Best Smoky Vegan Baked Beans Ever

You won't believe there's no sugar or bacon in these mouthwatering baked beans! Once you've tried them, you'll never open a can again. This recipe borrows a bit from history by using sorghum and maple syrups instead of processed sugar. 

Baked beans from scratch are very easy to make but they take a fair bit of time in the oven to develop that perfect texture and deep flavors. I like to start a puzzle or a good book and do it on a lazy Saturday. You can make these the day before and simply reheat the day of. I think they're even better after being allowed to rest overnight. I've even taken them camping and reheated on the camp fire.  If they seem a tad dry the next day just add boiling water bit by bit until the liquid is just below the bean surface and then reheat.

JACOB'S CATTLE BEANS

Although many beans work, we prefer Jacob's Cattle beans in this recipe. These heirloom beans hold their shape even with hours of cooking but have a creamy interior that soaks up all of the smoky, savory and sweet flavors. This delicious heirloom bean is an ingredient in the Slow Food Ark of Taste that has been around since colonial times, originating in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. The Passamaquoddy people of Maine are said to have presented some of these beans to Joseph Clark, the first Caucasian child born in Lubec, Maine. 

THE ORIGINAL BOSTON BAKED BEAN

Maple syrup has been an integral ingredient in Boston-style baked beans, tracing back to the colonial era when early settlers relied on the natural sweetener due to the scarcity of refined sugar. The Native Americans introduced colonists to the process of harvesting maple sap, and it quickly became a staple in New England cooking. In traditional Boston baked beans, the syrup adds a rich, caramelized sweetness that perfectly balances the dish's savory, smoky flavors. Over time, this practice has become a defining characteristic of the dish, blending Indigenous knowledge with colonial cooking techniques, and establishing maple syrup as a quintessential element in this classic New England recipe. We are omitting the smoked pork in the dish and using Sugar Bob's Smoked Maple Syrup to add the smoky flavor you are looking for.

We're using another New England bean secret by putting a stripe of Kombu in the pot to add umami and make the beans more digestible. Kombu, also called Sugar Kelp, has long been a local secret to better beans. You'll never miss the bacon, trust us!

*A Note On Our Recipes:

Every recipe here was developed and tested using farm-fresh beans from Foodocracy and Primary Beans. Older beans, anything past a year in your pantry or beans from other sources may need more coaxing. Give them a soak and add extra cooking time, and they'll get there eventually.

Smoky Vegan Baked Beans

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Category

Side Dish

Servings

6-8

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

5 hours

You won't believe there's no sugar or bacon in these mouthwatering baked beans! Once you've tried them, you'll never open a can again.

Author:

Lisa Riznikove

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried beans (Jacob's Cattle is traditional)
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• kosher salt
• 1 4-5" piece of kombu
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• 2 sprigs thyme
• 1 small yellow onion

• 1 Caribbean bay leaf

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• 1/4 cup sorgum syrup or molassas 

• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons smoked maple syrup
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• 2 teaspoons dijon or brown mustard
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large yellow onion diced

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Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Put beans in a large dutch oven. Add enough water to cover the beans by 3 inches. Add a generous sprinkle of salt, the kombu, a the onion (peeled and cut in half), thyme and Caribbean bay leaf. Boil on high for 5 minutes. Remove from the stove, cover and bake in the oven for 1 hour, checking every 20 minutes to see if you need to add more water. You want the water to remain above the beans because you will be using the reserve in the next step.

3. Reduce oven temperature to 300.

4. With tongs remove the kombu, onion and thyme. Strain the beans, reserving the liquid.

5. Combine the sorghum syrup, maple syrups, mustard, 2 cups of the reserved cooking liquid and a LOT of freshly ground black pepper and set aside. Keep the rest of the bean liquid to add later.

6. In your dutch oven saute the diced onion in olive oil until it starts to turn brown. Add the beans back into the pot along with the syrup mixture. 

7. Place the pot back in the oven uncovered and bake for the next 3-4 hours, checking it frequently and adding more reserved liquid or water to keep the liquid at bean level but not below.  A couple of times, stir the pot to incorporate some of the caramelized top into the rest of the dish. For the last 30 minutes of cooking don't disturb the pot at all so that you develop a deeply brown top. 

Recipe Note

Every recipe here was developed and tested using farm-fresh beans from Foodocracy and Primary Beans. Older beans, anything past a year in your pantry, or beans from other sources may need more coaxing. Give them a soak and add extra cooking time, and they'll get there eventually.