Vegan Boston Baked Beans

"How could baked beans possibly be outdated?" I thought as I perused a 2007 issue of Cook's Illustrated I acquired through my local Buy Nothing group. Baked beans are a centuries-old staple; surely a publication (from Boston of all places) wouldn't drastically change over 19 years!

thin liquid leftover from my first vbb trial on a scale reading 25.35 oz

I ate my trials with a side of those words. Unsoaked beans in nearly 2.5 qt/L of acidified liquid simply do not become tender and saucy in 5 1/2 hrs. After a quarter of a day, I had dismayingly crunchy legumes swimming in almost 1 qt/L of thin liquid.

2007's "Boston Baked Beans" Becomes 2020's "New England Baked Beans"

Apparently, about six years ago, America's Test Kitchen revamped their recipe too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoNTUXoQtsU

Is this recipe a veganization?

A veganization was my plan. However, I kept inching toward a personal favorite: "Grammy Beans", the (possibly canned) baked beans and hot dogs my grandmother served at Summer picnics.

But it's neither a community spotlight! Classic techniques, modern research, and childhood memories all coalesced into this unique creation.

close-up of vegan Boston baked beans sauce when done. A clean line remains where a spoon was dragged through

close-up of spoonful of vegan Boston baked beans

Cooking Method: Baking, Boiling, Braising, Chopping, Dicing, Melting, Mixing, Peeling, Reducing, Sautéeing, Searing, Simmering, Slow Cooking, Soaking, Trimming

Cuisine: Northeastern US-American, US-American

Category: Savory Meals

Description

A 12- to 24-hour soak is critical. But if that's not the kind of time you have, you could use my seitan bacon or plant-based hot dogs in Vegan Pasta e Piselli instead.

Ingredients

1/4 loaf Two-Day Seitan Bacon (or 4 oz/113 g plant-based hot dogs)
1 lb (454 g) dried navy beans (AKA small white beans)
about 4 tsp (20 mL/g) baking soda
2 qt/L (71 oz/2 kg) plus 1 qt/L (32 oz/0.9 kg) water
1 yellow onion
1/2 cup (120 mL/168 g) molasses
1/4 cup (60 mL/48 g) granulated sugar (preferably organic pure cane)
2 1/2 tsp (12.5 mL) kosher salt (or about half as much table salt)
2 tsp (10 mL) dry ground mustard
1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) ground black pepper
1 bay leaf (optional)

Instructions

1
If desired, make seitan bacon.
2
Place beans, baking soda, and 2 qt/L (71 oz/2 kg) water in a lg pot. Allow 12-24 hrs to soak.
3
Near end of soaking time, preheat oven to 300°F/150°C. Then, in order:
- Measure oil into a Dutch oven, or other lg, oven-safe, lidded pot.
- Cut "bacon" or hot dogs into sm dice. Set aside.
- Finely dice onion. Set aside separately from "bacon" or hot dogs.
- Gather remaining ingredients.
- Drain and thoroughly rinse beans. Hold in colander until Step 6.
4
Melt oil over med heat. Add "bacon" or hot dogs and cook about 10 min, stirring every 2-3 min, until lightly browned and crusted.
5
Reduce heat to lo. Transfer "bacon" or hot dogs into a sm bowl leaving behind as much oil as possible. Reserve for Step 8.
6
Carefully move onion, beans, 1 qt/L (32 oz/0.9 kg) water, molasses, sugar, salt, mustard, pepper, and bay leaf to Dutch oven. Increase heat to hi and stir until rapidly boiling.
7
Cover Dutch oven and slide into oven. Cook 2 hrs stirring once exactly halfway.
8
Remove lid. Cook about 2 more hrs stirring every 30 min. Going into final 30 min, return reserved "bacon" or hot dogs (from Step 5) before stirring.
Most of my test batches required 2 hours covered plus 2 hours uncovered to cook. However, some needed 2 + 1; others, 2 + 3. I suspect if I could know the age of a given bag of dried beans, I could more accurately tell you how long that batch needs to bake. Alas, your eyes and tongue are the best determiners of doneness.
9
Set Dutch oven on a trivet and return lid. Let contents steam 5-10 min, then remove lid and scrape fond down sides into dish. Stir.
10
Allow 10-15 min to rest and thicken stirring every 5 min. Discard bay leaf (if necessary) and serve.

Note

A fun game of association led to other, seemingly unrelated content:

Veganization: Pasta e Piselli (a no-drain pasta recipe also from ATK that uses my seitan bacon)
Reverse-Engineered Product: Vegan SpaghettiOs (another no-drain pasta recipe) (coming soon)

And that's to say nothing of the cake, pastry cream, heavy whipping cream, and Boston cream pie posts I have on deck! I will link them as they're published.

Keywords: baked beans, vegan baked beans, Boston baked beans, vegan Boston baked beans, bacon, seitan bacon, vegan bacon