The Case For Adding Canned Baked Beans To Your Favorite Pasta Dish

There's always something new waiting around the corner when you're exploring the world of pasta, and sometimes, it goes beyond the confines of Italian cuisine. Canned baked beans, admittedly, are not a traditional ingredient. You will see them on English breakfast plates and poured over jacket potatoes a thousand times before you spot them in a plate of pasta, but that doesn't mean they don't belong there. Given the opportunity, canned baked beans can be one of the best ingredients to take your pasta dishes to the next level. 

Arriving at your kitchen already dressed up in boldly complex flavors and ready to impress, canned baked beans are a star from the get-go. The sauce alone packs a punch with its tangy and savory sweetness, carrying the simmered warmth of molasses, brown sugar, vinegar, and tomato-based condiments. It's a seamless blend into the pasta's own hearty base, further highlighting all of the dish's existing goodness. Then you've got the beans, adding bulk along with nutty and earthy notes as they cling onto the al dente pasta. 

Often associated with classic comfort foods, canned baked beans are cheap, convenient, and bring a heartwarming depth to your dish, and if there's anything we can't get enough of in homemade pasta, it's comfort and richness — both of which baked beans bring in spades.

Pasta has got to be one of the most creative uses for canned baked beans, and it's all because of the sheer versatility that both of these dishes possess. At its simplest, you can treat the beans as a ready-made base for pasta sauce by heating them in the pan before adding in the cooked pasta, just like a regular canned tomato sauce. Alternatively, you can stick to the usual routine and just ladle the baked beans into an already simmering sauce. In fact, with just three ingredients — pasta, baked beans, and crushed tomatoes — and 15 minutes in the kitchen, you're already cooking up a simple, delicious dinner. Even more effortless is a dump-and-go pasta bake, which will make a perfect addition to your busy weeknight rotation.

The wonders of a baked bean pasta recipe don't merely stop there. This dish comes with endless possibilities. Just imagine it with meatballs worked in and a few sprigs of basil scattered throughout, a familiar twist on the classic meatball spaghetti. Another cult favorite you can reimagine with this canned food is mac and cheese — baked beans and elbow macaroni swimming in a lusciously cheesy sauce, what could be better? And if you've got a bit of leftover cornbread, crumble it onto a pan of baked bean pasta, and let the oven heat bring everything together. That's how you make a pasta dish brimming with Southern flair. During summertime, when you've got picnics lined up and pasta salad recipes to revamp, give baked beans a go for the easiest crowd-pleaser that no one will see coming.