Don't Add These Beans To Your Cart: Why We Ranked This Bush's Baked Beans Flavor The Worst

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Somewhere at some point, some enterprising, creative individual figured out that peanut butter and jelly were the perfect combination. It's a classic pairing in the food world — much like tomato and basil, bacon and eggs, and bread and butter. Oh, and let's not forget about that other classic culinary pairing — apple pie and baked beans. Wait, what? Well, we're kidding of course, but the famous Bush's Baked Beans brand absolutely is not.

Some daring individual at Bush's decided that those baked beans needed some kind of dessert-ish kick in the pants and added apple pie to the flavor profile. Unfortunately, when we tried 10 Bush's Baked Beans varieties, we thought this one was the absolute worst. In some ways, we get it. Both apple pie and baked beans are two American classics. But Americans love fried chicken and ice cream, too, and that doesn't mean those two should be combined.

Here's the overall deal with Bush's Apple Pie Baked Beans. We tasted the cinnamon and apple in each bite, no doubt, which on its own is delicious. The problem here is ... we're eating baked beans! We tried to convince our brain, eyes, and taste buds that this all was normal. Nothing to see here — just apple pie inside a can of baked beans. The biggest problem is simply that baked beans aren't a dessert and apple pie isn't a side dish. This product just seemed flawed from the start. You've got to respect the bold souls at Bush's for giving it a try, but this one should've never left the test kitchen.

The online reviews for Bush's Apple Pie Baked Beans are pretty mixed, but many match our own thoughts. Walmart shoppers give the beans a decent 4-star rating overall, but many also have complaints. "The flavor combination didn't work out well at all," one reviewer wrote. "I actually had to add some barbecue sauce to it to cover up the odd taste." Another one-star reviewer commented, "Swing and a miss for this product ... the flavor of this combo was definitely bad. Could not finish the can, and threw the rest away. Will not purchase again." A Facebook user simply called the apple pie baked beans gross.

You've got to get Bush's credit for really pushing the envelope outside of traditional baked bean flavors. The brand also created a dill pickle version and, even though we love anything pickled, we thought this one was a mess as well. To be honest, when we ranked 10 of Bush's baked beans varieties, the sweet heat, original, and vegetarian versions made the top of the list. We were actually shocked to realize that the vegetarian baked beans were our favorite.

You know, you've got to try something new — even if it's off-the-charts nonsensical — to really understand if it works or not. And, again, we credit Bush's for really tapping into that nonsensicalness — because, sometimes, it might actually work. But apple pie and baked beans was a marriage that was destined to find the courthouse from the start. Enjoy your baked beans, and enjoy your apple pie. But, to paraphrase Rudyard Kipling, never the twain should've met.