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The Best Boston Baked Beans

You’ll love these homemade Boston baked beans that are so easy to make using simple pantry staples you already have on hand. With a rich molasses and brown sugar base, this recipe is perfect served on its own or as a hearty side dish.
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 5 hours
Total Time 5 hours 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 cups navy beans
  • 1/2 pound bacon diced
  • 2 onions chopped
  • 6 Tbs. molasses
  • 4 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 4 tsp. soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Instructions

  • Sort your dried beans and remove any damaged beans, rocks or other debris then rinse them to remove any dust.
  • Place the beans into a large pot and cover with water, add the lid and place in the fridge to soak overnight.
  • The next day, bring the beans to a boil, turn down and boil gently over medium heat for 1 hour or until tender.
  • Drain the beans remembering to reserve the liquid.
  • Preheat your oven to 325F.
  • In a dutch oven or casserole dish, layer the beans, bacon, and onions finishing with a layer of beans.
  • Pour in enough of the reserved liquid to cover the beans and set aside.
  • In a medium saucepan combine the ketchup, brown sugar, molasses, salt, pepper, dry mustard, soy sauce, and lemon juice. Bring this mixture to a boil stirring well until the sugar has dissolved.
  • Pour over top of the beans, cover and bake for 3 to 4 hours. After the first 90 minutes remove the lid and add more liquid if needed. Continue baking without the lid until finished.

Video

Notes

  • Traditionally salt pork is used to make Boston baked beans but I prefer to use bacon. If you don't have it on hand you can also use ham, sausage, or hot dogs.
  • If you don’t have soy sauce then you can substitute Worcestershire sauce. It’s traditionally used in baked bean recipes but we always seem to have more soy sauce on hand.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 331kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 19mg | Sodium: 1378mg | Fiber: 12g | Sugar: 21g

These values are from a nutritional database and automatically calculated, and should only be used as an approximation.