Picture taken from Wikipedia. (Although it’s pretty close.)

Yes, you read that right. I don’t remember where I ripped off the core of this recipe, but the bulk of this was taken from a vegan site several years ago. There it is, my bad for losing the source citation. 

However.

It took several years fooling around with what was a standard baked bean recipe to convert it to a pressure cooker — then acting on a hunch, using a tip from the Modernist Cuisine guys via Chow.com. What is great about this recipe is that you start with dried beans and can basically have a finished product in under two hours. It’s vegan, which is cool — and the addition of baking soda (at least to me) seems to add a caramelization factor that ratchets up the flavor. Some things to note:

1. Combine everything in a pressure cooker, give it a stir, and cook it on the higher pressure setting/ring for… here’s the tricky part: Depending on the age of your beans, they can need anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours. You’ll have to experiment — at the moment my beans are getting pretty old, and it’s taking all of an hour and 30 minutes.
2. Yes the water is 1:1 with the beans; the only reason you can get away with that is because you’re using a pressure cooker and the onions provide some of the water. Don’t skimp on the onions.
3. Don’t skimp on the baking soda — supposedly this “promotes and alkaline environment!” which somehow gives the beans a deeper, caramelized flavor. It seems to work. See the guys over at http://modernistcuisine.com for an explanation.
4. Depending on how you like your beans, you may either use something like xanthan gum, or simply cook the beans a bit longer with the lid off, to get the consistency you need. This ALL depends on how well the beans have broken down, and in any case they should be very close to the right consistency right out of the cooker.

This recipe makes quite a bit — it will feed six — so you might want to cut it in half.

1. 5 cups dried pinto, kidney, or whatever beans
2. ⅔ cups molasses
3. ½ cup brown sugar
4. 2 tablespoons dry mustard
5. ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
6. 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
7. 1.3 tablespoons tamari
8. 4 onion, medium dice
9. 4 bay leaf
10. 6 cloves garlic, smashed
11. 2 teaspoons salt
12. 5 cups water
13. 2-3*ish* teaspoons baking soda
15. Enjoy!

vegan boston baked beans Pressure cooker recipe