Rich, robust, sweet, spicy and smoky, these Chile BBQ Baked Beans On The Grill are a total WOW on the flavor scale. Using canned baked beans and adding bacon, molasses and chile peppers, mesquite wood chips bring home the incredible smoky flavor.
These bbq baked beans are a perfect side dish for every type of backyard bbq party thrown your way. Burgers, ribs and hotdogs never had it so good.
This is a recipe developed in Culinary School for one of their recreational evening classes on grilling. The evening instructors intentionally made a super large batch of these beans so we’d have them the next day for regular class, which was learning about compound butters. We reheated them to serve with our main course projects for the day. We made compound butters for everything from shrimp to chicken my favorite being Country Mustard Compound Butter for Steak.
These grilled baked beans were a perfect side dish for all.
I simply couldn’t believe the flavor of these bbq baked beans, and that they were made on the grill using a disposable foil casserole pan. Mesquite Chips are used to bring the smoky layer of flavor to the already delicious combo of ingredients.
BBQ Baked Beans On The Grill, was a very pleasant surprise take-away recipe from school.
Let’s take a look.
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Ingredients You’ll Need
Mesquite wood chips and medium heat chile peppers bring unique layers of flavors to the customary ingredients used to make bbq baked beans.
- Mesquite Wood Chips: Easily found along side grilling supplies at the grocery store. Hickory wood chips are also a good choice here.
- Using Canned Beans make this an easy fix.
- Good quality thick sliced bacon.
- Chile Peppers, Medium Heat Please: Mild chile peppers simply won’t bring that warmth of heat to the end flavors of this recipe. You need a medium heat pepper to fight it’s way through the strong flavors here. I like to use Hatch Chile Peppers here.
- Sweet Onion
- Dark Molasses
- Brown Sugar
- Ketchup
- Fresh Garlic
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions – How To Cook Baked Beans On The Grill, It’s Easy
Before starting the preparation of these baked beans, soak wood chips in water for at least 30 minutes and preferably one hour. Drain off the water before using them in the cooking process. Empty canned beans into a colander in the sink. Allow the beans to drain, but do not rinse.
- Step 1: In a large fry pan over medium heat, cook the bacon pieces, stirring occasionally, until crispy. About 10 minutes. Add the chopped onions and cook until starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Step 2: Stir in the catsup, molasses, chile peppers and brown sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Step 3: Place the drained beans into a grill safe, 3 quart casserole. Sprinkle on Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. I like to use the disposable foil pans. They’re recyclable and grill friendly.
- Step 4: Add the sauce and stir into the beans. Place the pan of beans on the grill over indirect medium heat. Cook for 40 minutes, stirring often.
Substitutions
- Bacon – If you’re opposed to pork bacon, turkey bacon will work just fine for this recipe. And to make this a vegetarian grilled baked beans recipe, there are plenty options for vegetarian bacon.
Variations
- Rich Flavor – Substitute tomato paste for the ketchup. Doing so will make this even deeper and richer bbq sauce flavor. Me? I prefer ketchup.
- About Chile Peppers – I always have a stash or roasted chile peppers in the freezer. You can purchase canned chile peppers on the Mexican food aisle at the super market. Again, choose a pepper that’s medium on the heat scale.
See this oven version of Spicy Baked Beans on my website! Another recipe with great flavor and a little bit on the tangier side, using mustard and Worcestershire sauce, this is an oven baked bean recipe.
Equipment
These beans can be made on a gas grill or using a charcoal grill. Simply be sure to create a heat station with no heat. This sets up an indirect heat cooking situation. Turn off one set of burners on a gas grill, or move charcoal briquettes to one side of the grill. Place the pan of beans away from the heat source.
Place wood chips in a small disposable pan or in a open foil pouch. Follow grill instructions for using wood chips. Example, my Weber grill instructs to place either a foil packet or foil pan with soaked wood chips, under the grates and above the flavor bars.
Storage
Store left over grilled baked beans in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. I like to use the microwave to reheat. These beans can also be frozen. Use a freezer zip-lock style baggie or an airtight container. They will store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Top tip
The more you stir the beans while they’re cooking on the grill, the stronger the smoky flavor.
A Question You May Have
Yes you can. You’ll need to start the process the day before. Soak pinto beans over-night, then cook in the crockpot until tender. This will take a few hours. See my post for Cowboy Chili where I explain how to easily cook dried beans in the crockpot.
If you’re grilling this summer, you need to try these BBQ Baked Beans on the grill. The flavor is amazing and you’ll want to make them again and again. And if you’ve never tried baked beans with molasses and brown sugar, you’re in for a treat.
More Summer Side Dishes You Might Like
Looking for more recipe for those backyard cookouts? Try these:
And if you’re looking for more Summer sides, don’t miss my category for Side Dishes, you’ll find lots of great recipes, including the most popular on my site for Cast Iron Skillet Potatoes.
Make It A Meal
These are a few of my favorite main courses to serve with BBQ Baked Beans On The Grill.
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Chile BBQ Baked Beans On The Grill
Equipment
- 1 EZ Foil Disposable Casserole Pan 3 quart
Ingredients
- 5 slices Thick Cut Bacon Cut into ½ inch pieces
- 1 medium Sweet Onion Chopped, about 1 ½ cups
- 4 medium Garlic cloves peeled and chopped
- ½ Cup Catsup
- ¼ Cup dark Molasses
- 1 Cup Chile Peppers roasted, peeled, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons Brown sugar
- 56 ounces Canned Baked Beans 2-28 ounce cans
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Before starting the preparation of these baked beans, soak wood chips in water for at least 30 minutes and preferably one hour. Drain off the water before using them in the cooking process. Empty canned beans into a colander in the sink. Allow the beans to drain, but do not rinse.
- In a large fry pan over medium heat, cook the bacon pieces, stirring occasionally, until crispy. About 10 minutes. Add the chopped onions and cook until starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in the catsup, molasses, chile peppers and brown sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Place the drained beans into a grill safe, 3 quart casserole. Sprinkle on Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. I like to use the disposable foil pans. They're recyclable and grill friendly.
- Add the sauce and stir into the beans. Place the pan of beans on the grill over indirect medium heat. Cook for 40 minutes, stirring often.
Notes
Nutrition
BBQ Baked Beans On The Grill … They’re Whats For A Side Dish
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
Best Baked Beans I’ve ever had.
These look awesome and I like the idea of adding smoke to them. I’ll plan to make a batch the next time I smoke meat.
These sound awesome and I like the idea of adding smoke to them. I’ll plan to make a batch next time I smoke some meat.