugar.
Green pepper or red pepper (optional): A chopped green bell pepper or red bell pepper adds crunch, color and flavor.
Bacon (optional): Adding crumbled bacon (or using bacon fat to saute the hamburger meat and onion) adds salty, savory flavor.
Apple cider vinegar (optional): If you like tangy baked beans, then add 2 teaspoons of apple cider vingar to the sauce.
Cayenne pepper: Add a sprinkle of cayenne pepper for heat.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Unlike some ground beef and beans recipes that spend hours in a slow cooker, the cooking time for this recipe is 30 minutes or less on the stove top.
Step 1: Saute onion. Add ground beef seasoned with salt, pepper, smoked paprika and garlic powder.
Step 2: Add tomato paste. Mix well.
Step 3: Stir together the homemade baked bean sauce: water, ketchup, stone ground mustard, molasses, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce.
Step 4: Pour the sauce into the pot and bring to a simmer.
Step 7: Add 2 cans of white beans.
Step 8: Simmer 10 minutes to thicken the sauce.
For detailed instructions and ingredient amounts, see the recipe card below
What to Serve with Baked Beans with Ground Beef
This combination of meat and beans (sometimes called Southern baked beans) is hearty enough to be a main dish. Sides that pair well with ground beef baked beans include corn on the cob, biscuits, cornbread, Instant Pot collard greens, coleslaw, watermelon or fruit salad.
If you're serving these meaty baked beans as a side dish for summer cookouts or family gatherings, your main course can be hot dogs or sausage, burgers, grilled chicken or a pulled pork sandwich.
More Bean Recipes
📖 Recipe
Baked Beans with Ground Beef Recipe
This recipe for baked beans with ground beef is made with seasoned ground beef and simple homemade baked beans. You can serve it as a main dish or hearty side dish.
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 servings 1x
- Category: Side Dishes
- Method: Simmer
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 cup finely chopped yellow onion
- 1 pound ground beef
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ½ cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon or stone-ground mustard
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 ½ cup water
- 2 15-oz cans white beans, drained (or 3 cups cooked beans)
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven or wide saute pan, warm the oil over medium heat. Saute the onion until soft and lightly browned, 8 minutes.
- Add the hamburger meat and cook until no longer pink, 8 minutes. While the meat cooks, break it up with a spatula. When the meat is cooked, you can drain off excess grease if you want (optional).
- Season the meat with salt, pepper, smoked paprika and garlic powder.
- Add the tomato paste and mix really well. Cook 1 to 2 minutes more.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the ketchup,molasses, brown sugar, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Stir in the water.
- Pour the sauce over the meat. Bring to a gentle simmer.
- Add the beans. Mix well.
- Simmer vigorously for 10 minutes without a lid, stirring occasionally. When you turn off the heat, the sauce should be slightly thicker and have a consistency similar to BBQ sauce.
Notes
You can use any variety of canned white beans to make this recipe. Navy beans are smaller and firmer and hold their shape well. Great Northern and Cannellini are larger and softer.
This dish will stay fresh for up to 4 days if kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Optional Ingredients
Green bell pepper: A chopped green bell pepper adds crunch, color and flavor.
Bacon: Adding crumbled bacon (or using bacon fat to saute the hamburger meat and onion) adds salty, savory flavor.
Apple cider vinegar: If you like tangy baked beans, then add 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar to the sauce.
Jen
This dish is perfect for summer potlucks or an easy, filling weeknight dinner any time of year.