This recipe is an amalgam of three other baked bean recipes I’ve tried. It’s different every time, but it’s always very good. I always use a mix of beans - navy, kidney, black-eyed peas, or anything else that will bring a variety of shape and colour to the dish. I never use sugar; the molasses and maple syrup make it unnecessary. Instead of the pureed tomatoes, I often use homemade bbq sauce, (but then I’m creating a ‘recipe within a recipe’, which is unacceptable, yes?).
It is absolutely essential to cook the beans before mixing them with syrup or molasses (or any sugar, for that matter), or else they will not soften and absorb the flavour of the sauce. Beans take a long time to prepare, so I always start a day ahead and take the “leave it ’til I can deal with it” approach. My method is as follows:
For each cup of dry beans, add 3 cups of filtered water to the pot. Soak, covered, for 12 hours (or leave it ’til you can deal with it). Drain. Return beans to pot and add about 3x the volume of filtered water again (this time, eyeball it). Bring to boil; simmer 1 hour. Turn off heat and let stand 1 hour (or leave it ’til you can deal with it). Drain. Use according to the recipe.
Boston Baked Beans
- 3 cups dry mixed beans, cooked as above
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 cup pureed tomatoes
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp dry mustard
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tsp tamari
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Add all ingredients to the crockpot and stir very well. Add enough filtered water to just cover the beans, and stir again. Cook on high 4-6 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove lid for the last 30-60 minutes until mixture thickens. Enjoy. And enjoy it even more the following day.
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