Heinz has added a new product to its long-running lineup of tinned beans, and it’s already got fans of the cupboard staple talking. The new Extra Rich Beanz promise a stronger, more savoury taste compared to the classic tin most of us grew up on, and the launch has sparked a major debate among shoppers about whether it’s an actual improvement or just a rebrand of something we’ve already had before.
Beans on toast has been a British staple for generations, and Heinz has dominated that particular corner of the supermarket for just as long. Any change to the recipe, however small, tends to get people talking, and this launch has been no exception.
What’s actually changed in the recipe?
The new beans share most of their ingredients with the original recipe, but there are a few notable tweaks worth knowing about. Yeast extract, black pepper and natural flavouring have all been added, giving the beans a richer, more savoury edge than the standard tin most shoppers are used to. Interestingly, water no longer appears on the ingredients list at all, which likely explains the more concentrated flavour shoppers have been picking up on since the launch.
The beans also carry the same nutritional credentials as the classic version, being high in both protein and fibre, and counting towards one of your five a day. So while the taste has apparently shifted, the health side of things seems to have stayed largely the same, which will come as good news to anyone relying on beans as an easy way to hit their daily targets.
Where to get them and how much they cost
For now, the Extra Rich Beanz are exclusive to Ocado, where a 410g tin will set shoppers back £1.40. That’s a touch more than a standard tin of Heinz beans typically costs, which hasn’t gone unnoticed by shoppers weighing up whether the richer taste is worth the extra spend.
Anyone keen to try them can currently pick them up for less, though, with the new tins included in Ocado’s buy any two for £2 offer, running until 8 September. It’s a decent way to try the new recipe without committing to the full price, particularly for shoppers who aren’t sure yet whether they’ll prefer it to the original.
Some shoppers reckon it’s just the old recipe brought back.
Over on the Newfoodsuk Facebook page, plenty of beans enthusiasts have been discussing the relaunch, and a fair few reckon the new stronger flavour is simply how Heinz beans used to taste before the recipe was changed at some point over the years. One commenter joked it’s really just the original taste making a comeback, with another agreeing that’s exactly what it sounds like.
It’s a common reaction whenever a well-known product gets reformulated. Shoppers with long memories often suspect that a “new and improved” version is simply correcting a recipe that was quietly watered down at some point in the past, and this launch seems to have triggered exactly that kind of nostalgia among longtime fans.
Not everyone’s convinced Heinz has the best beans on the shelf.
The reaction hasn’t been universally positive, either. Some shoppers used the launch as an opportunity to champion a rival brand instead, with a couple of commenters insisting nothing beats Branston beans, regardless of what Heinz does with its recipe. It’s a reminder that even a brand as dominant as Heinz still has its share of loyal doubters when it comes to the humble tin of beans.
There’s also been some good-natured grumbling about the price, with several shoppers joking that you’d need to be rich to justify paying extra for a tin of beans, playing on the “extra rich” name itself. Still, not everyone was put off by the cost. One fan seemed particularly keen to give the new beans a go, telling a friend they reckoned the richer beans would go down a treat on a slice of warm buttered bread, proving that for plenty of shoppers, a bit of extra flavour is worth the extra few pence.
It’s the latest in a string of tweaks Heinz has made to its classic products.
This isn’t the only recent change Heinz has made to a much-loved staple. The brand has also been updating other parts of its range lately, including changes to its plastic ketchup bottles in the UK, showing a broader pattern of the company revisiting some of its most recognisable products rather than leaving them untouched. For a brand that’s built much of its identity around consistency and nostalgia, tweaking a classic always carries a bit of risk, since shoppers tend to have strong opinions about products they’ve been buying for decades.
Whether Extra Rich Beanz end up becoming a permanent fixture alongside the standard tin, or fade out as a limited experiment, will likely come down to exactly this kind of shopper feedback. For now, curious bean lovers have a cheap way to make up their own minds, with the two-for-£2 deal offering an easy opportunity to compare the new recipe against the tin they already know.
