Boston Baked Beans

Ingredients

• 3 cans Cannellini beans, canned no-salt-added, drained, or navy beans
• ⅜ cup Molasses
• 3 tbsp Brown sugar
• 2 tbsp Yellow mustard
• 1 Yellow onion, diced
• 2 tbsp Apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp Smoked paprika
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 2 cups Low-sodium vegetable broth
• 2 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil

Method

1. Heat the oven to 300°F. Stir everything together in a heavy pot with a lid — the beans should be just covered with liquid.
2. Cover and bake 3 hours, checking every hour and adding hot water if they look dry.
3. Uncover and bake 1 hour more. The top darkens and the liquid reduces to a thick, glossy syrup. That last hour is where the color comes from.
4. Taste for salt and vinegar. They should be sweet, sour, smoky and dark all at once.

Notes

✨ The restaurant touch

Molasses, not brown sugar alone. Blackstrap is bitter here; plain unsulphured molasses is what makes this taste like Boston.

🧒 For the kids

Sweet baked beans are an easy sell. Serve with brown bread or cornbread.

🥡 Leftovers

Keeps a week and gets better. Freezes 3 months.

Per serving

Computed from USDA FoodData Central values. A planning tool, not medical advice.