Boston baked beans

Boston baked beans

This hearty, budget-friendly one-pot is perfect family fare

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 20 mins

Cook time

Cook 2 hrs - 2 hrs 30 mins

plus soaking
Freezable

Method

  1. Soak the beans in a large bowl of cold water for at least 4 hrs or overnight. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Drain and rinse the beans and put in a large flameproof casserole with 1.5 litres water. Boil for 10 mins, skimming off any scum that appears on the surface.
  2. Add the onion, celery, carrot, Dijon mustard, sugar, treacle or molasses and tomato purée. Stir until everything is well mixed, then bury the piece of pork in among the beans. Cover tightly and cook in the oven for 2-2½ hrs until the beans and pork are very tender. Check halfway through the cooking time and top up with hot water from the kettle if necessary.
  3. Take the pork out of the pot. Cut into large chunks and serve with the beans, sprinkled with parsley.
Try

Beans

Dried beans are undoubtedly much cheaper, but you need to allow significant time for soaking. Canned beans can be rinsed, added to a dish and simply heated through before serving. If you want to swap dried or canned in any recipe, you will need to cook 100g dried beans instead of using a 400g can and vice versa.

PER SERVING

615 kcalories, protein 43g, carbohydrate 54g, fat 27 g, saturated fat 10g, fibre 16g, sugar 14g, salt 0.8 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, April 2010.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • 21 April 2010

    John rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Great food. Wife loved it

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  • 19 December 2010

    petunia rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    easy and very tasty..great for this cold weather.

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  • 01 January 2011

    lemmings rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Lovely recipe and so much nicer than tinned! I didn't have any pork belly and had only half a packet of haricot beans lurking in the back of the cupboard so I halved all of the other ingredients and also put in a packet of smoked streaky bacon and it was delicious!!

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  • 14 April 2011

    JimZilla rated and commented on this recipe

    1 stars

    Very bland, a waste of good pork belly!

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  • 28 October 2011

    andycrofts commented on this recipe

    Doesn't get more simple! Slow cooker (crockpot) does it perfectly I make it at least once a month for Girlie and I. I use honey, molasses and brown sugar - about a tablespoonful of each - (tried it with dried kidney beans, following the soaking/boiling instructions in the same water, and that was even better). Put it in the pot on low in the evening. Forgot it till the following afternoon. Didn't matter. When we ate it first time, it was fantastic! You could've gone to a restaurant and blown 75 quid, but we spent less than a tenner for the same (We fill the freezer with every packet saying "50% off, and I use my local ethnic shop for pulses, etc.)

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  • 28 October 2011

    andycrofts commented on this recipe

    Gonna try a good "Keith Floyd style" glop of red wine next time...(i.e., a couple of bottles ;-)

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  • 16 December 2011

    Double H commented on this recipe

    A great recipe which never fails. I usually serve it with sourdough bread which is a delicious contrast to the sweet molasses. Adding a bit of chorizo works well too!

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  • 12 February 2012

    Kaz's Binder commented on this recipe

    This recipe needs to be renamed as it's nothing like Boston Baked Beans. Boston Baked Beans are traditionally flavoured with molasses and pork and tend to given a little kick with chilli powder. I have been making them for over 20 years having learnt the recipe when I lived in the USA. I make mine with regular beans (Heinz) to which I add, chilli powder, cayenne pepper, onions, minced beef,Ham, brown sugar and treacle and bbq sauce. Obviously mine is also a variation on the original theme which has evolved over the years

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  • 12 February 2012

    andycrofts commented on this recipe

    @ Kaz: "Boston Baked Beans are traditionally flavoured with molasses and pork.." Erm, they're in the list of ingredients, M'kay??

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  • 02 March 2012

    kbeech06 rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    I agree with Kaz. From the Boston area and this is NOTHING like Boston Baked Beans. I've never see carrots or celery in Boston Baked Beans. There are many variations...but never with vegetables other than maybe an onion for flavor. And we make them with either red kidney beans or pea beans. I grew up having Baked Beans EVERY SATURDAY night and my moms are obviously the best, but I've had them in several places. Take the celery and the carrot out...and you're close to the recipe...but we don't tend to use tomato based anything in them either.

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  • 12 April 2013

    Mrs D Csak commented on this recipe

    Beans don't always need to be soaked overnight or for hours. Just wash, place in pan with water specified bring to the boil and continue boiling for 2 - 3 mins then remove from heat, cover and leave for 1-2 hours or until plump.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 20 mins

Cook time

Cook 2 hrs - 2 hrs 30 mins

plus soaking
Freezable

Ingredients

  • 500g pack dried haricot beans
  • 2 onions , roughly chopped
  • 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
  • 2 carrots , roughly chopped
  • 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 tbsp light muscovado sugar
  • ½ tbsp black treacle or molasses
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée
  • 800g piece pork belly
  • handful parsley , roughly chopped
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PER SERVING

615 kcalories, protein 43g, carbohydrate 54g, fat 27 g, saturated fat 10g, fibre 16g, sugar 14g, salt 0.8 g

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