Dr Pepper Baked Beans —😋❤️ Not just any baked beans, these EASY baked beans with bacon, onions, and peppers also have Dr Pepper to give them FANTASTIC depth of flavor! Sweet-and-tangy, savory, hearty, and your NEW favorite baked beans recipe! Great side dish to serve at backyard barbecues, summer holidays, tailgating and game day parties, or anytime you need a comfort food recipe!
Table of contents
The sauce the baked beans simmers in is both savory yet sweet and tangy from molasses, brown sugar, and apple cider vinegar.
And there’s one special ingredient: Dr Pepper soda. That’s right, Dr Pepper and its 23 flavors amps up the flavor of this comfort food recipe and there’s a subtle fruity sweetness. As the beans bake in the oven, and the sauce thickens and the sugars in the soda caramelize, the flavors concentrate, marry and meld together, and it’s all a fantastic combination.
Whether you want to make these for Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, summer barbecues, tailgating, or a wintertime comfort food, there’s no wrong season for these Dr Pepper and bacon baked beans.
Ingredients in Dr Pepper Baked Beans
To make these easy baked beans with Dr Pepper, you’ll need the following easy to find and very common fridge and pantry ingredients including the following:
- Thick cut bacon
- Yellow onion
- Red or green bell peppers
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- Canned baked beans
- Ketchup
- Molasses
- Light brown sugar
- Prepared yellow mustard
- Apple cider vinegar
- Dr Pepper
Note: All ingredients amounts are listed in the recipe card section when you keep scrolling down.
How to Make Dr Pepper Baked Beans
Making baked beans is easier than you think. Especially since I start out with canned baked beans to save a ton of time.
Follow these straightforward and easy steps:
- In an oven-safe cast iron skillet, add the bacon and cook over medium heat until crispy. Remove it from the skillet and drain off all but 2 tablespoons bacon grease.
- Add the onions, bell peppers, salt, pepper, and saute until softened.
- Add the cooked bacon back into the pan, the beans, ketchup, light brown sugar, mustard, vinegar, Dr Pepper, and stir to combine.
- Baked in a preheated oven for about 75 to 90 minutes before serving!
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s important to use an oven-safe skillet since these beans are going to bake for 75 to 90 minutes. I suggest cast iron because it’s simply the best material for the job. I use a 12-inch Staub Cast Iron Skillet. You can also get away with a 9-inch cast iron skillet but it’ll be much fuller. I don’t recommend anything that’s “nonstick” or Teflon-coated if you can avoid it since you’re baking these baked beans for a good while.
I used Bush’s Original Canned Baked Beans that I drain. Quick, easy, no planning!
Other options include:
1. Canned Beans – We are taking the “baked” element out and simply used prepared canned beans. Drain and rinse them. I suggest using navy beans like Bush’s Navy Beans, pinto beans, or cannellini beans. Again, quick, easy, no planning, and you may already have 3 cans of beans in your pantry.
2. Dry Beans – You can make beans from scratch and then use those beans in the baked beans recipe. If you want a guide for how to make beans from scratch, my Instant Pot Black Beans recipe is great. Don’t make black beans for this recipe. Use dry “white beans” such as navy beans, cannellini beans, or pinto beans. This is a more labor intensive and longer process but certainly is an option.
In order to have Dr. Pepper Baked Beans, you actually do need to use Dr Pepper soda. All you need is one 12-ounce can.
No, not really. And I suggest using regular Dr Pepper. Those 23 original flavors of Dr Pepper really are the key! You could say that Dr Pepper is the not-so-secret “secret ingredient.” Part of the reason why beans are so good is because as they bake, the sugars caramelize and the flavors deepen and intensify. You simply won’t get the same result if you use diet soda.
Yes you can subtly taste it, but not like you were drinking a can of Dr. Pepper or anything! The flavor is not overwhelmingly strong because of all the other flavors going on like bacon, onions, and bell peppers, but it’s there but more in a subtle fruity sweetness kind of way. If you have a Dr. Pepper lover in your life, they’ll love these easy beans.
Unsulphured molasses — such as a brand like Grandma’s Original Molasses — is what I use and recommend. I do not recommend going with blackstrap molasses as that’s even stronger and more potent tasting.
Storage Instructions
Baked beans will keep in an airtight container in your fridge for up to 5 days or in your freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat gently in the microwave.
What to Serve with Dr Pepper Baked Beans
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Dr Pepper Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 4 slices thick-cut bacon, diced into bite-sized pieces
- 1 medium/large yellow onion, diced small
- 1 medium/large red or green bell pepper, diced small
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- three 15-ounce cans baked beans, drained*
- ½ cup ketchup
- ⅓ cup unsulphured molasses
- ¼ cup light or dark brown sugar, packed; optional and to taste**
- 2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- one 12-ounce can Dr Pepper soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- To a large cast iron skillet or an oven-safe skillet, add the bacon and cook over medium heat until crispy; stir intermittently. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels and set aside. Tips – I recommend a 12-inch cast iron skillet, although a 9-inch skillet will work, although it'll be fuller. I do not recommend using a nonstick skillet or Teflon-coated skillets because these beans will bake for 75-90 minutes and a heavy duty cast iron skillet is ideal, although use what you have that's oven-safe.
- Drain all but 2 to 3 tablespoons of the bacon grease.
- Add the onions, bell peppers, and saute over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes; stir intermittently.
- Add the cooked bacon, the canned baked beans, ketchup, molasses (use unsulphured and not blackstrap), optional brown sugar to taste, mustard, apple cider vinegar, Dr Pepper, and stir to combine. Tip – If you wanted to turn this into a slow cooker baked beans recipes, transfer it into your Crock-Pot right now, and cook on low for about 4-5 hours on low OR about 3-4 hours on high, or until desired consistency has been reached. All slow cookers vary so keep an eye on yours and cook as needed.
- Bake for 75 to 90 minutes, uncovered, or until the sauce has thickened and desired consistency has been reached. Stir every 30 minutes or so and check on how they look as they're baking.
- Serve immediately. Extra beans will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat gently in the microwave.
Notes
- Canned Baked Beans – I used Bush's Original Canned Baked Beans that I drain. Quick, easy, no planning!
- Canned Beans – We are taking the "baked" element out and simply used prepared canned beans. Drain and rinse them. I suggest using navy beans like Bush's Navy Beans, pinto beans, or cannellini beans. Again, quick, easy, no planning, and you may already have 3 cans of beans in your pantry.
- Dry Beans – You can make beans from scratch and then use those beans in the baked beans recipe. If you want a guide for how to make beans from scratch, my Instant Pot Black Beans recipe is great. Don't make black beans for this recipe. Use dry "white beans" such as navy beans, cannellini beans, or pinto beans. This is a more labor intensive and longer process but certainly is an option.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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