Boston baked beans

plural noun

variants or Boston Baked Beans

1

singular or plural in construction : beans (such as navy beans) seasoned with molasses and salt pork and baked for a relatively long time at a relatively low temperature

Fish cakes were served with Boston baked beans. The beans, tasting of the signature Boston ingredient, molasses, were a little soupy but good.

—Karl Wells

"What you ought to do is send a guy in a big chef's hat to Thompson along with a crock of Boston baked beans and maybe even a lobster," [politician] Mario Cuomo told the Dukakis camp.

—Michael Kramer

Boston Baked Beans is perfect for winter … . This simple mixture is cooked long and slow to develop its sweet and savory flavor.

—Michael Hastings

2

: a confection made of peanuts with a red candy shell

Inside is a counter containing more than 65 varieties of penny candy—most of it no longer costing a penny but still including most old-time varieties: nonpareils … jawbreakers and Boston baked beans.

—Linda Charlton

His store sells many varieties of candy that gained popularity during the Great Depression, such as … Boston Baked Beans.

—Amy O. Williams

Word History

First Known Use

1844, in the meaning defined at sense 1