The 10 Best Baked Beans in a Can (Spicy Baked Beans, Too)

The best baked beans are the perfect balance of sweet and savory. And the best canned baked beans capture that homemade-by-the-fire taste so you don’t have to do any actual baking of beans.

But what makes for the best canned baked beans? We’ve conducted three separate taste tests to find out. We looked for good quality beans first and foremost. Baked beans should be slightly firm, but rich, buttery, and creamy in the middle. Baked beans should never be grainy, but unfortunately, several brands we tried were. Also, the sauce the tender beans are suspended in should taste good and not like a can. Some beans are sweet and tangy like BBQ sauce, some are smoky and spicy, and some are a little bit tomatoey, like baked beans from the UK. All styles are valid, but they shouldn’t leave a tinny aftertaste in your mouth. And, hey, if you advertise baked beans with bacon, don’t be stingy with the stuff. 

For our third taste test, we were joined by baked bean connoisseur Rhett McLaughlin, who helped us taste some new brands and new flavors we hadn’t tried before, and reassess the baked beans we’d previously ranked. We found the best baked beans with bacon, BBQ baked beans, vegetarian baked beans, and we did a little bit of rearranging to elevate some damn good beans to the #1 spot.

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saucy spoon jalapeno bourbon baked beans

Best Spicy Runner-Up

Saucy Spoon Jalapeño & Bourbon Baked Beans

Sometimes we like to give a product props for delivering on a promise. Take these Saucy Spoon Jalapeño Bourbon baked beans. They are definitely saucy—they’re nearly soupy! They actually taste a little boozy from the bourbon, and the jalapeño adds both fresh, vegetal flavor and heat. We tried a few Saucy Spoon varieties in our most recent taste test, but these are the best baked beans the brand makes by far. —Gwynedd Stuart

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

best baked beans

Best Spicy Baked Beans

Bush’s Sweet Heat Baked Beans

These spicy baked beans are some of the best canned baked beans we tried because they give you exactly what they promise: sweetness and heat. The sugary taste coats your tongue and then the spicy kick comes in on the finish. I think it’s a great variation on the classic baked bean. If regular baked beans are too plain for you, these are a great option. —Jordan Myrick

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Serious Bean Hot Honey Baked Beans

Best Honey Baked Beans

Serious Bean Hot Honey Baked Beans

These honey baked beans are spicy, spicy, spicy—but there’s also a lot of honey, honey, honey. The beans themselves are creamy and plump. And the sauce isn’t too syrupy. But it’s definitely very hot honey forward—good hot honey, too, with a wildflower honey flavor. You really have to want that spicy honey flavor. But if you are the type of person who always has a bottle of hot honey on the table (such a fun personality trait), these are the best canned baked beans for you. —Justine Sterling

Credit: Liv Averett / Serious Bean

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

best canned baked beans

Best Sweet

Bush’s Brown Sugar & Bourbon Grilling Beans

I’m not exactly sure what a “grillin’ bean” is, but I now know that I love it! Bush’s “Grillin’ Beans” line of canned baked beans are all tasty, but these are some of the best canned baked beans in the group. They don’t taste much like bourbon, but I think the bourbon is more about the vibe than the flavor. The sweet and savory flavors are perfectly balanced. The baked beans themselves are perfectly cooked. The person eating them (me or you) is perfect. —Jordan Myrick

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

best baked beans

Best Vegetarian

Amy’s Vegetarian Organic Baked Beans

Amy’s makes the best vegetarian baked beans we tried in our baked bean taste test. They are very tomato-forward but there’s some sweetness, too. Plus, the bean quality is excellent. Amy’s uses white beans that are a bit smaller than your classic baked beans. They kind of clump up together, sticking to each other with sweet tomatoey goo. I thought these were absolutely delicious, and if you ask me, you don’t need bacon for baked beans to work. The best vegetarian baked beans can shine without the meat. —Danny Palumbo

Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Bush’s Barbecue Baked Beans

Best Classic BBQ

Bush’s Barbecue Baked Beans

You might have already noticed that Bush’s dominates this list of the best canned baked beans. What can we say, they know how to bake a bean! And Bush’s BBQ Baked Beans are no exception. They’re not particularly nuanced like other BBQ baked beans on this list, but that’s what I like about them. They essentially taste like classic canned baked beans mixed with sweet and tangy BBQ sauce—the kind you dip chicken nuggets into. They’re really sticky and I think they’d be the best baked beans on this list to pair with barbecued meats like smoked sausages or pulled pork. —Justine Sterling

