Slow Cooker Bourbon Beans

These bourbon baked beans are a perfect classic side for anything grilled or smoked, pulled pork, burgers and dogs, chicken or ribs. Made with beans and bacon, chopped onion and sweet bell pepper and a savory, sweet and spicy sauce, made easy using a slow cooker.

Slow Cooker Bourbon Baked Beans

So, if you've been hanging around this blog for any amount of time, you already know I'm not super big on slow cooker usage. I have some recipes here and there, and I still use one occasionally, mostly to write recipes for the website and for those of you who do use them regularly.

Do I like baked beans the best when they're, well... baked? Yes indeed!

An unbaked, baked bean recipe, made with navy beans, onions, jalapeno, bacon, brown sugar, and prepared on the stovetop.

Stovetop Pork and Beans

It was just The Cajun and me for the 4th of July this year, so I kept things very simple. Smoked rib chops from Corky's, warmed on the grill, my classic potato salad, no husk microwave corn on the cob and these unbaked baked beans.

I call them that because it's essentially my baked beans recipe, without baking it, and using canned navy beans - sort of a semi-homemade, stovetop pork and beans, that I enjoy serving as a side dish anytime.

Baked Bean Medley (Calico Baked Beans)

A medley of mixed beans make up this baked bean dish, often referred to as Calico Baked Beans because of the variety.

Baked Bean Medley

I'm pretty sure that The Cajun has had his fill of baked beans, after the Hawaiian Pineapple Baked Beans that I made last month and my classic Southern baked beans I made before that, and now this Baked Bean Medley.

Pineapple (Hawaiian) Baked Beans

Pineapple Baked Beans, often referred to as Hawaiian Baked Beans, have that familiar spicy, sweet and sour taste we Southerners love. Great with Atlanta brisket.

Pineapple Baked Beans

I have made my baked beans the same way for literally decades and never ventured away from them. Never needed to. They are basic, but reliable and tasty, and I was often requested to bring them to parties and functions over the years.

 

Make a jump from beefed up barbecue baked beans with beef, bacon and spicy andouille - add other leftover smoked meats if you like too. Jazz that up with hot sauce, Creole mustard, Creole or Cajun seasoning and jalapeno and you have one fine pot of beans y'all.

Spicy Meat Trio Barbecue Baked Beans

Move over Beefy Baked Beans cuz there's a new Baked Bean King in town with a beefed up trio of meat - and a spicy kick. And if you happen to have some leftover smoked meat, it's right at home here.

Southern seasoned baked beans with chili sauce, mustard, brown sugar, bacon, onion and bell pepper - they're a cookout tradition! Pictured here with grilled ribs, Mama's Southern potato salad and marinated tomatoes.

Classic Southern Style Baked Beans

I have been cooking my baked beans pretty much this same way since the 70s. And all those years I have been doing them in this old Pyrex dish.

Well... that is until one day I dropped it and broke it. This was a wedding gift back then and I can't tell you how many potlucks that little carrier basket has been to over the years! {I told y'all I had some old dishes, though I guess the politically correct way to say that would be "vintage."}