Vegetarian Baked Beans Recipe – This is my favorite recipe for the meatless version of a classic barbecue side dish: sweet, salty, luscious baked beans. These baked beans are simple, easy, and truly are the best baked beans ever!
I never knew how good baked beans could be until I tried these… and you want to know a secret?
These beans in particular aren’t actually “baked.” You see, in theory they are because the traditional version is “baked.” However, I decided to put my crockpot to use and let it do all the work for me! This is definitely my new secret weapon for making summertime entertaining stress-free and totally delicious.
I also love using my slow cooker for pot-lucks because their lids make them easy to transfer in the car with no extra dishes… then, when I arrive, I just plug the slow cooker back in and set it to the “warm” function. Look at that! Only one dish from start to finish!
Summer entertaining has never been so easy.. I may just have to get another slow cooker and ditch my oven altogether. 😉
This recipe comes from one of my mom’s old handwritten cookbooks given to her by my great-grandma (her grandma) and we have been making it for years. The only difference between the original and this one is that there’s no meat. I increased the peppers and onions and took out the meat… and let me just say, we didn’t miss it at all. I loved the change in texture the veggies added.
However, if you are a meat lover… you could easily make the meat version using only 1 bell pepper and 1 onion with 1 lb cooked ground beef.
When I say these baked beans are packed with flavor I really mean it! There’s a smokey flavor from Bush’s Southern Pit Beans…
… a sweet glaze texture from the brown sugar, an awesome crunch from all the veggies, and some added tang from the Worcestershire sauce and ketchup. These baked beans are awesome!
Creamy, sweet – not too sweet! – and so rich and satisfying. I have no self control around these babies!
I usually enjoy an occasional bowl of ‘em at family cookouts in the summertime, when my Mom makes a big batch for my birthday or a special BBQ, but sometimes you have to throw caution to the wind and bake a big, self-control defying batch yourself. Holla!
Transfer to an airtight container. Defrost them in the fridge and reheat in the oven, in the crockpot or on the stovetop!