Sweet Apple Baked Beans
These easy to make One-Pot Bourbon Baked Beans are loaded with sweet apple slices for extra delicious beans. Home-cooked baked beans paired with bacon, apples, and bourbon is delicious. They’re guaranteed to be a HUGE hit!
It doesn't get more home-cooked, feel-good, comfort food than this recipe. I mean really, bourbon baked beans, with apples, and bacon. OMG. Here you go, friends. This is happiness on a plate.
Now I'm not normally a baked beans kinda gal, but this summer I had the best baked beans EVER and have been dreaming of them every day since. We were at my handsome man's Aunt Val and Uncle Jim's place, and they were throwing a 65th wedding anniversary party for Jim's mom and dad.
→ Sidebar ← 65th wedding anniversary. Isn't that the most amazing thing you've ever heard?
Val cooked up a massive spread, and the entire menu was off-the-hook crazy delicious. One day, when she shares her recipe for the best baked salmon ever, I'll share it with you. (Please please share the recipe, Val.)
These apple bourbon baked beans are my take on the baked beans I had this summer. I don't think there were any apples in the one I had, but with all the trees brimming with apples I couldn't help myself but add some to the pot.
How to make apple bourbon baked beans
Don't get intimidated by the long-ish looking list of ingredients; these apple bourbon baked beans couldn't be any easier to make.
Step 1 → Cook up some bacon and onions
Step 2 → Add all the other ingredients to the pot and put it in the oven
Step 3 → Dig in!
See? It's ridiculously easy.
I know that a reasonable person would eat these apple bourbon baked beans as a side dish, but I'm happy having a big bowl and calling it dinner. Weird, right?
When I was shopping for the ingredients, I threw a bunch of kale into my shopping basket with the plans to eat a big salad and a side of bourbon baked beans. They were good intentions. You know what they say, “the road to delicious bourbon baked beans is paved with …” Wait, that's totally not what anyone says. Ever.
Before you guys run away from me and my baked beans delirium, I'm going to go and leave you with these.
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More Delicious Summer Side Dishes:
- Cauliflower Salad with Avocado Pesto Dressing
- The Best Greek Salad Recipe
- Spicy Buffalo Corn on the Cob
- Summer Quinoa Salad with Cherries and Almonds
- Broccoli, Cauliflower, Blueberry Coleslaw
Sweet Apple Pie Baked Beans
If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!
Ingredients
- 4 strips bacon, chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion, minced
- ½ cup bourbon
- 2 large apples, skin on, one quartered then sliced, one roughly chopped (firm apples such as Ambrosia, Rose, Granny Smith or Honeycrisp work best)
- 28 ounce can white cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 28 ounce can white navy beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 ½ cups BBQ sauce
- ¼ – ½ cup honey or maple syrup, depending on the sweetness of your BBQ sauce
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce, gluten-free if needed
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1-2 teaspoons chili powder, be careful as some chili powder can be quite spicy
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Add the bacon to a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook for 2 minutes, or until the bacon begins releasing its fat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes, or until the onion starts to brown, and the bacon is cooked through.4 strips bacon, 1 medium yellow onion
- Add the bourbon to the pot and scrape the bottom to remove any stuck on bits. Add all the remaining ingredients and give the pot a good stir. Cover the pot and bake in the oven for 45 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and is bubbly.½ cup bourbon, 2 large apples, 28 ounce can white cannellini beans, 28 ounce can white navy beans, 1 ½ cups BBQ sauce, ¼ – ½ cup honey or maple syrup, ¼ cup balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, 2 cloves garlic, 1-2 teaspoons chili powder, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, ½ teaspoon cinnamon
If made in the crockpot what temperature would it need to be on and for how long?
45- hours on high should do the trick!
What can I use instead if bacon. Sister doesn’t eat pork products. Thank you.
You could try it with turkey bacon. Or just omit the bacon.
Dynamite & a big hit! I ran out of barbecue sauce so I added peach jalapeno jam and hoisin sauce to make up some of the difference! This one is attached to my favorites page! Thank you for the recipe!
I was really looking forward to making this. I want to share how I failed and what I am trying to do to salvage it. Mistake # 1 – I came up a good 1/4 cup short on my BBQ sauce and proceeded anyway. Mistake # 2 – Since my BBQ sauce (shortage) was a Honey BBQ, I figured I could skip the Honey/Maple Syrup – Mistake # 3 – This was a doozy. I decided to live dangerously and use 2 teaspoons of Chili Powder rather than take the conservative route. Never two…!!!!!
You can probably guess by now. The Chili Powder totally overwhelmed the finished product, though it looked identical to the pictures…..haha! Kudos for that, hmm?
I froze most of it in single servings and plan to try and fix each one individually as I try to salvage them after a trip to the market. I want to add more BBQ sauce and some Craisins and was thinking of having some Cran-Apple juice handy if push comes to shove since it is pretty thick. Suggestions welcomed and if I need to just start over, I’m a big boy and can take it.
It’s pretty hard to lessen the flavor of spices once you’ve added them. If it’s too spicy from the chili powder, then adding sweetness can help temper that. I would make another batch and omit the chili powder then mix the two together. 🙂
Thanks Kristen – I’m going to take your advice. I thought grabbing at straws for a fix was the only way out but now I’ve been persuaded to take your suggestion. Note to others: Chili powder can be your enemy if you’re careless…..Kristen tried to warn us….I just didn’t listen. My bad……
I hope it worked out!
Could this be made without the bourbon? Is there something else I could substitute? Looks soo good!
You could easily leave the bourbon out if you don’t have any. It’s adds a little sweetness but it will be just as good without it. 🙂
I love baked beans and totally digging the combo of apple and bourbon in these! Thanks for sharing, Kristen!
Thanks, Savita! It really was a delicious combo. 🙂
Looks delicious! Can this be made in a crock pot?
Hi Linda,
I haven’t made it in a crockpot before, but I suspect it would work great. I’ve got a crockpot on my list of kitchen gadgets that I really want, so hopefully you’ll see some more crockpot recipes showing up here soon!
I’m drooling over that spoonful of delicious beans!! I love, love, love baked beans. These would be PERFECT to kick off football season with! 🙂 Great job on this one! (And it’s totally not weird just to eat a bowl of beans for dinner!)
Oh maaaan! These beans look seriously dreamy with those gorgeous apples! And bourbon too?? Well, twist my arm why dontcha. 😉 These are so coming along to our next cookout!
Oh my goodness! A 65th anniversary is amazing!!
These beans look ridiculously good! With the apples, they are perfect for fall. 🙂
I know, right?! I think it is just the most beautiful thing … and they looked so happy after all those years. 🙂
Love the apple! Such a classic comfort dish for sure!
Thanks, Rebecca!