Boston Baked Beans
Soak Beans Overnight Cook Beans in a Pressure Cooker 4-20 mins OR In a Large Pot 1:15 Prep 15 mins Bake 2+ hours Eat 2:20 – 3:15
I didn’t know I LOVED Boston Baked Beans until I tasted this recipe. They are NOTHING like the beans in a can, but you can be a hit at the potluck with this dish! Even though the Boston Baked Beans take a while to bake, hands-on time is minimal. I learned to make Boston Baked Beans in culinary school and I’ve been making them the same way ever since, except for the pork product I use to flavor it. I use pretty much whatever I have on hand – bacon, bacon drippings, salt pork, ham gelee or you can choose to make them vegan.
Boston Baked Beans are delicious and healthy too.
Along with the pork product, the secret ingredients that make this true Boston Baked Beans is the trifecta of sweetness – molasses, maple syrup and brown sugar. Worcestershire sauce and dry mustard round out the flavor with an additional punch. Even bean haters will warm up to these Boston Baked Beans. Serve them with my Best Ever Barbecue Ribs and you will have people knocking at your door for dinner.
The beans went from dry to soft at pressure 25 minutes in the pressure cooker.
But first you’ve got to get the beans from dry to cooked. To speed things along, soak the beans in plenty of water overnight in a pressure cooker pan or a large spaghetti-type pot. If you forget to do this, place the beans and water in a large pot to boil, remove from the heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour OR start them dry in the pressure cooker. Drain and rinse soaked beans and then cook the beans in a large pot with 8 – 12 cups water for 1:15 hours or in a pressure cooker for 4-20 minutes.
The Sitram Pressure Cooker is high quality stainless steel.
My Sitram SitraPro Pressure Cooker earned its stripes with this recipe. The Sitram pressure cooker is safe and easy to use. The high quality French stainless steel pot was given to me at a Melissa’s Produce event when Jill Nussinow, demonstrated the benefits of cooking everything in a Flash with a pressure cooker.
Jill Nussinow’s “Vegan Under Pressure” Cookbook
Jill Nussinow’s new book, “Vegan Under Pressure” has a whole chapter on Beans and a full page timetable for cooking 25 different types of dried beans with full instructions, which I studied before making the Boston Baked Beans. Soaked beans will cook in 4-7 minutes and unsoaked beans in 20-25 minutes when cooked at high pressure with a natural release. Really! This is very exciting considering I’ve always soaked my beans overnight and THEN simmered them for 1:15 hours to get them soft. Since I’m all about Fresh Food in a Flash, I was sold. Jill says that “beans cook more uniformly (in the pressure cooker) when they have been soaked”. Natural release means that you move the pressure cooker off the heat and wait for the pressure valve to drop, which will take anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. For more information about pressure cooking, go to Jill’s website, www.theveggiequeen.com or to the Sitram USA website.
Navy beans are soft and creamy when I put them in my authentic bean pot.
So I decided to try this pressure cooker method out by NOT soaking the beans. I went for the full 25 minutes after bringing the pot up to high pressure and a natural release. (Read the instructions with your pressure cooker or in the Vegan under Pressure book for the details). I could not believe that I had actually overcooked them in this short time. The beans were beginning to fall apart. No problem with this dish, because I wanted the beans soft and creamy anyway so that they take on all the flavors of the sauce. But next time, I would cook them 20 minutes or soak them first and cook them only 4-7 minutes!* Crazy! When the beans are cooked, drain them and place in a bean pot or deep covered casserole dish, BUT SAVE THE COOKING LIQUID.
*Since posting this recipe, I made the Boston Baked Beans again, this time soaking the beans overnight and cooking them in the pressure cooker for 7 minutes, after bringing them to pressure and using a natural release. They were perfect!!! This is now the only way I will be cooking beans in the future.
This salt pork comes from the trimmings of a holiday ham.
While the beans are cooking, cook up the delicious sauce with the trifecta of sweetness. Cook the onion until soft in either bacon drippings (after you’ve cooked and crumbled some bacon to sprinkle onto your beans when serving), the salt pork, the ham gelee or oil.
Ham gelee from my freezer.
What the heck is ham gelee?
If you’ve ever baked a ham, you will end up with some juices coming out of the meat in your roasting pan. When this liquid cools, it gels. It may seem gross to you and so you quickly sop it up and throw it away. DON’T! This is really good flavorful stuff for dishes like Boston Baked Beans or soups or to cook with greens or Brussels Sprouts. Technically, the ham gelee (my name for it) is the substance that exists in all animal bones and comes from the collagen and cartilage. It’s the same gelatin highly prized by chefs that occurs when you make stock or bone broth. So save it in a container and put it in the freezer for later use. While you are at it, save the fat on the side of the ham, known as pork fat in a freezer bag to use like you would bacon drippings.
The yummy sauce is ready to go into the bean pot.
After you’ve cooked the onion in the fat, (olive oil if you’re going vegan), add in all the good stuff, the brown sugar, molasses, maple syrup, Worcestershire sauce, the dry mustard and the black pepper. Cook and stir until the sugar dissolves. Don’t add the salt until later. Then pour the contents into the bean pot with the beans.
Add reserved bean liquid to the onion pan to “clean it out” and add to the bean pot.
Add two cups of the reserved bean liquid to the pan to “clean it out” and then pour it into the bean pot. Cover and bake at 300° for at least two hours. Add more reserved bean liquid to beans as necessary to keep them saucy throughout the baking process.
After adding the onion mixture, the Boston Baked Beans are ready for the oven.
Add the salt once the beans have cooked for about an hour. You are going to need some salt, but depending on the which pork product you’ve used will dictate how much salt to use, so TASTE, TASTE, TASTE!
The Boston Baked Beans are ready for company!
