Pea beans (aka small white beans or navy beans) are the Cinderella of dried beans. They start out bland and plain. But dress them up in molasses-rich sauce and they turn into glossy brown, gorgeously delicious Boston baked beans. And with an Instant Pot or pressure cooker, you can make this iconic New England dish in just a couple of hours—from bag to serving bowl.
What makes these Boston baked beans?
Molasses. Lots of it. Boston wouldn’t be Beantown if it weren’t for molasses. (See The Great Molasses Flood and Mighty Molasses Clove Cookies.)
In fact, if you don’t have pea beans, try other white beans like pinto, Great Northern, or cannellini beans. They will fall under the spell of the molasses just as well.
No beanpot?
Traditional Boston baked beans call for a beanpot and a day of long, slow cooking. That’s how Dan’s mom and his Aunt Lorraine made theirs. When she retired from cooking, Aunt Lorraine sweetly gave us her classic stoneware bean crock with her browned hand-written recipe tucked inside.
But sometimes when we made beans in this treasured pot they just never got tender. No matter how long we cooked them.
Turns out, molasses and other acids in the sauce keep the beans from softening. Acids prevent the pectin in the beans’ cell walls from breaking down and dissolving. So beans cooked in an acidic sauce stay firm, even with extra baking time.
The solution? Cook your beans first and then add the molasses and the other sauce ingredients. And you’ll find using a pressure cooker or Instant Pot will dramatically cut cooking time.
After the beans have cooked, the thick, syrupy sauce comes together fairly quickly and seeps into the beans in minutes not hours. So what started out as humble stone-like beans will turn almost mahogany and taste like they’ve baked all day in Lorraine’s old brown pot. Make them a day ahead and the color and flavor will deepen even further.
What about old beans?
Got old beans lying around? Use ‘em. But we warn you—old beans will stubbornly stay firm. So allow for longer cooking time. We also recommend brining to tenderize all beans. Add salt to the soaking water and it will weaken the cell walls to help the insides get soft and creamy.
Tons of flavor.
Aunt Lorraine’s recipe calls for salt pork, but you don’t need it to deeply flavor your baked beans. Lots of onions and a little hot pepper sweeten and spice up the sauce. We’ve also borrowed ketchup and Worcestershire sauce from Meri Cayem’s (see Meri’s Berries) recipe for ranch beans. They add that tang of umami to make a complex-tasting sauce without bacon or pork fat. (If you’re vegan or vegetarian, feel free to leave out the Worcestershire sauce.)
So cook your beans fast in the pressure cooker, mix in the sauce ingredients, and then watch the molasses do its magic. And feel free to add more molasses—in the true Boston tradition.
Pressure-Cooker Boston Baked Beans
- 2 cups (about 1 pound) dried navy pea beans or small white beans (they’re the same thing) or even pinto beans
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 1 mildly hot pepper of choice, seeded and chopped
- ½ cup dark molasses (to taste)
- ½ cup ketchup (to taste)
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- ¼ cup sugar
- Dash Worcestershire sauce
- Rinse beans and check for stones.
- Soaking: Soak beans overnight in 2 quarts of water with 1½ tablespoons of salt. After soaking, drain and rinse beans.
Or, quick-soak in pressure cooker by adding 2 quarts of water, tablespoons of salt and 2 tablespoons oil. Cover, bring to high heat. Remove from heat and let pressure reduce naturally. Use right away or let it sit for up to a couple of hours. Drain and rinse beans. - In the meantime, add oil to a pan and sauté onions and hot pepper until softened.
Or, toss onions and hot pepper in oil in a bowl and microwave on high several minutes, stirring occasionally, until they have softened.
Set aside and refrigerate if not using for a few hours. - Place soaked, rinsed beans in pressure cooker. Add 2 tablespoons oil and 2 quarts of water.
- Cover and bring to high heat. Reduce heat and cook 4 minutes (or a couple minutes more, depending upon bean size and age).
- Remove from heat and let cool 5 or 6 minutes, then release pressure. If beans are not tender enough, pressure cook for another couple of minutes, reduce heat and let cool again for 5 or 6 minutes.
- Drain beans except for about 1 cup of cooking liquid. Return beans to the cooker.
- Add cooked onion and pepper, molasses, ketchup, dried mustard, sugar and Worcestershire sauce.
- Cook uncovered over high heat until sauce is thickened, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add more water as needed for sauce. Add more molasses and/or ketchup to taste. This takes only about 15 minutes, but to get beans to a deep brown color, cook a little longer or refrigerate beans overnight so they absorb the sauce.
