Baked beans straight from the tin often taste bland, boring, and uninspiring, but a simple culinary trick can elevate them to café or restaurant standards with minimal effort. This timeless comfort staple, whether served as part of a full English breakfast or simply dolloped onto toast, can be transformed into a richer, more satisfying dish using just one key ingredient.
Chef's Secret Ingredient for Enhanced Flavour
To mark the launch of their latest cookbook, More Plants, we approached Ian Theasby from the renowned plant-based cooking duo BOSH, alongside Henry Firth, for his straightforward hack to improve baked beans. Ian revealed an effortless addition that requires virtually no extra work, dramatically enhancing the flavour profile of ordinary tinned beans.
Ian disclosed: "What I will say is, there's Henderson's relish. Have you ever heard of it? So, Henderson's relish is like Worcester sauce. Worcester sauce is a great thing, too, but I don't eat Worcester sauce because of shellfish inside it. But there's a plant-based version called Henderson's relish."
How to Properly Prepare the Beans
He went on to explain the preparation method: "And if you just had some Heinz baked beans in a pan, not a microwave, because you want to sort of cook down the sauce for a little bit to sort of activate the sugars inside and to thicken it up a little bit. But if you get a little splash of Henderson's relish and a little bit of black pepper, like you're looking at a and bang that on some nice buttered sourdough toast, it's a fantastic meal. It's basically like all you need."
Ian shared a personal anecdote: "Whenever I go back to Sheffield, and my mom's like, 'Oh, do you want some lunch?' I'm like, 'Yep.' And she knows exactly what I want. And she'll just make some beans on toast."
Alternative Plant-Based Seasoning Options
In addition to Henderson's relish, Ian also recommends trying BOSH's Nooch traditional yeast seasoning. This is an inactive yeast – a natural product cultivated on molasses that provides a fantastic, straightforward way to add a cheesy note to your meals, beans on toast included.
You'll find BOSH seasoning and nutritional yeast stocked in major supermarkets such as Sainsbury's, Ocado, and Morrisons. It's also readily obtainable online through retailers like Amazon. The plant-based brand BOSH launched over a decade ago and has amassed an extraordinary one million Instagram followers, alongside 166,700 on TikTok, showcasing their widespread popularity.
Celebrating a Decade of Plant-Based Innovation
Marking their 10th anniversary, the duo has unveiled their eighth cookbook, More Plants, with Ian declaring, "It's their best one yet." More Plants features 90 plant-focused dishes, each ready within 30 minutes and designed to be straightforward, energising, and wholesome.
The book places major emphasis on fibre, vegetables, beans, grains, and flavour, with recipes crafted to promote everyday wellbeing without imposing dietary restrictions. This approach aligns perfectly with their mission to make plant-based cooking accessible and delicious for everyone.
