Slow-Baked Beans and Franks

By
Diana Rattray
Diana Rattray
Diana Rattray
Southern-cuisine expert and cookbook author Diana Rattray has created more than 5,000 recipes and articles in her 20 years as a food writer.
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Updated on 01/3/22
beans and franks on a yellow plate with cornbread

StockFood Creative/Getty Images

Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 2 hrs
Total: 2 hrs 15 mins
Servings: 4 to 6 servings

Baked beans and hot dogs, or franks as many people call them, are a natural combination. If you don't like hot dogs, make the dish with ham, spicy smoked sausage, or turkey ham. Or use chicken or turkey hot dogs. If you want to avoid the preservatives in many brands of hot dogs, choose uncured hot dogs. 

Beans and hot dogs are easy on the budget as well. Some mustard, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and ketchup add extra flavor. The bean casserole is slowly baked at a low temperature to bring out flavors. 

Add cornbread or biscuits and a salad for a tasty family meal.

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Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion

  • 1/2 cup ketchup

  • 1/4 cup molasses

  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar

  • 1 tablespoon mustard

  • 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

  • 2 (16-ounce) cans baked pork and beans in tomato sauce

  • 6 hot dogs

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients. Heat the oven to 300 F.

  2. Mix together onion, ketchup, molasses, brown sugar, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Add beans and stir to blend.

  3. Spoon the seasoned bean mixture into a 2-quart casserole and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

  4. Arrange the franks on the beans and bake for 30 minutes longer.

Recipe Variations

  • Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chopped cooked bacon to the beans along with the seasonings.
  • Scatter 1 cup of grated American cheese over the hot dogs before cooking for the final 30 minutes.
  • Instead of using 1/4 cup molasses, use 1/8 cup molasses plus 1/8 cup honey or 1/8 cup maple syrup.
  • Try substituting 1/2 cup chili sauce for the 1/2 cup ketchup in the recipe or use 1/4 cup chili sauce and 1/4 cup ketchup.

Franks and Beans: A New England Saturday Night Tradition

Any New Englander worth his salt can regale you with childhood stories of typical Saturday night family dinners—beans and franks sometimes with Boston brown bread—a meal that remains in their culinary repertoire.

We can thank Indigenous peoples in the U.S. for showing New England colonists how to bake navy beans in a pot, albeit with venison, bear fat, and maple syrup in hot-stone-lined pits. Eventually, molasses replaced the maple syrup in some recipes and brown bread, also made with molasses, rounded out the meal.

As time went on, and as wheat flour became easier to come by, brown bread was left out of the equation and salt pork or smoked meat was replaced by economical franks.

What remains the same is the tradition of cooking the beans low and slow for the best flavor and texture.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
426 Calories
19g Fat
53g Carbs
15g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4 to 6
Amount per serving
Calories 426
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 19g 24%
Saturated Fat 7g 37%
Cholesterol 43mg 14%
Sodium 1324mg 58%
Total Carbohydrate 53g 19%
Dietary Fiber 9g 31%
Total Sugars 20g
Protein 15g
Vitamin C 5mg 24%
Calcium 127mg 10%
Iron 4mg 23%
Potassium 914mg 19%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)