After about two hours, the Boston Baked Beans are ready to eat, but keep them in the oven until you are ready to serve, because they will benefit from the extra cooking time. They are even better if made a day ahead and warmed in the oven. While you are at it, make my Best Ever Barbecue Ribs – recipe here.
Boston Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound dry navy beans or small white beans
- 4 ounces + or - bacon chopped or a piece of salt pork or ham gelee (optional)
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1/4 cup brown sugar – packed
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt to taste
Instructions
- To speed things along, soak the beans in plenty of water overnight in a pressure cooker pan or a large spaghetti-type pot. If you forget to do this, place the beans and water in a large pot to boil, remove from the heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour OR start them dry in the pressure cooker. Drain and rinse soaked beans and then cook the beans with 8-12 cups water in a large pot for 1:15 hours or until soft OR in a pressure cooker for 4-7 minutes if soaked, 20-25 minutes if dry. When the beans are cooked, drain them and place in a bean pot or deep covered casserole dish, BUT SAVE THE COOKING LIQUID.
- While the beans are cooking, in a fry pan, cook the onion until soft in either bacon drippings (after you’ve cooked and crumbled some bacon to sprinkle onto your beans when serving), the salt pork, the ham gelee or oil.
- After you’ve cooked the onion in the fat, (olive oil if you’re going vegan), add in all the good stuff, the brown sugar, molasses, maple syrup, Worcestershire sauce, the dry mustard and the black pepper. Cook and stir until the sugar dissolves. Don’t add the salt until later. Then pour the contents into the bean pot with the beans.
- Add two cups of the reserved bean liquid to the fry pan to “clean it out” and then pour it into the bean pot. Cover and bake at 300° for at least two hours. Add more reserved bean liquid to beans as necessary to keep them saucy throughout the baking process.
- Add the salt once the beans have baked for about an hour. You are going to need some salt, but depending on the which pork product you’ve used will dictate how much salt to use, so TASTE, TASTE, TASTE!
- After about two hours, the Boston Baked Beans are ready to eat, but keep them in the oven until you are ready to serve, because they will benefit from the extra cooking time. They are even better if made a day ahead and warmed in the oven.
- ENJOY THIS RECIPE FROM FRESHFOODINAFLASH.COM
Nutrition
Boston Baked Beans
1 pound dry navy beans or small white beans
4 ounces + or – bacon, chopped or a piece of salt pork or ham gelee (optional)
1 medium onion, diced
1/4 cup brown sugar – (packed)
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Kosher salt to taste
1. To speed things along, soak the beans in plenty of water overnight in a pressure cooker pan or a large spaghetti-type pot. If you forget to do this, place the beans and water in a large pot to boil, remove from the heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour OR start them dry in the pressure cooker. Drain and rinse soaked beans and then cook the beans with 8-12 cups water in a large pot for 1:15 hours or until soft OR in a pressure cooker for 4-7 minutes if soaked, 20-25 minutes if dry. When the beans are cooked, drain them and place in a bean pot or deep covered casserole dish, BUT SAVE THE COOKING LIQUID.
2. While the beans are cooking, in a fry pan, cook the onion until soft in either bacon drippings (after you’ve cooked and crumbled some bacon to sprinkle onto your beans when serving), the salt pork, the ham gelee or oil.
3. After you’ve cooked the onion in the fat, (olive oil if you’re going vegan), add in all the good stuff, the brown sugar, molasses, maple syrup, Worcestershire sauce, the dry mustard and the black pepper. Cook and stir until the sugar dissolves. Don’t add the salt until later. Then pour the contents into the bean pot with the beans.
4. Add two cups of the reserved bean liquid to the fry pan to “clean it out” and then pour it into the bean pot. Cover and bake at 300° for at least two hours. Add more reserved bean liquid to beans as necessary to keep them saucy throughout the baking process.
5. Add the salt once the beans have baked for about an hour. You are going to need some salt, but depending on the which pork product you’ve used will dictate how much salt to use, so TASTE, TASTE, TASTE!
6. After about two hours, the Boston Baked Beans are ready to eat, but keep them in the oven until you are ready to serve, because they will benefit from the extra cooking time. They are even better if made a day ahead and warmed in the oven.
Servings: 10 282 calories per serving
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In the Midwest we have a very similar version of Boston Baked Beans that no matter how large the pot they were always the first thing to be finished at any picnic or potluck. I forgot how much I love them. I am going to try the pressure cooker version which is brilliant for keeping your kitchen cool on hot summer days.
I cooked the beans in the pressure cooker and then baked the beans with the sauce in my beautiful bean pot which adds 2 hours, but I thought about doing everything in the pressure cooker to really save time. Jill has a recipe in the “Vegan under Pressure” book for making Baked Beans in 15 minutes at high pressure when using soaked beans, then letting the pressure come down for 10 minutes, which is really in a Flash.
Oh the bean pot! It reminds me of Nonna’s in Italy that she’d use to cook beans in the fireplace! I LOVE any type of beans and always say we need to eat more. Your Boston Baked Beans are definitely a winner! 🙂
Yes I agree. Beans sometimes get a bad rap, but they can be made so delicious and are so healthy for us.
[…] I was given this beautiful Sitram stainless steel stovetop pressure cooker . An extra advantage with the Sitram pot is that it stores easily with my other pots and pans and it can be used as a stockpot on its own. The Instant Pot is an electric pressure cooker you plug in, which is pre-programmed to take out much of the guess work. Make this super easy Beef Stew with Red Wine and veggies tonight! You can have the same delicious results in your Instant Pot or a stovetop pressure cooker. The pressure cooker can also create recipe-ready beans from dry beans in only 7 minutes! Yikes! Read about it here and see my recipe for Boston Baked Beans. […]