Vegetarian Boston Baked Beans are the ideal side dish for summer grilling season and they could not be any easier to make from scratch. Using dried beans gives this dish a delicious bite and nutty texture but canned beans work fine too.
Vegetarian Boston Baked Beans are the ideal side dish and they could not be any easier to make from scratch.
It probably isn’t a huge surprise that my husband who was born and raised in Boston adores baked beans. Of course, he would be perfectly happy re-heating them from a can but that’s no fun. (And don’t get me started on some ingredient lists I’ve seen.)
When I realized how easy these were to make, I kicked myself for not making them more often. But truth be told, my Aunt Patsy is the Baked Beans Queen of our family and serves them at almost every warm-weather gathering. Aunt Patsy showing up to a summer gathering without baked beans would be like me showing up to Thanksgiving without a platter of hummus.
If you know anything about my Aunt Patsy, you know she would never make a batch of beans without massive amounts of smoky and delicious bacon. I’m not anti-bacon, I just rarely have it sitting around in our fridge. To give these beans that unmistakable smoky flavor we crave, I relied on my BFF, smoked paprika. Let me tell you – it did not let me down. My husband and 21 month old devoured these and I know your family will too.
Your fork is waiting.
Slow Cooker Boston Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried beans (navy beans,Great Northern, pinto, etc.)
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup molasses
- 1/4 cup ketchup or tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar or cider vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Rinse and sort dried beans then place in slow cooker covered with 2 inches of water and let soak overnight.
- In the morning, drain the beans then add back to the slow cooker along with all remaining ingredients.
- Add 2 1/2 cups fresh water plus a good pinch of salt and pepper.
- Cook on Low for 8 hours or High for 4 hours.
- Check for seasoning before serving.
Recipe Notes:
Standa Thanh
June 30, 2018 at 2:37 pmI am trying them for the 3th. I’m really excited about What I care most about is that eating this does weight gain? Because I’m on a diet
Liz DellaCroce
July 5, 2018 at 8:32 amWeight loss happens when you have a calorie deficit so I can’t answer that without knowing how much you’re eating and how much you’re exercising. I recommend meeting with a nutritionist!
sophia
February 8, 2018 at 9:24 pmLook so delicious, i want eat them now
Liz DellaCroce
February 11, 2018 at 10:00 amEnjoy!!
Valerie
February 4, 2018 at 5:12 pmI made these baked beans. I soaked them overnight, cooked in slow cooker following the recipe.after 6 hours on high beans were still very crunchy. Left them in the slow cooker until after noon, the next day, on low. They were finally at the right consistency. IF I try this particular recipe again I will precooked the beans. These were fresh beans.
Liz DellaCroce
February 7, 2018 at 5:32 pmHi Valerie,
I’m so sorry this didn’t work out for you! That’s quite surprising the beans were still crunchy – I’ve never experienced that after soaking overnight and six hours of cooking. Are you sure the beans were fresh?
Simone
May 15, 2018 at 4:11 amI used to have similar issues with chickpeas, I’d cook and cook and cook them and they would never get soft. Then a very kind person tipped me off to adding some baking soda to the soaking water. It never fails, and it actually even considerably shortens “traditional” cooking times for me (I have not tried it for the slow cooker yet but I will very soon!). Hope this helps :)
Liz DellaCroce
May 15, 2018 at 5:36 pmWhat a great tip!!
Jack
January 29, 2018 at 10:52 amI really loved the flavours in this recipe; however, you state in the recipe that dried beans can be substituted for canned beans. I made this recipe with canned beans, following all the directions, and ended up with soup. I had to remove everything from the slow cooker (after 5 hours on high) and transfer it to the stovetop and simmer away all the liquid for about an hour. Then I was reading through the comments to see if this happened to other people, and noticed a comment from the author that this recipe was never tested with canned beans. Don’t write in the recipe then that canned beans can be substituted! I also agree with one of the other commenters, normal Worcestershire sauce is NOT vegetarian, unless you find a brand without anchovies.
Liz DellaCroce
February 2, 2018 at 2:46 pmHi Jack, Canned beans work great – I use them all the time! Out of curiosity, did you still add in all the water even though you used canned (cooked) beans? The water is only added to cook the dry beans. :)
Standa
September 5, 2017 at 11:53 pmWhat I care most about is that eating this does weight gain? Because I’m on a diet.
Liz DellaCroce
September 6, 2017 at 12:24 pmHi Standa, You will only gain weight if you eat more calories than you burn in a day and since I don’t know what other activities you’re doing or foods you’re eating I can’t tell you.
Deb
May 29, 2016 at 11:54 amWorcestershire sauce is not the difference between vegetarian and vegan; it is the difference between vegetarian and NOT vegetarian! Please omit “vegetarian” from your title or omit “Worcestershire sauce” from your recipe. Thanks!
Liz DellaCroce
June 1, 2016 at 7:58 amHi Deb – You can leave it out to make it vegetarian! I’ll make a note of that in the recipe!
