Boston Baked Beans & British Bangers (Sausages)

The first time I made Boston baked beans (based approximately on a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe with a few tweaks), I used slices of pork belly, but Pete’s not a huge pork belly fan, so I wanted to make a version that he’d enjoy as much as me. As is so often the case in life, sausages (and bacon) were the answer!

I’ve adjusted the recipe a few times now, and it’s now just right for our tastes. I add bacon in at the beginning, so it can release its porky goodness into the beans. I brown the sausages in a frying pan and added them for the last hour of cooking time.

On the day I took these photos, we had lots of soft white bread on hand to mop up the sauce, so I deliberately didn’t reduce the liquid down as much as usual. Usually I let it simmer a little longer without a lid, to make the sauce much thicker.

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Kavey’s Boston Baked Beans & British Bangers

Ingredients
400 grams good quality pork sausages
2 x 400 gram tins of white haricot beans in water
200 grams smoked bacon, cubed
2 heaped tablespoons light brown sugar
3 tablespoons black treacle
2 tablespoons French mustard
200g tinned chopped tomatoes
350 grams shallots, peeled but left whole
4 cloves
Salt and pepper

Note: I had a tin of butter beans in the larder, so substituted those for one of the tins of white haricot beans.

Method

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  • Tip the contents of the tins of haricot beans, liquid and all, into a large casserole. Add the sugar, black treacle, mustard, tomatoes and bacon. Add freshly ground black pepper at this stage, but adjust for salt later, as the bacon will add some during cooking.

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  • Stick the four cloves into one of the shallots, then add all the shallots to the pot.

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  • Cover and cook on the stove (medium heat) or in the oven (140 C) for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

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  • Shortly before the two hours are up, fry the sausages in a hot pan for a few minutes. They do not need to be cooked through, just browned all over.

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  • Add the sausages to the pot and cook for a further one hour, with the lid removed to allow the liquid to reduce, stirring occasionally.
  • Check and adjust seasoning before serving.

I served this with some fresh soft white bread. A green side salad would also be a nice addition.

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I was really happy with my culinary handshake between Britain and Across The Pond; the porky bangers worked a treat with the smoky BBQ flavours of the Boston beans.

Do let me know what you think, and how you get on if you have a go at making this yourself.

Please leave a comment - I love hearing from you!
21 Comments to "Boston Baked Beans & British Bangers (Sausages)"

  1. Dominic

    oooh god these look so divine!… perfect for Sunday night dinner… blog is looking so good… so proper and slick… has Kavey been taken over by pod people? Kavey…?!?!

    Reply
  2. James Roze

    Oh…delicious to look at. Baked Beans & British Bangers is my favorite food item with rice. Its healthy ingredients, simple making way and nice smell makes me always inspired to eat it. Thanks dude.

    Reply
  3. kaveyeats

    Dom, promise I’m not a pod person… but then again, if I were a pod person, that’s just what I’d say, isn’t it? ;-P

    James, you’re welcome, hope you enjoy.

    Kathryn, yeah I like one pot meals too, and this one is delicious!

    Reply
  4. Mzungu

    I haven’t made Boston Beans in an age. The last time was for a friends Bar-B-Q where they sat proudly on the table with a trotter sitting on top, much to the horror of my friend, but everyone tucked in and polished them and the trotter off.
    May have to make it again and sausages as you’ve shown make a good alternative. Thanks.

    Reply
  5. kaveyeats

    Debs, ahaah, we’ve infected you with a love for winter warmers!

    Lisa let me know what you think!

    Debs, yes you could omit the sausages and serve the beans as a side… do include the bacon though as gives flavour.

    James, yes we did just that!

    Mzungu, I was very happy with this bangers version, thought it worked very well.

    Reply
  6. Dick Smith

    I am a Boston baked beans and belly pork lover, but will try your bangers method at the weekend. I will cut down on the treacledue to me being a diabetic.

    Reply
  7. kaveyeats

    Hope you enjoy it, Dick. The bacon will still give you a lovely porky flavour, but if you like bangers, I think you’ll be happy with them in place of your usual pork belly. I love pork belly too, by the way. Am sure you can reduce the treacle, it’s a sweet sauce, I’m sure taking a bit of sweetness away won’t be a problem…

    Reply
  8. Fiona Yule

    These look gorgous – am actually thinking of making them tonight in the slow cooker.

    Will let you know on FB if I do and will post photos/comments.

    Fiona x

    Reply
  9. Jeanne @ CookSister!

    Oh swoon….. Can there be a happier combo than pork and beans?? Have meant to make Boston baked beans for the longest time & this looks like an ideal 1-pot dinner!

    Reply
  10. Amy

    I have heard a lot about this recipe on twitter and I see it looks every bit as delicious as everyone was saying. Definitely one I shall be trying very soon.

    Reply
  11. Shereen

    I have a print out of this recipe from 2012 and it’s been on regular rotation in our cooking since. I’ve made it in the slow cooker, and often put a couple of slices of pork belly in too. The leftovers freeze well, and leftovers of the thicker version of the recipe are great in a wrap.

    Reply

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