The Gooey, Cheesy Upgrade Your Cookout Baked Beans Are Begging For

Baked beans are a reliable side dish at any barbecue, and it makes for a quick, savory lunch even if you're just eating them with toast. Your standard-issue baked beans lean mildly sweet thanks to the inclusion of brown sugar (or its common substitute, molasses), but you can upgrade cookout baked beans with juicy summer peaches to make them even sweeter. However, leaning into the savory nature of beans also makes for a satisfying dish; baked beans in tomato sauce is fairly common, while a slightly more unorthodox recipe involves baked beans with tomato paste and gooey mozzarella cheese.

For this version, simply cook the usual navy or cannellini white beans with tomato paste and garlic, and add some mozzarella cheese on top as if you're preparing to bake a pizza. This is often referred to as cheesy baked beans, but you can also think of it as a sort of baked beans lasagna (sans pasta) or even a baked beans ziti because of how crispy the cheese becomes at the edges. As with lasagna, you can season as necessary with black pepper or crushed red pepper, but the tomato and beans surrounded by melted mozzarella should be plenty creamy and savory on their own. The most popular recipes online are pretty consistent, but naturally there are different ways to change it up.

Once you've gathered all your ingredients, you're almost done. This dish doesn't have many steps involved, so it shouldn't take more than 20 minutes to make. The garlic and tomato paste are usually heated first before adding the beans and everything else except the mozzarella. However, feel free to sprinkle some parmesan into the bean mixture. At the end, the mozzarella goes on top, and then you bake.

The dish is often made with tomato paste, but don't feel constrained in how you add the tomatoes. Instead of tomato paste, some folks say that using canned or fresh tomatoes notably improves the flavor. That's hard to say for sure, as tomato paste will have a much more concentrated flavor, while whole tomatoes will taste fresher (even though crushing or blending them will be an extra step). For even more tomato flavor, use both concentrated tomato paste and canned tomatoes. On the opposite end, you could just use marinara sauce if you already have some on-hand.

Beyond that, we'd never discourage you from making things spicier, so keep in mind that pickled jalapeño peppers can give baked beans more depth. For a garnish, think along the lines of lasagna or pizza; proteins like sausage or veggies like spinach will fit right into the mixture.