Smoked Baked Beans with Ground Beef and Bacon

Bring these smoked baked beans to your next backyard barbecue and everyone will rave. You’ll love how an easy baked beans recipe can be taken to new heights by smoking them on a pellet grill.

The Cooking Bride is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

This post was not sponsored by Traeger Pellet Grills. However, it does contain affiliate links and I may be compensated at no additional cost to you if you make a purchase through these links.

A couple years ago I was asked to bring baked beans to a family function. It was then that The Husband’s cousin shared with me that baked beans – good baked beans – must contain three ingredients: ground beef, bell pepper, and bacon.

I consulted a friend from church, who is a prolific grill master and makes some of the best dang baked beans I had ever had. He emailed me his recipe, which turns out wasn’t really a recipe at all. More of “a little bit of this, a little bit of that.” It took me a few times, but I managed to get the measurements just right. Last year when my husband bought his pellet grill, I decided to adapt my classic recipe into baked beans on a smoker. It wasn’t hard to do and it ended up being the perfect idea for smoked baked beans.

Ingredients and tools you’ll need

This recipe uses canned beans as its base. If you feel so inclined to cook yours from scratch, go right ahead. But trust me, these beans have all the flavor of slow cooked homemade. Before you get started, make sure you have these ingredients on hand:

• 1 pound ground beef – you can get away with using the slightly cheaper 73% lean / 27% fat ground beef since we will be draining the grease.
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
• 2 (28 ounces each) cans original flavor baked beans, undrained
• 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• ¼ cup barbecue sauce
• ¼ cup maple syrup – if you’re trying to cut costs, you can also use regular old pancake syrup instead.
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 7 strips uncooked bacon, chopped
• 5 quart Dutch oven, large cast iron skillet or heavy duty aluminum pan
• Pellet grill – we use the Traeger Ironwood 650 pellet smoker.
• Pellets

Assemble the smoked baked beans

1. Brown the hamburger meat in the post over medium-high heat. Break the meat into pieces using a wooden spoon and cook until it is no longer pink, about 8-10 minutes.
2. Using a slotted spoon, remove the hamburger from the pot and set aside. Reserve two tablespoons of the grease and return the pot to the heat.
3. Add the onion and bell pepper to the hot grease. Sauté, stirring often, until the onion and bell pepper are tender, about 8-10 minutes.
4. Return the hamburger meat to the pot. Add the cans of baked beans, mustard, brown sugar, barbecue sauce, syrup, salt and pepper.
5. Stir until ingredients are combined and the mixture is heated through. Remove the pan from the heat.
6. Layer the chopped bacon pieces over the top of the beans.

Smoke the beans

1. Preheat the smoker to 350 degrees.
2. Place the beans on the smoker.
3. Close the lid and bake uncovered for one hour until the bacon is starting to brown on the edges, the beans are bubbling. The internal temperature of the beans should reach at least 165 degrees F.
4. When you remove the beans from the oven, they will be PIPING HOT! Allow them to cool for at least 15 minutes before diving right in.

Add-ins and variations

• The great thing about these pellet grill baked beans recipe is that you can add your own touches to make it yours.
• Swap the green bell peppers for jalapenos
• Replace 1/4 – 1/2 of the baked beans with black beans.
• Replace part of the ground beef with sausage or chorizo.
• Use spicy mustard instead yellow mustard.
• Toss in a few extra spices like cumin, chili powder or smoked paprika.

Baked beans in the oven

This recipe was originally published as an oven recipe. So if you don’t have a pellet grill or you came here looking for the original recipe, I’ve got you covered. Follow the instructions for assembling the beans as written. But instead of preheating a pellet grill, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the beans for 40-45 minutes until bacon is browned and the beans are bubbling.

Slow cooker instructions

Follow the assembly instructions as written, but instead, transfer the beans to the crock of a slow cooker. Spread the chopped bacon over the top. Cover the beans and cook on low for five hours or on high for three hours.

Storage, freezing and reheating:

Storage. Allow the Traeger bbq beans to cool completely, then cover with a lid or plastic wrap before placing them in the refrigerator. Consume within four days.

Freezing. These beans freeze beautifully! I usually freeze them unbaked, but you can just as easily freeze them baked. If I know I’m going to freeze them, I assemble the beans in a disposable casserole dish so I’m not tying up one of my good dishes indefinitely. Cover the beans with aluminum foil. Write the cooking instructions on the top so you’re not having to look for the recipe. Consume within three months. Allow the beans to thaw completely before smoking.

Reheating. If frozen, you will need to allow the beans the thaw in the refrigerator before reheating. Individual servings of smoked baked beans can easily be reheated for a minute or two in the microwave. If you are reheating a large amount, I recommend letting the beans come to room temperature for about 30 minutes, then bake them covered in a 350-degree oven for about 30-45 minutes until they are heated through.

Frequently asked questions

Serve smoked baked barbecue baked beans with:

• Oven Baked BBQ Chicken Thighs
• Drunk Chicken [Oven or Grill]
• Grilled Pineapple Chicken
• Smoked Meatloaf

More pellet grill smoker recipes

• Grilling Steaks on a Pellet Grill