Southern Baked Beans With Ground Beef

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These oven baked beans with ground beef are a delicious southern-style baked bean recipe loaded with meat, bacon, beans, cheese - and plenty of flavor. The perfect balance of savory and sweet. Serve as a meal-in-one or a hearty side dish.

White bowl of baked beans garnished with cheddar cheese and green onion.

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Why You'll ❤️ Hamburger Baked Beans
🥘 What You'll Need
🔪 How To Make It
🥗 How To Serve
📖 Variations
💭 Top Tips
❓FAQs
✔️ More Ground Beef Recipes
📋 Recipe
💬 Comments

Why You'll ❤️ Hamburger Baked Beans

"Homemade is always better than canned baked beans. This Baked beans recipe is a year-round staple in my house. I love that these can be a main dish, or a hearty side dish."

Easy dinner idea! Serve your beans alongside Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork or Quick and Easy Pulled Chicken (Crock Pot), along with Dill Pickle Slaw. And while you're at it, try this Southern-style Sweet Tea 😉

Meal In One

Since these beans are loaded with tons of beans, ground beef, and bacon - there is plenty of protein, they make a great lunch or dinner! Top it off with some fresh green onion, shredded cheese, and a dollop of sour cream, and you're set!

Potluck Heaven

These beans are the perfect thing to bring to a large gathering or potluck! Everyone compliments me on this recipe and goes back for seconds. Even the kids love it!

🥘 What You'll Need

Here are the ingredients you will need to make Baked Beans with Ground Beef:

Bacon - smoky bacon adds the perfect flavor to the beans.

Ground Beef - I used an 80/20 blend, but you can use your preferred blend.

Onion

Green Bell Pepper

Canned Pork and Beans

Canned Chili Beans

Canned Lima Beans

Canned Kidney Beans

Brown Sugar - I always use a brown sugar substitute to cut back on sugar content, but you can use regular.

Barbeque Sauce - use your favorite brand. If you like a very sweet barbeque sauce, I would recommend holding off on the brown sugar and adding it to taste after you add the BBQ sauce.

Worcestershire Sauce - you could also use soy sauce if preferred.

Ketchup

Optional: cheddar cheese (cubed or shredded)

For exact ingredient quantities, please see the recipe card below!

🔪 How To Make It

Here are the step-by-step instructions for making baked beans with ground beef:

Heat and Prep

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

Preheat a skillet over medium heat and cook your bacon until done. Transfer to a paper towel and allow to cool, then crumble.

Drain all but 2 tablespoons of bacon fat from the skillet.

Skillet

Add ground beef, onion, and bell pepper to the skillet. Cook until the ground beef is cooked through.

Add all ingredients

Add the bacon back to the pot and add all remaining ingredients except the cheese. Stir all together.

Bake

Transfer to a greased casserole dish and bake for two hours.

During the last 30 minutes, stir in the cubed cheddar cheese

Serve

Remove from the oven, and stir. Add any additional garnish and seasonings to taste and enjoy!

🥗 How To Serve

Here are a few ways to serve Hamburger Baked Beans:

Serve it as a meal all by itself and add your favorite toppings such as fresh diced onion, sliced green onion, shredded cheese, or sour cream.

Cookout Meal idea! Serve the beans with Best Grilled Chicken Recipe and this layered salad. The perfect cookout menu!

A bowl full of hearty hamburger baked beans with cheese and green onion.

📖 Variations

Here are a few ways you can vary or make substitutions to this baked bean recipe:

Use 1/2" cubed ham in place of bacon.
Vary any combination of beans except the pork and beans, those are an essential flavor in this dish.
Use ground turkey or pork in place of ground beef.
Looking to add some spice? Add additional seasonings such as red pepper flakes, chipotle powder, hot sauce, or diced green chilies.

💭 Top Tips

Use an oven-proof dutch oven or large skillet that you can put in the oven to save on dishes!
Try to make all your onions and peppers the same size dice cut to make the cooking time the same, and each bite balanced.
There may be enough fat in your beans that you could skip greasing your casserole dish. If you don't have much fat, make sure you do grease to prevent burning and sticking.

❓FAQs

How To Store

Let your beans cool before transferring them into an air-tight container. Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

How To Reheat

These beans can easily reheat in the microwave or on the stove in a small sauce pot. Either way, heat and stir until your reheated beans have reached 165 degrees or more.

How To Freeze

Once your beans have cooled, put them into a freezer-safe or air-tight container for storage. Freeze for up to two months.

What meat goes best with baked beans?

Bacon and ground beef are the two most popular options, but everyone has their own preference. Some other popular options are breakfast sausage, sweet and spicy sausage, or hotdogs. Fancy it up with ground lamb, pork, or chicken also!

✔️ More Ground Beef Recipes

Here are a few more ground beef recipes to try:

If you tried baked beans, let me know! I'd love for you to come back and give the recipe a 5-star rating and/or a review in the comments! 🙂 Let's stay connected, so please share photos of your creations with me and others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!

Baked Beans With Ground Beef