These smoked baked beans are so easy and delicious. We start with canned baked beans to simplify things, then doctor them up and throw them on the smoker for extra smokey BBQ flavor.
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Why We Love These Smoked Baked Beans
- They're easy: The hardest thing about these beans is cooking bacon. If you can do that, you can make these beans. The smoker does most of the work—you just sit around and wait.
- They're delicious: These beans are sweet, smoky, and just a little spicy. They pair perfectly with pulled pork, smoked chicken, burgers, or anything else you can dream up.
- They don't require a ton of ingredients: These beans only require 8 ingredients, owing in part to the fact that we start with pre-made Bush's baked beans and then doctor them up. Most of the ingredients are things you probably already have in your pantry or fridge.
Looking for more easy smoker side recipes? Try our Traeger sweet potatoes, Traeger Mexican street corn, Traeger smoked baked potatoes, or Traeger asparagus.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Bush's Brown Sugar Hickory Baked Beans: This part is important because these beans provide the base flavor for this whole recipe. Yes, we could make this totally from scratch, but that would be more complicated, and I just don't have time for that. I've been doctoring up these baked beans for years, and they're my favorite.
Thick-cut bacon: You can use whatever kind of bacon you normally buy and love, but we love thick-cut bacon in this recipe.
Jalapeño: You want a whole, fresh jalapeño, not pickled jalapeños out of a jar. If you don't like spicy food, you can replace this with a bell pepper, but it adds the perfect amount of spice to counteract an otherwise sweet recipe.
Onion: We use a small sweet onion, but you can substitute a yellow or white onion.
Garlic: Fresh garlic works best, but you can substitute minced garlic if that's what you usually prefer (or if you just want a shortcut).
BBQ seasoning/rub: We love our Kansas City BBQ rub recipe and Kosmos Q Dirty Bird dry rub. Most poultry BBQ dry rubs work well.
Dijon mustard: This adds a little tang to counteract the sweetness. You can substitute regular yellow mustard in a pinch.
BBQ sauce: We prefer a sweet, KC-style BBQ sauce for this recipe (Sweet Baby Ray's works well and is sold in most parts of the US), but you can use whatever you usually like. Just keep in mind that your beans will take on some of the flavor of whatever you choose (so make sure you like it!).
See recipe card for full ingredient list and amounts.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Preheat your smoker to 225°F.
Step 2: While your smoker is warming up, add bacon to a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the bacon is about 90% done, about 5-6 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of the BBQ rub and stir to combine. Then remove the bacon from the pan (leaving the bacon grease behind) and set aside.
Step 3: Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions and peppers to the bacon grease and cook for 5-6 minutes, or until beginning to soften. Then add the garlic and cook for another minute.
Step 4: Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan and stir to combine. Arrange the bacon in a single layer on the top.
Step 5: Place the cast-iron pan directly onto your preheated smoker and smoke for 3 hours. Then remove the pan from the smoker and serve!
Serving Ideas
Looking for a main dish to pair with these smoked baked beans? Try one of these:
Frequently asked questions
We have a Traeger and use the Traeger Pro Blend, which is a combination of oak, hickory, and cherry. Most wood types work well—we usually pick a wood type based on whatever else we're smoking at the same time and that works fine.
Yes! Transfer the cooked beans to a air-tight storage container and place in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat them on your smoker on high, in a pan over medium heat, or in the microwave until warm.
If you don't have a cast-iron pan, cook the bacon and vegetables in a normal pan, then transfer the entire bean mixture to a disposable foil pan.
Other Smoker Side Dishes
Need a smoker side dish to pair with these beans? Try these:
📖 Recipe
Smoked Baked Beans
- Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
These smoked baked beans are so easy and delicious. We start with canned baked beans to simplify things, then doctor them up and throw them on the smoker for extra smokey BBQ flavor.
Ingredients
1 pound thick-cut bacon, cut into 1-inch rectangles
1 jalapeño, seeds removed and diced
1 small sweet onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 28-ounce cans of Bush's Brown Sugar Hickory Baked Beans (see note 1)
3 tablespoons bbq dry rub, divided (see note 2)
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 cup sweet BBQ sauce (see note 3)
Instructions
- Preheat your smoker to 225°F.
- While your smoker is warming up, add bacon to a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the bacon is about 90% done, about 5-6 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of the BBQ rub and stir to combine. Then remove the bacon from the pan (leaving the bacon grease behind) and set aside.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions and peppers to the bacon grease and cook for 5-6 minutes, or until beginning to soften. Then add the garlic and cook for another minute.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan and stir to combine. Arrange the bacon in a single layer on the top.
- Place the cast-iron pan directly onto your preheated smoker and smoke for 3 hours. Then remove the pan from the smoker and serve!
Notes
- These beans provide the base flavor for this whole recipe. I've been doctoring up these baked beans for years, and they're just my favorite. If you can't find this particular variety, most of the Bush's baked beans work well as a substitute.
- We love our Kansas City BBQ rub recipe and Kosmos Q Dirty Bird dry rub. Most poultry BBQ dry rubs work well.
- We prefer a sweet, KC-style BBQ sauce for this recipe (Sweet Baby Ray's works well and is sold in most parts of the US), but you can use whatever you usually like. Just keep in mind that your beans will take on some of the flavor of whatever you choose (so make sure you like it!).
- If you don't have a cast-iron pan, cook the bacon and vegetables in a normal pan, then transfer the entire bean mixture.
- Nutritional information is only an estimate.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Category: Sides
- Method: Grill, Smoker
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ⅛th of recipe
- Calories: 532
- Sugar: 32.9 g
- Sodium: 1470 mg
- Fat: 24 g
- Carbohydrates: 65.1 g
- Protein: 16.9 g
- Cholesterol: 50.4 mg
Michael says
Such a good smoked bean recipe!
Sharie S. says
I just made their Smoked Potato Salad which was phenomenal so I decided to make the baked beans too since the smoker was out and running. These are wonderful! Love the flavor and they were very easy to make. Highly recommend them!