The One Ingredient To Avoid In Slow-Cooker Baked Beans

Slow-cooker baked beans are a must-have for college game day and Super Bowl gatherings. That best Boston baked bean recipe goes perfectly with smash burgers, cheesesteaks, or hot dogs. However, if you are a fan of making this side dish from scratch, there is one ingredient you need to get right: the type of molasses you use. This dark, sticky ingredient has a sweet taste that brings umami to your baked beans. But if you are sending your significant other out for a jar, it's important that they don't come back with blackstrap molasses, which could make your baked beans taste bitter.

Yep, you should never substitute regular molasses with blackstrap. Do it once, and you won't do it again. But in fairness, this deep, dark brown syrup can be confusing. There are actually three types of molasses: light/mild, dark/robust, and blackstrap. It's made by boiling cane or beet juice until it becomes thick and sticky. However, it can be boiled three different times, and each time yields three different forms of molasses. The first boiling produces light molasses, the second boiling produces dark, and the third boiling results in blackstrap molasses. Additionally, each one gets successively less sweet and a little funkier in taste. 

Light molasses is the sweetest and is used to make molasses cookies. It has a thinner consistency than the other two. Dark molasses has a slightly more intense flavor than light molasses. For this reason, it is perfect to stand up to the robust taste of gingerbread. And then there is blackstrap molasses. Blackstrap molasses is going to add an overwhelming harsh taste to whatever it is added to. 

However, what separates blackstrap from the other two is its nutritional value. It contains nutrients like manganese, iron, calcium, and potassium. So, if you want to reap those benefits, you could use half blackstrap and half brown sugar when making your slow cooker baked beans. The brown sugar — which is just a combination of molasses and sugar — cuts the sharp taste without making your baked beans too sweet. That said, if you plan on making your slow cooker baked beans with bacon or 12-hour roasted baked beans, just remember to grab light molasses, and they will taste perfect every time.