Credit: Liv Averett / Ralphs

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

best canned baked beans

Best Bacon Baked Beans

Bush’s Maple & Cured Bacon Baked Beans

These canned baked beans with bacon actually have some big chunks of bacon in the mix, which made them stand out because some of the other cans of baked beans with bacon skimped on the meat. Bush’s Maple & Cured Bacon Baked Beans are almost like a full English breakfast in a can, with an American edge. You get the tomato, the beans, the bacon—all that’s missing in an egg, some toast, and a double-decker bus (sorry, double-decker coach). Like all of Bush’s baked bean products, these are deliciously sweet and the beans are tender. The maple flavor is great, with a molasses-like quality that permeates every bite. These are some of the best canned baked beans, especially if you’re not into frying your own bacon. —Danny Palumbo

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Bush’s Homestyle Baked Beans

Best Nostalgic Flavor

Bush’s Homestyle Baked Beans

When I think of baked beans, this is what I imagine. These canned baked beans will bring you back to childhood. They’re sweet. They’re gloopy. The beans are creamy. The sauce is tomatoey. There are no frills when it comes to these canned baked beans and sometimes that’s exactly what you need. Cut up some hot dogs, turn on some cartoons, and kick back like the manchild you are. —Justine Sterling

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

best canned baked beans

Best of the Best

Bush’s Brown Sugar Hickory Baked Beans

Bush’s is synonymous with baked beans for a reason; they just understand the flavor and aesthetic. Bush’s Brown Sugar Hickory beans have a quintessential baked bean taste—sweet, tangy, and a little tomatoey. The addition of smokiness goes a long way, and the hickory adds a nice, standout complexity. The beans themselves are creamy and buttery, just like we want. These were the best baked beans on this list for two straight years, but they were bumped in our most recent taste test. Still, they’re some of the best canned baked beans you can buy. —Danny Palumbo & Gwynedd Stuart

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

best baked beans

Best Smoky

Bush’s Southern Pit BBQ Grilling Beans

We’d previously decided that Southern Pit BBQ Grillin’ Beans are the best baked beans in Bush’s “Grillin’ Bean” line, but upon tasting them again, head to head with all the other beans we ranked and many we didn’t, we decided that they’re pretty much perfect. Unlike other baked beans, these are more savory than sweet. Plus, you get this great smoky flavor like they were really cooked on a charcoal grill. They’re soft and creamy beans with a zesty flavor and plenty of sauciness. These are the best baked beans—Rhett agrees! —Gwynedd Stuart

Credit: Liv Averett / Kroger

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Other baked beans we tried: Great Value Baked Beans, Great Value Maple and Cured Bacon, Bush’s Original, Trader Joe’s Baked Beans, Bush’s Country Style, Dakota’s Pride Original, Dakota’s Pride Maple, Dakota’s Pride Country Style, Whole Foods 365, B&M Original Baked Beans, Heinz Vegetarian Baked Beans in Rich Tomato Sauce, Walnut Acres, Walnut Acres Brown Sugar & Onion, Bush’s Zero Sugar, Bush’s Steakhouse Grilling Beans, Serious Bean Dr Pepper Sweet & Sassy, Serious Bean Carolina Gold BBQ, Kroger Pork and Beans, Bush’s Honey Baked Beans, Kroger Country Style Baked Beans, Van Camp’s Original Baked Beans, Van Camp’s Pork and Beans, Bean Vivo Smoky BBQ Pinto Beans, Bean Vivo Brown Sugar Baked Beans



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  • Did anyone else’s family ever put canned baked beans into a casserole dish and layer strips of bacon over the top to make it look homemade? My family did. We used to fight over who got the soggy, baked bacon.

    Reply
    • My mom used to do that but used regular plain beans, ketchup, brown sugar, and maybe some other ingredients to make her beans. Then she would put the bacon on top and cook them for a while in the oven.

      Reply
  • Do not buy wyldwood baked beans! They have alot of gummy
    Filling & sparse beans. No flavor in spite of saying there was maple syrup.

    Reply
  • No offense at all, Danny – solid list here – but HOW, when you folks are part of Mythical Entertainment, do you not have a “Best Rhett Beans” in here??? He’s the Bean Aficionado, after all! The King of Legumes! What would *HE* choose?

    Reply