Hawaiian Baked Beans (Luau Lava Beans) A Spicy Side Dish!
Home » COOK » Recipes » International Recipes » American Recipes »These Hawaiian Baked Beans are a delicious hot and smoky side dish that is so easy to make using canned beans, but cooked low and slow for maximum flavor! Call them Luau Lava Beans and serve them at your Luau Party with barbecued chicken and pork, or even as a topping for baked potatoes or rice – yum!
I’ve got lots more Luau Party Food recipes for you to try out – right-click and open them in a new tab to read next!
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Hawaiian Baked Beans
The full ingredients list and instructions are found in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. I highly recommend reading the blog post all the way through so that you don’t miss any tips or substitution suggestions and to ensure that you have all the ingredients and equipment required as well as understand the steps and timings involved.
Beans are a staple barbecue side but these Hawaiian Baked Beans get a tropical twist and taste amazing!
They start life as canned pinto beans and then ingredients including bell peppers, bacon, pineapple, and two kinds of BBQ sauce are added.
The beans are cooked on the stovetop at low heat for a couple hours until hot, smoky, and delicious.
You could also cook them in a slow cooker too if you like. Cook off the onion and bell pepper to take the raw edginess off, and brown off the bacon, before adding everything to a slow cooker pot on high for a few hours.
Ingredients Used In This Recipe
For your convenience, I’ve linked any specialized ingredients needed for this recipe to Amazon, Amazon Fresh, or other online stores below.
- Canned Pinto Beans – you’ll need 3 (16 oz/400g) cans
- Brown Sugar
- Big Island Lava Sauce – this is a sauce made by King’s Hawaiian that you may find in grocery stores or be able to purchase online. However, if you can’t source this brand you can use any spicy BBQ sauce that you like – buy/use one according to your spice tolerance!
Here is the King’s Hawaiian sauce info from their website: With KING’S HAWAIIAN® Big Island Lava, it’s all about the heat! Heat up your taste buds with the boldness of red jalapeños, spicy island flavor, and a hint of sweetness at the end. - Smoked Bacon BBQ Sauce – another King’s Hawaiian sauce, which is described as “Made with chunks of rich, smoky bacon combined with a tangy-sweet sauce, the result is not only a bacon lover’s dream, but it’s also the perfect crowd pleaser for your next grill-out. It’s great for burgers, brisket, ribs, venison, and pulled pork.” But of course, you could use any brand of bacon BBQ sauce.
More Recipes Using Canned Beans
Canned beans are a great store cupboard staple and I always have a few cans of different variety beans to use in recipes and salads. Check out these recipes next:
How Do I Make Hawaiian Baked Beans?
Just check out the recipe card below with full ingredients, instructions, and demonstration photos. You can print the card out too (don’t worry, the pics don’t print to save your ink!).
Hawaiian Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 1-2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ lb/225 g cubed bacon lardons
- 1 cup chopped red onion
- ½ cup chopped red bell peppers
- ½ cup chopped green bell pepper
- 3 16 oz/400g cans pinto beans, drained
- ¼ cup pineapple juice from the drained pineapple
- ¼ cup lava bbq sauce
- ¼ cup Luau smoked bacon bbq sauce
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup canned pineapple chunks drained, juice reserved
Instructions
- Place a large cooking pot on medium-high heat and cook the bacon in a little oil till browned. Remove from the pot.
- Add the onion and peppers to the pot with more oil if needed and sauteé until tender.
- Add the cooked bacon, drained beans, pineapple juice, and BBQ sauces to the pot and stir to combine.
- Stir in the brown sugar.
- Bring the pot to the boil then reduce heat to very low and cook for 2 hours, stirring often.
- Stir in the pineapple chunks.
- Cook for a further 10-15 minutes to heat the pineapple through before serving.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is always approximate and will depend on the quality of ingredients used and serving sizes. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.
Make It A Meal!
You’ve made the side, but what about the rest of the courses?
Here are additional recipes to make a full meal!
- Main Dish: Hawaiian Barbecue Chicken
- Side Salad: Tropical Island Rice
- Beverage: Tropical Island Breeze Cocktail with Bourbon & Rum
- Dessert: Pineapple Upside Down Cake Fudge
There are 500+ Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog for you to enjoy! Please feel free to check them out too.