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Baked beans is a dish traditionally containing white common beans that are parboiling and then baking in sauce at low temperature for a lengthy period. Canned baked beans are not baked, but are cooked through a steam process.
Canned baked beans are commonly made using navy beans, which originated in Peru. In New England, various indigenous are used, such as Jacob's cattle, soldier beans, yellow-eyed beans, and navy beans (also known as haricot beans).
Beans in a brown sugar, sugar, or corn syrup sauce (with or without tomatoes) are widely available in many countries. Kraft Heinz is the largest manufacturer of canned baked beans in Europe, while Bush Brothers is the largest producer in the United States. After the American Revolutionary War, Independence Day celebrations often included baked beans.
Canning baked beans are used as a convenience food; most are made from navy beans in sauce. Traditionally served hot, they may be eaten hot or cold, and straight from the can, as they are fully cooked. H. J. Heinz began producing canned baked beans in 1886. In the early 20th century, canned baked beans gained more widespread use, particularly in the United Kingdom, where they are commonly served in a full breakfast.
In the northeast of America various Native American peoples, including the Iroquois, the Narragansett and the Penobscot, mixed beans, maple sugar, and bear fat in earthenware pots which they placed in pits called "bean holes" which were lined in hot rocks to cook slowly over a long period of time. The bean hole cooking method later became a tradition in Maine that was practiced in logging camps where beans prepared in this way were served as every meal. A fire would be made in a stone-lined pit and allowed to burn down to hot coals, and then a pot with 11 pounds of seasoned beans would be placed in the ashes, covered over with dirt, and left to cook overnight or longer.
British colonists in New England were the first westerners to introduce their version of the dish to the area, and were quick to adapt the Native American version because it was very similar to pease pudding and because the dish used ingredients native to the New World. They substituted molasses or sugar for the maple syrup, bacon or ham for the bear fat, and simmered their beans for hours in pots over the fire instead of underground. Each colony in America had its own regional variations of the dish, with navy or white pea beans used in Massachusetts, Jacob's Cattle and soldier beans used in Maine, and yellow-eyed beans in Vermont. This variation likely resulted from the colonists receiving the dish from different Native peoples who used different native beans.
While some historians have theorized that baked beans had originated from the cassoulet or bean stew tradition in Southern France, this is unlikely as the beans used to make baked beans are all native to North America and were introduced to Europe around 1528. It is possible that English colonists used their knowledge of cassoulet cooking to modify the cooking technique of the beans from the traditional Native American version, by soaking the bean overnight and simmering the beans over a fire before baking it in earthen pots in order to decrease the cooking time.Keith Stavely, Kathleen Fitzgerald (2025). 9780807828946, University of North Carolina Press. . ISBN 9780807828946 However, this method of soaking and boiling beans was already in practice in the Americas during the Mayan civilization, and was already a known method of preparing beans in the cultures of the first peoples of the Americas prior to European settlement.
A dish similar to baked beans, beans and bacon, was known in medieval England. The addition of onion and mustard to some baked beans recipes published in New England in the 19th century was likely based on traditional 17th century cassoulet recipes from Staffordshire, England, which utilized honey and mustard cured hams, beans, and onions or leeks. These ingredients are still often added to baked beans today. Nineteenth-century cookbooks published in New England, spread to other portions of the United States and Canada, which familiarized other people with the dish.
The first mass-produced commercial canning of baked beans in the United States began in 1895 by the Pennsylvania-based Heinz. Heinz was also the first company to sell baked beans outside of the United States, beginning with sales limited solely to Fortnum & Mason in 1886, when the item was considered a luxury. They began selling baked beans throughout the UK in 1901, and baked beans became a standard part of the English full breakfast soon after. Heinz removed pork from the product during World War II rationing.
Originally, Heinz Baked Beans were prepared in the traditional United States manner for sales in Ireland and Great Britain. Over time, the recipe was altered to a less sweet tomato sauce with a mix of herbs and spices but without maple syrup, molasses, or brown sugar to appeal to the tastes of the United Kingdom. This is the version of baked beans most commonly eaten outside of the United States. Baked beans are commonly eaten on toast ("beans on toast") or as part of a full breakfast. Heinz Baked Beans remains the best-selling brand in the UK. The Baked Bean Museum of Excellence in Port Talbot, Wales, was dedicated to baked beans.
Today in the New England region, baked beans are flavored either with maple syrup (Northern New England), or with molasses (Boston), and are traditionally cooked with salt pork in a beanpot in a brick oven for six to eight hours. In the absence of a brick oven, the beans were cooked in a beanpot nestled in a bed of embers placed near the outer edges of a hearth, about a foot away from the fire. Today, baked beans can be made in a slow cooker or in a modern oven using a traditional beanpot, Dutch oven, or casserole dish. Regardless of cooking method, the results of the dish, commonly described as having a Umami-sweet flavor and a brownish- or reddish-tinted white bean, are the same.
While initially a New England regional cuisine, baked beans have become a common item in many countries, and are now a staple item served at and . They are easily prepared and consumed, and can be served hot or cold directly from the can, making them handy for outdoor eating.
In 2002 in the UK, manufacturers of canned baked beans were allowed to advertise the product as contributing to the recommended daily consumption of five to six vegetables per person. This concession was criticised by Cardiology, who pointed to the high levels of sugar and salt in the product. Some manufacturers produce a "healthy diet" version of the product with reduced levels of sugar and salt.
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