Boston Baked Beans – A Slow and a Quick Way

March 7, 2017

Boston Baked Beans Authentic Step-by-step RecipeOk, it took me almost three years living in Boston to finally post this recipe for Boston Baked Beans. Why? Honestly, I don’t know. Ever since I’ve made this recipe for the first time, I can’t get enough of it.

In addition to the original recipe, I’ve added a quick version that uses cooked beans from a can and is therefore ready in 10 minutes. Of course, the dish tastes better using the old fashioned slow-cooked way but there are busy days with absolutely no time for soaking beans overnight and cooking them for hours. For those days, the quick version of the baked beans recipe is absolutely perfect.

Creamy Boston Baked Beans Recipe

By the way, I love to eat my baked beans on a slab of sourdough bread sprinkled with a generous amount of freshly grated parmesan on top. Not authentic at all but absolutely delicious.

Step-by-step recipe for Boston Baked Beans

Ingredients for Boston Baked Beans.

Ingredients for Boston Baked Beans. The beans have been soaked overnight.

The beans are obviously the star in this dish. I use ½ pound dried great northern beans (the white ones in the picture) and ½ pound dried pinto beans. Navy beans are pretty common to use too. Also: Molasses is an essential ingredient for Boston Baked Beans. If it’s absolutely not available, you can substitute the same amount dark sugar beet syrup/maple syrup, or 50 g (1 3/4 oz) brown sugar.

Which Beans for Boston Baked Beans

Soak beans overnight. You can soak them togehter in one dish.

In a bowl, cover beans with cold water by several inches. Let beans soak overnight or at least 10 hours. You can soak different kinds of beans together. Drain and rinse.

Ingredients for Authentic Boston Baked Beans

Chop bacon and onion.

Chop onion and bacon.

Boston Baked Beans Quick and Authentic Recipe

Sauté onion and bacon.

Add 1 tablespoon oil to the Dutch oven and sauté onions over medium-high heat on the stove-top until onions are just beginning to turn golden, about 3 minutes. Add bacon and sauté until it is beginning to lightly brown, 5-10 minutes.

Boston Baked Beans Authentic Recipe from Boston

Add beans to the Dutch oven.

Add the soaked, drained, and rinsed beans together with 5.5 cups fresh water to the Dutch oven.

Boston Baked Beans Dutch Oven Recipe

Add the rest of the ingredients.

Add molasses, tomato sauce, mustard powder, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Mix well and bring to a simmer.

Boston Baked beans step by step recipe

Transfer Dutch oven from the stove-top to the oven.

Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). Cover the beans with the lid and transfer the Dutch oven to the oven. Let it cook for 2 1/2 hours, stirring half way through.

Boston Baked Beans Slow + Quick Recipe

Boston Baked Beans after 2.5 hours cooking time with lid and 1 more hour without lid.

After 2 1/2 hours cooking time, remove the lid and cook for one hour uncovered, stirring once or twice. During this time, the cooking liquid should reduce visibly into a sauce-like consistency (see picture above).

Boston Baked Beans Authentic recipe

Serve the baked beans as a main dish with a side salad and/or a slice of bread or as a side dish.

Boston Baked Beans Recipe from Boston

Boston Baked Beans on a slice of sourdough bread, sprinkled with grated parmesan cheese.

My favorite way of eating Boston Baked Beans is to spoon them on a thick slice of sourdough bread and generously sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan. Enjoy!

