Southern Baked Beans

Disclaimer: this is not my recipe, and I have not tested it nor adapted it in any way other than to suggest that cooks might want to reduce the amount of liquid aminos somewhat. But other than that, I don’t think it needs any adjustment. It’s oil-free from the get-go; and it falls into the category of recipes that I can tell are delicious just by looking at them.

When I saw an article in the Washington Post entitled “10 recipes from Anthony Bourdain, José Andrés and other cooking titans” (Anna Luisa Rodriguez 4/10/24), I didn’t have high hopes. So often recipes from famous chefs are heavily meat- and animal-food-based, and almost in your face about it. For example, the recipe for pasta sauce featured in this article calls for adding one stick of butter to a 28-oz can of tomatoes! But the article has some saving graces. The very first recipe is for baked beans! When it was described as “slightly sweet” I was prepared for the worst, but all the sweetness comes from onion and tomato paste!

I will say: by all means, soak the beans 8-12 hours but I think you could get away with 3-4 hours. Also, I mention in the recipe that I think it could be made stovetop or baked, without needing to use an Instant Pot. I did not include instructions for that, but I think you could use these ingredients with the instructions for any stovetop bean recipe starting from scratch. If you need help with that, leave me a comment.