We tried Clark Foods Root Beer Gourmet Baked Beans in 2024. Flavors, recipes, nutrition information and U.S. availability may have changed since then.
Baked beans are not usually where you expect culinary suspense. You open the can, heat them up, and everyone knows roughly what is about to happen. Clark Foods changed that equation for us with Root Beer Gourmet Baked Beans, a flavor that sounded strange enough that we had to try it.
What do root beer baked beans taste like?
The root beer version was our favorite of the Clark Foods lineup we sampled. The sauce leaned sweet and tangy, with the root beer flavor giving the beans a different personality from the familiar pork-and-tomato style. It was recognizable as baked beans, just with enough of a twist to make people at the table ask what was in them.
If unusual beans are your thing, our SER!OUS Bean Co. review looks at another lineup that goes well beyond the standard can.
The 2024 Clark Foods flavor lineup
In 2024, Clark Foods was bringing a range of flavored baked beans into the U.S. market. The lineup included Maple Chipotle, Apple Bacon Mesquite, Chili Lime, Buffalo Style, Peach Honey Habanero and Root Beer.
That range was really the interesting part. Instead of treating baked beans as the obligatory side dish next to whatever came off the grill, Clark Foods treated the beans themselves as something you might actually discuss.
What was in the Root Beer version?
The product we tried came in a 15-ounce can and was described by Clark Foods as beans simmered in a root beer-infused sauce. At the time, the company also marketed the variety as containing 25% less sodium than traditional baked beans. Because formulations and nutrition labels can change, check the current package if sodium content matters to you.
A better fit for cookouts than expected
Root beer and baked beans sound like two things invented independently and wisely kept apart. In practice, the sweetness made sense alongside typical cookout food. It gave the side dish enough character to stand out without requiring anyone to rethink dinner.
For more cookout ideas, our barbecue gift guide covers sauces, seasonings and other grilling-friendly finds.
Would we serve them again?
Yes. Of the flavors we tried, Root Beer was the one we remembered. It was unusual without becoming a novelty food you taste once simply to prove that you did.
There is nothing wrong with ordinary baked beans. They have been quietly doing their job beside hamburgers for generations. But if the beans can make somebody stop mid-bite and ask a question, apparently the side dish has finally found a hobby.