Give Canned Baked Beans An Umami Upgrade With This Chinese Sauce

Baked beans are a surprisingly thorny subject considering all that debate concerns such a soft, delicious food. Many people have their diehard tips and tricks for the "perfect" crock of beans: Julia Child swore by a long soak for her beans, while we've even heard of adding Dr Pepper for sweetness. When you crave a hearty side dish but don't have hours to wait over a simmering pot, canned baked beans are a great convenience product that offers a quick repast and delicious taste. We're here to tell you, however, that it could use something extra. Thankfully, you're one pantry ingredient away from boosting the flavor profile of your beans with a dash of soy sauce.

Soy sauce has its place in many, many homemade baked bean recipes, and for good reason. Really good baked beans have a wonderful depth of flavor that balances sweet, salty, and umami all at once. Too often, however, canned beans only strike one note: sweetness. A tiny splash of soy sauce — and you only want a little, since its sodium goes a long way! — can round out the taste of your beans and give them delightful nuance and subtle umami. In fact, soy sauce brings American canned beans closer to a British flavor profile, which is more savory and better suited to comfort food classics like pouring over a jacket (baked) potato or spreading across hot buttered toast. Just mix in your soy sauce while your beans are heating on the stovetop, stirring frequently to encourage the flavors to meld.

There's a difference between soy sauce and tamari, don't forget, but either one will give your beans some punchy, savory flair. If you have run out of soy sauce in your cabinet (heaven forbid!), you could feasibly get away with a small dose of Worcestershire sauce, which will add some not-unwelcome meaty notes to your pot.

Now that you've made your baked beans richer and more tasty, will you serve them as-is? You certainly could, or you could continue with more spins on umami-heavy legumes that will add real value to your BBQ ... or even stand alone as a main dish to be sopped up with some crusty bread! Sautéed aromatics like onion or diced bell pepper add a little freshness and texture to your beans. If you want to continue pushing them in a British direction, stir in a bit of tomato sauce and simmer to cook out the tinned flavor. Tomato-based baked beans are, after all, huge overseas.

Adding protein to beans will complete their transformation into something much greater than a canned side. Bacon or ham is a natural complement, since many baked beans already contain pork, but hot sausage could work well here, also. Ground beef, on the other hand, is something you likely already have on hand — some cooked beef with a savory soy sauce note will produce a bowl of beans that eats almost like a stew while maintaining a lovely, comforting sweetness.