Boston Baked Beans – The slow way

Boston Baked Beans - A Slow and a Quick Way

3 hours, 30 minutes

Serving Size: 6 persons

Boston Baked Beans - A Slow and a Quick Way

As Bostonian by choice, I proudly present my recipe for Boston Baked Beans. I've originally developed this recipe for my newspaper column about US food for the Viennese daily I am contributing to. It's not overly sweet since I like it better this way. I love to use two kind of beans, 1/2 pound dried great northern beans and 1/2 pound dried pinto beans. But if you don't have those on hand, navy beans are pretty common to use too. Besides the beans, molasses is an essential ingredient for Boston Baked Beans. If it's absolutely not available, you can substitute the same amount dark sugar beet syrup or maple syrup, or 50 g (1 3/4 oz) brown sugar. For a quick version, see recipe below.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb (450 g) dried beans (here: 1/2 great northern 1/2 pinto beans; navy beans are common too), picked over for stones
  • 1 large yellow onion (about 200 g/7 oz)
  • 1/2 lb (227 g) thick sliced bacon, cured and smoked
  • 5 1/2 cups (1.3 liters) water
  • 1/4 cup (= 75 g/2.65 oz) molasses (see note above)
  • 1/2 cup (120 ml) tomato sauce
  • 2 teaspoons yellow mustard powder
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 teaspoons fine salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated black pepper
  • Additional: Dutch oven plus lid

Instructions

  1. In a bowl, cover beans with cold water by several inches. Let beans soak overnight or at least 10 hours. Drain and rinse.
  2. Chop onion and bacon. Add 1 tablespoon oil to the Dutch oven and sauté onions over medium-high heat on the stove-top until onions are just beginning to turn golden, about 3 minutes. Add bacon and sauté until it is beginning to lightly brown, 5-10 minutes.
  3. Add the drained and rinsed beans together with 5.5 cups fresh water to the Dutch oven.
  4. Add molasses, tomato sauce, mustard powder, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Mix well and bring to a simmer.
  5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 C). Cover the beans with the lid and transfer the Dutch oven to the oven. Let it cook for 2 1/2 hours, stirring half way through.
  6. After 2 1/2 hours cooking time, remove the lid and cook for one hour uncovered, stirring once or twice. During this time, the cooking liquid should reduce visibly into a sauce-like consistency.
  7. Serve the baked beans as a main dish with a side salad and/or a slice of bread or as a side dish. My favorite way of eating Boston Baked Beans is to spoon them on a thick slice of sourdough bread and generously sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan. Enjoy!
https://www.lilvienna.com/boston-baked-beans/

Quick Boston Baked Beans – ready in 10 minutes

For those of you who don’t have time to soak and cook dried beans, I’ve added a recipe that uses canned beans below.  It’s a quick version of the old fashioned slow-cooked Boston Baked Beans that is ready in 10 minutes.

 

Quick Boston Baked Beans (ready in 10 minutes)

10 minutes

Serving Size: 2 persons

Quick Boston Baked Beans (ready in 10 minutes)

This recipe uses canned beans and is therefore ready in 10 minutes. It's a quick version of the old fashioned slow-cooked Boston Baked Beans which use dried beans that have to cook for hours in the oven until tender.

Ingredients

  • 1 small yellow onion, about 1/2 cup, chopped (70 g/2.5 oz)
  • 3 thick slices cured and smoked bacon, chopped (70 g/2.5 oz)
  • 1 can (15-oz/400g) cooked white beans, about 240 g/8.5 oz drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup (120 ml) tomato sauce
  • 1/2 cup (120 ml) water
  • 1 tablespoon molasses (if you must, substitute with maple syrup or brown sugar)
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard powder
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. In a medium pan, saut onion over medium-high heat until onions are just beginning to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Ad bacon and sauté until it is beginning to brown, about 5 minutes.
  2. Add beans, tomato sauce, water, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard powder. Let gently simmer until the liquid reduces, about 5 minutes. The beans should be coated in a creamy sauce.
  3. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve. I like these quick baked beans best when spooned on a thick slice of sourdough bread and generously sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan.
https://www.lilvienna.com/boston-baked-beans/

Did you follow this recipe? You could share your result here. All you need to do is take a picture with your smartphone and send it to [email protected]

 

Boston Baked Beans – A Slow and a Quick Way was last modified: March 7th, 2017 by Ursula

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