My vegan baked beans are a cookout crowd-pleaser due to their bold, smoky, and onion-packed flavors yielding a healthy-ish meatless experience. Even better, it’s quite an easy recipe because once everything is all mixed together you pretty much leave it alone. Being a native New Englander from the great state of Rhode Island, baked beans were hugely popular growing up so they’re a favorite childhood comfort food.
Smoked tomatoes act as a base for a homemade barbecue sauce in which the beans cook low and slow until tender. Upon testing this recipe, I gave someone a sample to taste and he said, “BBQ ribs!” … exactly what I was going for. Yes, these baked beans can be a side for some meat, or stand on its own as a main course for meatless eaters.
Other key aspects to these vegan baked beans include tons of onions, the use of fennel seed, and extra bay leaf. Because we’re omitting pork you have to increase the herbs, spices, and aromatics. Briefly toast spices when they’re whole (just until they’re fragrant) to enhance their flavor because pre-ground spices lose their potency quickly when stored. Grind them in a mortar and pestle or use a coffee grinder that you reserve just for spices. Keep in mind that ground fennel seed imparts a sausage-like flavor, but you don’t need too much of it.
How to Smoke Tomatoes
To infuse a smoky flavor without having an actual smoker, simply cook tomatoes low and slow over one layer of charcoal and soaked wood chips. Any type of woodchips are fine, but I recommend hickory because it brings a bacon-like flavor, and texture of the large pieces of caramelized tomato will remind you of that chunk of salt pork you find in a can of baked beans. And if you’re not in much of a mood for beans, use these smoky tomatoes in my Smoked Tomato Soup with Roasted Eggplant recipe.
If you don’t have access to a grill, simply roast tomatoes in the oven in some olive oil combined with liquid smoke (pictured below). If you like them real smoky, add more liquid smoke to the beans as they cook. Don’t worry about smoking too many tomatoes. You can always make some plain tomato sauce with the extras.
Brush your tomatoes with olive oil and liquid smoke to make smoked tomatoes using an oven instead of a charcoal grill.
After tomatoes are smoked on a grill, the skins remove effortlessly.
Vegan Baked Beans with Smoked Tomatoes
Ingredients
- ½ pound navy beans, hydrated
- 6-7 medium sized vine tomatoes
- olive oil for roasting and sautéing
- 3 yellow onions
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon fennel seed, ground
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste
- 14 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 6 cups water
- ½ cup molasses
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 2 teaspoons dry mustard
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- If using a grill, prepare your grill with low-heat coals combined with soaked hickory or mesquite wood chips. Coat tomatoes in olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Cook the tomatoes with the lid slightly ajar until they’re tender and skins are falling off, flipping them occasionally.
If using the oven, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat tomatoes with a generous amount of olive oil, liquid smoke, and kosher salt. Roast tomatoes in a foil-lined sheet pan until tender throughout and the skins start falling off, approximately 45 minutes. - Remove and discard the skins from tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes into large chunks according to your liking. Set aside.
- Finely slice one whole yellow onion. Peel and cut the other two onions into 4 halves.
- In a large pot, heat about 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Sauté the finely sliced onion over medium-high heat until translucent. Stir in the black pepper, fennel, tomato paste and kosher salt. Stir thoroughly and let the spices bloom and tomato paste caramelize for about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes, water, molasses, vinegar, liquid smoke and dry mustard. Then, add the reserved smoked tomatoes. Mix until thoroughly incorporated. Turn off the heat.
- Transfer beans to a 13″ x 9″ baking dish. Place each quarter of the yellow onions in each corner of the dish. Add the bay leaves wherever you see fit.
- Bake this covered in foil for about 4 hours until the beans are tender, times may vary depending on your oven. If the beans are still kinda crunchy, keep on adding water as needed.
- When beans are tender, remove the foil and bake uncovered for another hour so some serious caramelization can happen on the surface.
- Remove beans from heat and let the cool and serve.
Yield: one 13″ x 9″ dish
