Instant Pot Boston Baked Beans: White beans with molasses and salted pork cooked under pressure in a fraction of the time it would take to cook in the oven.
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Every week in 2020 I share a recipe inspired by one of the 50 states. (See all the state prescriptions I’ve covered so far.) Today’s recipe is inspired by The Bay State, Massachusetts. Massachusetts has a few other nicknames such as The Pilgrim State, The Puritan State, The Old Colony State, and The Baked Bean State.
When I think of Massachusetts I think of Harvard, MIT, Boston
College, parking your car at Harvard Yard, the Boston Tea Party, one of the original colonies, the Pilgrims and the Mayflower, the Salem Witch Trials, The Freedom Trail, Fenway Park, Cape Cod and Fenway Park. There really is so much history in Massachusetts!
One
of
Massachusetts’ nicknames are The Baked Bean State and Boston is known as Bean Town. So I felt it was appropriate to choose baked beans as a recipe to represent the state. Boston baked beans are sweetened with molasses and flavored with salted pork. They are easy to make but require a little time. By using the Instant Pot instead of cooking in the oven, on a stove or in a slow cooker, you save a lot of time.
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<img src="https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/boston-baked-beans-instant-pot-683×1024.jpg" alt="baked beans
How to Make Boston Baked Beans at the
Instant Pot
- Add water and dried white beans to Instant Pot and pressure cook until skins burst for 20 minutes.
- Drain the water and add the beans back into Instant Pot with more water and a mixture of molasses, salt, pepper, dried mustard and brown sugar.
- Add chunks of sliced salted pork to Instant Pot.
- Pressure cook for another 10 minutes with a full natural pressure release.
- Reduce the sauce until thickened using the stir-fry setting for 10-15 minutes.
- Test taste and add more molasses, salt and pepper as needed.
What is a controlled release and when is it used? For this recipe (and most recipes that use dried beans) I use a controlled release. This just means that the steam is released in controlled bursts. You will switch the valve back and forth between sealing and ventilation, a few seconds at a time. Releasing the vapor in this way prevents the liquid and foam from spilling and making a mess. I like to use this method when there is a very full pot or if the food is starchy.
What is salted pork and do you eat it? Salted pork is fat cured with salt from the belly and sides of the pig. It is mainly used in small amounts as a flavoring in dishes such as Boston baked beans and fish soup. It looks like a very thick square piece of bacon. I found it for the other pork products at the grocery store. There is very little meat in salted pork. It is mainly fat. You could eat the meat parts of the salted pork pieces if you want.
More recipes with dried beans…
Instant Pot
Appalachian
Soup Beans Instant Pot Instant Pot Ham & Bean Soup Homemade Pork & Beans Instant Pot Red
Beans & Rice Instant
Pot Chicken & White Bean Soup
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*Karen Petersen participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees through advertising and links to amazon.com.
