Cowboy beans recipe are an easy dish perfect for weeknight dinners or parties. They're a southwestern take on BBQ baked beans loaded with bacon, beef, peppers, and onions, perfect as a main course or side dish.
Cowboy beans aren't far from BBQ baked beans, and we all know how good those are. With just a few additions, we can transform regular baked beans into a beefy, bacon-filled dish with everyone rushing back for seconds.
Dishes like this are so much fun for us because we love taking long-time favorites and doing something different with them. We do the same thing with our Sloppy Joe garlic bread and taco Joes. It's fun and delicious.
Why You’ll Love This Cowboy Baked Beans Recipe
- Budget-Friendly: This recipe is made with canned beans and a handful of other affordable ingredients that are easy on your wallet.
- Easy: It takes very little effort and almost no cooking experience to make this recipe. So long-time cooks can whip it up in a flash and newbies can enjoy it, as well.
- Family-Friendly: The sweet and smoky flavors are loved by both kids and adults.
- Great for Meal Prep: They are freezer-friendly, so you can make a big batch ahead of time and save it for later.
Ingredients
- Beans: Canned pork and beans, kidney beans, and pinto beans are the backbone of this dish.
- Ground Beef: Ground beef adds flavor and texture. You can also use ground turkey.
- Bacon: Bacon adds a salty, smoky flavor that pairs well with the rich, sweet, and tangy BBQ sauce in the recipe.
- Bell Peppers and Onions: Bell peppers and onions add a bright, sweet, and earthy flavor to the dish.
- Ketchup, Mustard, and BBQ Sauce: Ketchup, mustard, and BBQ sauce make the base for the sweet and tangy sauce.
- Brown Sugar: Brown sugar adds extra sweetness to the recipe. To take them to the next level adding molasses will be a great substitute.
- Seasonings: A blend of black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and chili powder adds a bold, southwestern flavor to the beans.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for a full list of the ingredients and their exact amounts.
Flavor Variations
- Spicy: Add diced jalapenos for an extra kick of heat and flavor.
- More Vegetables: Try adding mushrooms, corn, or any of your other favorite vegetables to these beans.
- Dry Beans: If you prefer making these beans from scratch, you can soak and cook your own beans.
- BBQ Sauce: Adjust the flavor by using your favorite variety of sauce. There are a ton to choose from!
- Ground Beef: Try using ground turkey or chorizo instead. You can also use cubed pork or stew beef.
How To Make Cowboy Beans
1: Cook the bacon in a large Dutch oven. until crispy. Drain the grease.
2: Add the ground beef and vegetables to the same pot and cook until the beef is brown and the vegetables are tender.
3: Add the remaining ingredients, stir, and place the Dutch oven in the oven. Cook until the sauce thickens. Enjoy!
- Cook the bacon in a large Dutch oven. until crispy. Drain the grease.
- Add the ground beef and vegetables to the same pot and cook until the beef is brown and the vegetables are tender.
- Add the remaining ingredients, stir, and place the Dutch oven in the oven. Cook at 350℉ for 45-50 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Enjoy!
Hint
It's important to use a Dutch oven for this recipe, if possible. They are totally oven-safe. If you don't have a Dutch oven, make sure your pot is rated specifically for oven use.
Storage
Refrigerate these cowboy beans in an air-tight container for up to 4 days. For longer storage, freeze them for up to 3 months in an air-tight, freezer-safe container. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight before reheating.
To reheat the beans, place them in a pot and cook them over medium-low heat until heated through.
What To Serve With Cowboy Baked Beans
These cowboy baked beans are a great main course or twist on the side dish we've all enjoyed with our backyard eats for years.
These cowboy beans make a bold side for all kinds of chicken dishes, from baked chicken breasts to these skillet chicken thighs.
The southwestern flavors also make them a delicious side dish for recipes like these flank steak tacos or Instant Pot chicken tacos.
If you're serving these cowboy beans as a main course, pair them with bread like this Dutch oven bread or these breadsticks. They add flavor, and you can dip them in the extra sauce!
Of course, no dinner is complete without dessert, so finish things off with something sweet like our O'Henry Bars, cowboy cookies (fitting) or our coconut chocolate chip cookies.
Tips
- Use a shark knife to dice your onions and bell peppers. A sharp knife actually decreases the likelihood of injury because it does all the work without excess force from your hand.
- Drain and rinse your kidney and pinto beans thoroughly. The starchy liquid in the beans will make the beans too thick. It's an important step!
- Cook the beef until browned and no further. Ground beef cooks relatively quickly, and overcooking it makes it rubbery and reduces its flavor.
- Medium heat is the sweet spot for cooking bacon. This allows it to get crispy without burning, so don't try to rush it.
Recipe FAQs
Pork and beans add a base flavor to the recipe that everything else builds on. It makes it easier to create a sweet and savory profile for the beans.
Draining the beans helps you control the salt content as well as the thickness of the beans. The starchy liquid can make the beans too thick as they cook, and it adds a substantial amount of salt that you don't need.
If your cowboy beans are mushy, they were almost certainly cooked for too long. This recipe only needs to be cooked long enough for the sauce to thicken because the beans are already cooked. Over-baking the dish will make the beans mushy.
Navy, white, kidney, and pinto beans are all excellent for baked beans and are commonly used for the dish.
More Easy Side Dish Recipes
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Cowboy Beans
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ pound bacon cut into bite size pieces
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 1 medium red bell pepper diced
- 2 (16 ounce) cans of pork and beans
- 1 (15.5 ounce) can kidney beans rinsed and drained
- 1 (15.5 ounce) can pinto beans rinsed and drained
- 1 cup ketchup
- ¼ cup barbecue sauce
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1½ tablespoon yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉.
- Cook the bacon until crispy in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Remove and drain the grease.
- Add the ground beef, onion, and bell pepper to the large pot or Dutch. Cook until the ground beef is browned and the vegetables are softened, about 5-7 minutes. Drain any excess fat.
- Add all beans, ketchup, barbecue sauce, brown sugar, and all spices to the pot. Mix until well combined.
- Cover and cook for 45-50 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
- Serve while hot, and enjoy!
Nutrition
*All nutrition information provided is automatically calculated and is an estimate and will vary based on ingredients, brands, and changes in cooking methods listed in the recipe. If you need exact numbers on your ingredients, I would recommend calculating them with your prefered nutrition calculator.
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