Jen
August 16, 2016 at 7:12 pmThanks Liz. I made these tonight and my whole family lived them. No soaking just cooked on high for about 8-9 hours and added extra water at the end. I’m vegan and used a vegan Worcestershire sauce no problem. I was happy to stumble onto your recipe!!
Liz DellaCroce
August 19, 2016 at 1:30 pmOh that sounds so so good!
H J Hannah
October 15, 2016 at 9:57 amI ommited the Worcestershire sauce and added 1 tbsp Bragg’s Liquid Aminos, natural soy alternative. I also ommited table salt and used Himalayan Pink Salt (but not as much as usual, because of the soy alternative.)
I am cooking now for lunch tomorrow. I will let you know the response.
Also, I doubled the amount of beans for a large gathering at my church luncheon.
Thanks for the recipe…♡♡
Liz DellaCroce
October 16, 2016 at 3:03 pmPerfect!! So glad it worked out!
Ecfinn
June 16, 2017 at 6:35 pmAnnie’s is indeed vegetarian. It’s the only brand of W sauce that’s vegetarian.
barley
October 1, 2018 at 5:12 pmyou can buy vegan worcestershire
JoAnne
May 8, 2016 at 4:13 pmThis looks like a fabulous recipe, and I love that it doesn’t have a ton of sugar in it! I am thinking of making several batches for a graduation party — have you ever tried freezing them? I was hoping to make a couple batches a week and freeze them until the party later in June.
Liz DellaCroce
May 9, 2016 at 12:47 pmI never have but that’s a great idea. Will you let me know how it turns out?
jean reed
June 13, 2017 at 10:08 pmI freeze the beans I make all the time because I am the only one in my family who is vegan. We have a food saver so I freeze them in 2 or 3 portion sizes and then I have enough for a couple of days when I defrost. Beans freeze great, doesn’t even change the texture of them.
Liz DellaCroce
June 14, 2017 at 3:00 pmSuch a great idea!!
Mary
April 8, 2016 at 12:22 pmLove this recipe and am gathering ingredients! But I did have a question… So you just soak the beans overnight but you do not begin cooking them until they are mixed with the other ingredients? The beans will cook soft enough?
Thanks!!
Liz DellaCroce
April 13, 2016 at 8:18 amYes exactly! You cook once they are mixed with the others!!
Shannon
May 8, 2015 at 8:40 pmI really really wanted these to be great!! But 13 hours in the slow cooker and they beans are still crunchy! Crunchy baked beans are not good :(
Liz DellaCroce
May 9, 2015 at 1:31 pmHi Shannon – I’m so sorry these didn’t turn out for you! Do you know if your beans were expired? I know that often the cook time can vary if the beans aren’t fresh. We buy ours from a local farmers so we know they were fresh and I wonder if that is part of the reason yours didn’t cook in 13 hours. So sorry!!
Mrs.Pat
September 21, 2016 at 9:02 amThe age of the beans do not matter if you pressure-can them before adding to recipes. Store bought are never as good as home cooked. Use extreme caution to cook outside of jars. Over frothing would glog the vent pipe and cause a hazard. Tender and delicious never tasted so good. Thanks for sharing. Cant wait ti taste them.
Liz DellaCroce
September 23, 2016 at 9:20 amEnjoy!
TommyPatron61
October 22, 2016 at 11:47 amI found this recipe when searching for a vegetarian recipe, Spanish paprika is the answer to that lovely smokiness of baked beans, and you can use a vegetarian Worchester sire sauce. However I disagree with Joanne above, this recipe does have a ton of sugar “diabetes anyone “. I have reduced the sugar in this recipe from two thirds of a cup, to 2 tablespoons of molasses, I also cut the amount of beans in half, but keeping all the other ingredients the same. I use a non-prepared mustard, something that has a nice strong bite of real mustard, I also eliminated the vinegar because these types of mustards tend to be more vinegary, plus the vinegar in the ketchup.
I have found that soaking your beans overnight results in a tough skin no matter how long you cook them. I simmer my beans in plenty of freshwater until tender but not done, drain the water and replace with 2 1/2 cups of fresh boiling water, and all the other ingredients. I cook them in the oven at 350° uncovered until the liquids cooks down to a nice thick deliciously delicious sauce. Do not salted beans until this last cooking phase in the oven, that also tends to make your beans tough and takes longer to cook them. Not sure how this would all work in a slow cooker, probably would be just fine.
magreen
November 5, 2014 at 3:56 pmI doubled the recipe and the flavor is promising, but 5 hours later on high and I have soup. I transferred to a pot and am hoping to steam off some fluid although, it’s hard to imagine the sauce getting thick and caramelized with the beans. It seemed like a lot of water to add, but I was trusting the recipe! Maybe I’ll try again with half the water. It’s nice to see a recipe that works with raw beans. Everyone uses canned these days!
Liz DellaCroce
November 7, 2014 at 10:36 amOh no – soup??? Yikes!! One thing I’ve noticed is that everyones beans are a little different in cook time based on how old they are. Keep me posted how it turned out!
LaToya
July 8, 2014 at 11:08 amIf we are using canned beans, do we still have to soak overnight? Or no?
