My Grandma Jean’s Baked Beans Are the Best Summer Side Dish

Baked beans may not seem like they should be a summer thing, but in New England, they are a staple for cookouts and summer entertaining. My Grandma Jean made legendary baked beans—so much so that tracking down the exact recipe was quite a journey. 

Everyone in my family vividly remembers the look and taste of these beans, but when I asked them to recall the ‘secret’ ingredients, everyone had a different answer. My aunt recalled chili sauce, my mother thought it was ketchup, my sister insisted it was brown sugar, and I have memories of her swirling in sweet and sticky molasses. Similarly, I recall my grandmother cooking dried beans from scratch, but others insisted they were canned. 

After sifting through her recipe box, it seems that everyone was a little bit correct. I found not one but five handwritten recipe cards for baked beans. Each one was slightly different, which makes a lot of sense when I think about my grandmother’s style of cooking, which I am proud to say I’ve inherited. 

The philosophy is simple: add stuff until it tastes good, trust your instincts over any recipe, and if you think it needs a little salt, it probably does! So, while developing this recipe, I followed suit.

My Take on Grandma Jean’s Baked Beans

I didn’t want my baked beans to be overly sweet, so I made sure to balance the brown sugar and molasses with smoked paprika. That spice was never a staple in my grandmother’s version, but it plays well with the smokiness of the bacon and adds a really nice mellow heat to the creamy beans. 

Chili sauce is not something I usually keep on hand, but I much prefer it to ketchup for this recipe. It’s less sweet and just a touch zestier, which adds depth of flavor to the beans. Last but not least: mustard. I only used a small amount of Dijon mustard, but it made a big difference in keeping the finished dish tasting balanced. 

As for the beans, I’ve made my version of my grandmother’s baked beans with both dried beans and canned beans, and both options are delicious. I like the creaminess of the dried beans, but cooking them is a time-consuming process, so I opted for canned beans here. If you use an Instant Pot, though, you can use dried beans and save some time.

So, I’m calling it now: grab your casserole dish—this will be the summer of baked beans! They are perfect paired with grilled burgers or barbecued chicken.