Full Recipe
Author
Curio Kitchen | 2026-01-12
Description
Baked beans have their roots in the foodways of the first peoples of the Americas. The dish was adopted by European settlers and became one of the first commercial canned foods brought to market in the 1890s. But, home-baked beans, a tradition in New England, win the flavor game.In this recipe, we build flavor with sweet spices plus a little fenugreek (for its echoes of maple and celery), dried thyme, maple syrup, and beer. To infuse the beans with smoky flavor and keep them vegetarian, we replaced the usual bacon or salt pork with smoked salt and Spanish smoked paprika. Try them heaped on a piece of hearty toast, topped with a fried egg.Notes: Grade B maple syrup, with its robust flavor, is great here. We use IPA beer, but use any un-flavored beer that you have handy. The coconut oil isn't strictly necessary (you can use an equal amount of vegetable oil), but it does add a richness that's sometimes missing in vegetarian baked beans. Cooking time for beans is affected by both the bean's age and the pH of the water they're cooked in.