Liz DellaCroce
July 8, 2014 at 4:32 pmNope!
SpawnOfSnape
May 13, 2014 at 12:53 pmHello, and thank you for this fabulous recipe!
The first time I tried this, I used the “sprouted beans” that I got from Costco (they say no soaking required and are a mix). Those beans never cook, and the bag was fresh. We had to eat them crunchy in the end, but the flavor from your recipe was excellent.
I am making this again with pinto beans. I’m wondering about the water content, though. My package says to fill the slow cooker to 1-2 inches of water over the top of the beans. This ends up being over 3 cups of water per lb of beans. Does this sound correct to you? If I add all of the other ingredients, then have to drain my beans, I lose a lot of the flavor. But, if I don’t add enough water (and I’m cooking 2lbs), my beans will burn and not cook. Oh, the stress! ha ha
Anyway, I am super excited to get to eat these beans! The flavor was so delicious that we were willing to eat all of the “not fully cooked” costco beans. The beans done right will be absolute perfection!
So, as a little side note, I was searching for a recipe for beans that was like what my mother made when I was a kid. Everybody loved her beans, but I could never manage to duplicate them. I saw your recipe posted on facebook and thought it was close enough that I would give it a whirl. This is exactly what I was looking for! My mother added sausage – some big sausage thing that comes in a package in the shape of a U. We’re vegetarian, so don’t want the sausage, of course. This is the recipe, though! This was absolutely the right flavor, and now I understand that what she made must have been “Boston Baked Beans”. Thank you! My life is complete.
Liz DellaCroce
May 15, 2014 at 4:09 amOh I’m so thrilled to hear this – you have made my day!!! As for the water, I find it varies so much with the beans depending on size and age. Mine were fresh from a local farm so I am wondering if that’s why mine turned out differently. I will be testing again soon. Keep me posted ok? So glad you love the flavor so much!
Hillary
May 7, 2014 at 10:51 amI will be trying out this recipe this weekend for Mother’s Day… I will be using an assortment of canned beans for time saving purposes. Will I still need to add the 2.5 cups of water the crock pot since I am using the canned? This may be a silly question.
Thanks!
Liz DellaCroce
May 8, 2014 at 1:59 pmHi Hillary – I’ve never made them with canned beans but you would not need the water I’m assuming!! Good luck!
Jackie
April 1, 2014 at 9:57 pmHi, I can’t wait to try this recipe. Do you use a variety of beans at one time or should I just stick with one type of bean? Thanks so much!
Liz DellaCroce
April 2, 2014 at 9:14 amYou can do either way!! Won’t matter!
Julia Sixten
March 2, 2014 at 8:57 pmI had similar issues with the beans softening after cooking for 8 hours, I guess I might try the tomatoes and seasoning trick mentioned above next time.
I’m also a little confused by the nutritional information you have posted for this recipe. A pound of dry navy beans has 1530 calories and a pound of pinto beans has 1575. This means that 8 servings of beans alone would be close to 200 . Unless of course the recipe yields 2x 1/2cup serving for 8 people (which is a little disingenuous), I think the information posted might be incorrect.
Liz DellaCroce
March 3, 2014 at 5:34 pmHi Julia,
First, I’m so sorry you had trouble with this recipe!! This is a family favorite of ours (my husband is from Boston) so I want to help make it work for you! Second, with regards to the beans softening after soaking over night – are they fresh beans? I know that older beans tend to require more time but most beans should cook perfectly with an overnight soak and proper cooking time. My beans did happen to come from a local farm so I know they were freshly harvested. Third, with regards to the nutrition facts – may I ask what makes you think a pound of dry navy beans is 1530 calories? I’ve checked over 3 sources now and my nutrition facts remain accurate. The thought is that a one pound bag of beans (2 cups measured when dry) yields 4-6 cups cooked which would technically be 8-12 servings (I kept it at 8 to be safe.) Does that clear things up a bit? Let me know. Sorry again for any confusion or trouble! We love this recipe and I want you to love it too!
Julia Sixten
March 3, 2014 at 10:48 pmThanks for the reply!
No need to apologize – I wasn’t trying to fault your recipe just wanted to get some information. I’ve been working my way through your slow cooker recipes which have all turned out wonderfully thus far.
Could definitely be an issue with the beans being a bit older – when I try this again I will be sure to try to use fresher stock!
The confusion has definitely arisen from miscalculating 1lbs into g rather than cups on my part. Makes quite a difference!! Thank you very much for taking the time to clear this up, I appreciate it.
Liz DellaCroce
March 4, 2014 at 11:39 amOh I’m so glad to clear things up!!! Enjoy!
The Cooking Lady
January 4, 2014 at 6:04 pmThere is such a product as Vegan Worcestershire. you can find it mostly in natural health food store. And if you eat enough beans you will no longer need Beano. I am no more or less gassy that your average Joe. I eat beans about 3-5 times a week.
Liz DellaCroce
January 4, 2014 at 7:22 pmThank you for the info on the vegan worcestershire!!