BBQ Baked Beans
Drenched in with sweet and tangy bbq flavors, this BBQ Baked Beans recipe is loaded with ground beef, bacon, and onions, baked low and slow in the oven until every bean is soaked in the delicious juices of the meats and flavors from the bbq sauce and seasonings.
BBQ Baked Beans with ground beef is a delicious and simple barbecue and cookout side dish to accompany your burgers, hot dogs and bbq meats. It’s seriously the most flavorful beans ever!

Looking for more summer cookout side dishes? Check out my Light Raisin Coleslaw, Corn and Tomato Salad, Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing, Italian Bow Tie Pasta Salad, Bruschetta Pasta Salad, and Grilled Fingerling Potatoes.
Baked Beans with Ground Beef and Bacon
BBQ Baked Beans are a staple side dish in cookouts, pairing beautifully with hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, ribs, brisket, or just about anything cooked on the grill!
What I love about my Bbq baked beans recipe is that the beans are soaked in amazing flavors of bbq sauce, and juices from ground beef and bacon.
I really like making baked beans with ground beef because it adds a meatier, heartier dimension to side dish, bringing some yummy textures in every bite.
Flavors from the ground beef will also be absorbed into the sauce and the bbq baked beans, making the beans even yummier.
And of course, we can’t forget about the bacon. Bacon (and bacon grease) definitely brings a lot of great flavors to the beans as well. We also top our bbq baked beans with the crispy bacon to give the dish a nice crunch.
Bbq baked beans with ground beef is prepared on a large 9′ x 13′ rectangular casserole dish, and serve about 12-15 people. So it’s perfect for large gatherings and cookouts over the summer.
It takes about 50-60 minutes to make, but most of the time bbq baked beans are in the oven cooking slowly so that the flavors come through. In other words, a lot of hands-off time.
Ingredients
I mentioned how much I love my bbq baked beans with ground beef. But that’s not all there is to it.
Now let’s talk about ALL the ingredients that go into our bbq baked beans recipe. They are easy-to-find, pantry-friendly ingredients:

- original baked beans – this comes in a can and I typically get Bush’s Original Baked Beans
- lean ground beef – I prefer the at least 90% lean ground beef so that you won’t have a lot of grease in your bbq baked beans
- bacon – cut into smaller pieces, bacon is pan fried and 1 tbsp of the bacon grease is used to cook the bbq baked beans, bringing some very yummy flavors to the beans.
- bbq sauce – use your favorite! I used a sweet bbq sauce for this. If using a less sweet bbq sauce, considering upping the brown sugar to make baked beans sweeter if desire.
- garlic cloves – minced. Garlic powder can be used as well
- small white onion – diced. Other types of onions work just as well. If using a large onion, just use half instead of whole.
- ketchup
- brown sugar
- dijon mustard – yellow mustard can be used as well
How to make it
And now, let me show you how I make my bbq baked beans with ground beef!
Bbq baked beans is first made on a large skillet or saucepan the stovetop, and then transferred to a 9′ x 13′ rectangular casserole dish to be baked in the oven.
Skillet on stovetop
Make sure you are using an extra large skillet that will fit all of the beans, ground beef and bacon. A large saucepan works too.
First, bacon is sliced into smaller pieces, and then we are going to fry up the bacon.

When bacon is done, remove bacon and all the bacon grease from the skillet except for 1 tablespoon. Set aside bacon, and discard the rest of the grease.
Add onions and garlic to skillet. Saute until onions are translucent, but do not brown the onions.
Add the ground beef and break them into small pieces.
Once ground beef is no longer pink in color, add the sauces – bbq sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, and dijon mustard.
Give it a good stir until everything is combined.
Doing this will ensure all that the delicious sauces will be soaked up by the ground beef bringing the ground beef lots of amazing flavors.

Add the baked beans into the skillet.

Stir to bring everything together, and then bring bbq baked beans to a boil.
Once it comes to a boil, lower heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Stirring occasionally to avoid burning the bottom of the skillet.
Baking in Casserole
Transfer all baked beans with ground beef into a 9′ x 13′ rectangular casserole dish that is at least 2 inch deep.
Then top with the bacon pieces that was set aside earlier.

We are going to bake the bbq baked beans for 30 minutes in the oven at 350℉ to bring the flavors together.
Cooking it low and slow like this will enable the baked beans to fully absorb all the flavors as well.
When it is done let your bbq baked beans with ground beef rest for a few minutes so that it cools and set before digging in and enjoying them!

