Want to know the easiest way to cook baked beans in the microwave?

Rather than using a whole dish, a simple microwave safe mug is the way I usually do it – I have a variety of mugs in different sizes and will typically be microwaving 1/3rd or ½ a tin at a time.  If I wanted to cook a whole tin of beans I’d use a small microwave safe bowl or Pyrex jug.

Tip: If you’re cooking just half a tin of beans, put the rest of the tin into a lidded pot in the fridge and they’ll keep for 3-4 days, or you can freeze them.  Beans should be removed from the tin once the tin has been opened.

I do tend to favour dishes that have a handle as it gives me something easy to grab, as I do find some bowls a little tricky as I’m clumsy.  🙂  For this reason, as I am usually cooking small portions, for one person, mugs are the handiest microwave safe cooking dish!  They’re easy to find, cheap to buy – and easy to wash up.

How to Cook Baked Beans in the Microwave: 

1. Tip the beans into a microwave safe mug, jug or bowl.  You do not need to cover the mug or dish.
2. Microwave on full power (800 watts) for 1 minute. Stir, microwave the beans for 30 seconds, stir, microwave for a further 30 seconds.
3. After 2 minutes half a mug of baked beans would be steaming hot – if you’re cooking larger quantities then you will need to cook them for a further 1 minute or so.

Serve!

This is the best way to cook baked beans if you want to make beans on toast, baked potato with beans, or serve them as a side portion with a cooked breakfast.  There really is no point using a saucepan and hob to cook beans, which takes longer and gives you a larger item to wash up!

Save Money on Takeaway!

Beans served on top of chips is a filling meal too, but why pay chip shop prices for a small portion of beans when you can simply microwave your own beans at home while you’re unwrapping your portion of chips!  75p is a typical price for a portion of baked beans at a chip shop, compared to 25p for a whole tin of baked beans at home!

Every little helps, as they say – and those 75p portions would add up over a year for a tub of baked beans, or even the mushy peas.  Save >£25-30 a year by just buying chips from the chip shop and heat up your own at home.

Tips: 

• Immediately rinse out the mug, or put it in soak and the washing up will just be a quick wipe!
• If you like your baked beans to have a thick sauce, then microwave them for longer and the sauce thickens up.

Curried Baked Beans:

Want to know how you make curried baked beans?

Simply stir in ~¼ teaspoon of curry powder (or curry paste) and a few raisins before you cook the beans and you can make your own curried baked beans!  This is much cheaper than buying them ready made and you get to tweak the flavour to be just how you like it.