Boston Baked Beans
A comforting pork built around thick cut bacon, canned kidney beans and molasses β roughly 65 minutes start to finish, and rated medium to make. Below: the ingredients split into pantry staples and a quick shopping list, a built-in serving scaler, and the method in 7 steps.
You'll mainly reach for oven and frying pan / skillet. At medium difficulty across 7 steps, it's manageable with a little attention.
What you'll need
Shopping list (5)
Pantry staples (you likely have these)
π Unit converter
How to make it
- Preheat the oven to 150 C (300 F) and drain and rinse the canned kidney beans, reserving about 1 cup of water.
- Cut the bacon into bite-sized pieces and fry in an ovenproof pot over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes until the fat renders but the bacon is not yet crisp.
- Add the finely chopped onion and cook for 4 minutes until softened and translucent.
- Stir in the molasses, blackstrap molasses, dark brown sugar, dark rum, dijon mustard and black pepper, then add the drained beans and enough reserved water to almost cover them.
- Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer on the stovetop, then cover the pot with a lid and transfer it to the oven.
- Bake for about 2 hours, stirring once or twice and adding a splash more water if the beans look dry, until they are tender and the sauce has thickened and turned deep brown.
- Uncover for the final 20 minutes to let the top caramelise, then season with salt to taste and serve hot.
You'll use: Oven Β· Frying pan / skillet Β· Large pot Β· Saucepan
Ingredient substitutions
- Brown Sugar
- white sugar + 1 tbsp molasses per cup
Tips & common questions
How long does Boston Baked Beans take to make?
About 65 minutes from start to finish β an estimate based on the 7 steps and 10 ingredients. Times vary with your kitchen and how much prep you do ahead.
What can I use instead of brown sugar?
Try white sugar + 1 tbsp molasses per cup. See the substitutions section above for more swaps.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes β use the servings control above the ingredients and every quantity rescales automatically (fractions included). Cooking times stay roughly the same; very large batches may need a little longer.
How should I store leftovers?
Cool leftovers quickly, refrigerate in an airtight container, and eat within 3 days. Reheat until piping hot throughout.
Related recipes
Boston Baked Beans is an original recipe developed in-house by Consomee. Photo: Boston Baked Beans in Concord, Mass 2012-0193.jpg by Victorgrigas, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. We add the serving scaler, ingredient tools, timing and structure on top β how we source recipes.