How to serve bbq baked beans
Bbq baked beans is the ultimate cookout side dish, and there’s nothing I love more than a full blown cookout food spread!
Here are some main dish and side dish ideas that will go perfectly with these baked beans when cooking out or grilling.
Main dishes:
- Homemade Burger
- Cheese Stuffed Burger
- Lemon Balsamic Grilled Chicken
- Grilled Steak Tacos
- Teriyaki Chicken Skewers
Other cookout sides:
- Watermelon Strawberry Salad
- Strawberry Bacon Spinach Salad with Lemon Maple Dressing
- Loaded Baked Potato Salad
- Skillet Corn with Bacon
- Pineapple Mango Salsa
- Chipotle Corn Salsa
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Cook it on low for 4 hours in a crockpot. When it is done, sprinkle the top with bacon pieces.
Any bbq sauce works, it really just depends on your liking and preferences. I typically like the sweeter bbq sauces. This recipe uses a sweet bbq sauce, and will be slightly on the sweeter side. If you prefer your bbq baked beans less sweet, use a smoky or spicy bbq sauce and reduce the amount of brown sugar added.
When making ahead, I will cook the bacon, beans and ground beef on the skillet ahead of time and store it in a rectangular casserole dish covered with saran wrap. When ready to serve, I’ll top with bacon pieces and send the casserole dish into the oven to bake for 30-45 minutes at 350℉ until beans are bubbly in the oven.

DID YOU ENJOY THIS RECIPE? Please comment below and give us a 5-star rating! This will help others find this recipe on Google and Pinterest. We very much appreciate your help! 🤍
More Delicious Side Dish Recipes
- Avocado Corn and Black Bean Salsa
- Garlic Edamame
- Caramelized Onions Sautéed Green Beans
- Crispy Baked Potato Skins
- Skillet Corn With Bacon
- Muffuletta Pasta Salad

BBQ Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 6 strips bacon sliced
- 1 white onion small/medium, diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 30 oz canned original baked beans
- 1 lbs lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup bbq sauce
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350℉.
- Slice bacon into 1 1/2-inch pieces. In a large skillet or saucepan, pan fry bacon until fully cooked.
- Remove bacon pieces and set aside. Reserve 1 tbsp of bacon grease in skillet and discard the rest of the bacon grease.
- Using the same skillet/saucepan, add onions and garlic. Pan fry until onions are translucent and garlic is fragrant, avoid browning/burning them.
- Add ground beef to skillet. Break into small pieces. Pan fry until beef is no longer pink-ish in color.
- Add bbq sauce, ketchup, brown sugar and dijon mustard to ground beef. Stir to combine.
- Add baked beans. Stir to combine and bring to a boil.
- Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove beans from heat and transfer to a 9' x 13' rectangular baking dish. Top baked beans with bacon pieces that was set aside earlier.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Serve and enjoy!
Well I know what I’ll be bringing to the next BBQ. I made it for dinner last night to go with grilled chicken and it was so good! Definitely calls for a repeat soon.
Glad to hear that, Cara!
This looks seriously fabulous! I’ve never had baked beans with ground beef, and what an absolutely genius idea. I’m going to be bring this dish to a party this summer for sure.
Thanks Susan!!!
This came out delicious and it was easy to make. I like how this baked bean recipe has extra protein from adding the ground beef! It serves a lot of people so I am making it again for our Fourth of July cookout. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Elizabeth! I hope you love it just as much for the 4th!
Okay so I have a thing for baked beans on hot dogs, so I tried these right away. Best baked beans ever. I topped my hot dogs with them and had some on the side too!
So glad you loved them!!!
These baked beans were a hot topic at my cookout last weekend! Much tastier option that the can!
Yay! Glad to hear!
The rich and smoky flavors was perfect. I love how you’ve combined the sweetness of brown sugar with the tanginess of barbecue sauce. I made this as a side dish for a summer cookout this past weekend and everybody wanted the recipe.
Thank you so much! Happy to hear everyone enjoyed it!
Oh these were a big hit with my family!! The layers of flavor were so amazing! Thank you for our new bbq side dish that’s entered the rotation!
I’m just so happy to hear that you and your family loved it!
Was going through recipes and remembered I made these baked beans last year for a potluck – thought I’d come back and rate it, everyone RAVED about them!
Thanks for leaving a review, Kathleen! Happy to hear that everyone was raving about it! 🙂
These baked beans are very tasty! I took them to a BBQ over the weekend and everyone was raving about the flavor!
I’m so glad to hear that!!
I made these hearty baked beans for a BBQ and everyone went nuts for them! They practically licked the pan clean. So tasty!
So glad to hear that everyone enjoyed them, Liza!
I took the suggestion of making these in the crock pot & they were fantastic. The picnic party said they were a hit! Easy to make too!
Yay I’m so glad to hear that Deb!