If you like baked beans, you’ll love cowboy beans. Not quite baked beans, not quite chili, this hearty take on the classic cookout side dish is a southwestern staple, the kind of thing you imagine hardworking ranch hands eating after a hard day’s work. As one of our best potluck recipes and summer recipes to feed a crowd, it’s sure to become a favorite.
Cowboy beans is an easy slow-cooker recipe made with a delicious combination of ground beef, onions and beans, all cooked in a sweet-tangy sauce in your slow cooker. The beans used can be a single variety like pinto, or a combination of your favorite beans.
Among our favorite ways to use canned beans, this easy recipe features four different kinds (!) for a wonderful multicolored effect. Plus, by using canned beans, you can mix and match beans to use any kind you want. The sauce the beans cook in is made with basic pantry staples. It’s delicious as is, but you can bump up the flavor even more by adding bacon (details on that below!).
Cowboy Beans Ingredients
- Ground beef: This recipe calls for 90% lean beef. Our guide on choosing the best beef for burgers elaborates more on fat content in beef. You can also use half ground pork or crumbled pork sausage in place of half of the beef. For a lighter recipe, use ground turkey or ground chicken (just don’t tell the cowboys).
- Onions: This is the only vegetable in the dish! Onion brings aromatics and flavor to the party. Chop the onion into large or small chunks depending on your taste.
- Beans: Butter beans, kidney beans, lima beans, and pork and beans round out this bean-filled recipe. If you want, try black beans, cannellini beans or pinto beans. Just keep it to a total of four cans (each approximately 16 ounces) of beans so the ratios are correct.
- Sweet and tangy sauce: The homemade barbecue sauce, made from brown sugar, ketchup, cider vinegar and yellow mustard, ties all the flavors together.
Directions
Step 1: Cook the beef and onions
In a large skillet, cook the beef and onion over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink, breaking the meat into crumbles. Drain the meat of any excess moisture or fat.
Editor’s Tip:Â Like all slow-cooker beef recipes, you want to cook the meat before adding it to the slow cooker. This prevents the meat from clumping or adding excess grease and moisture to the dish.
Step 2: Put everything in the slow cooker
Transfer the browned meat mixture to a 3-quart slow cooker. Stir together the brown sugar, ketchup, vinegar and mustard, and add to the slow cooker.
Stir in the beans. Cover and cook on low for four to five hours or until heated through.
Cowboy Beans Variations
- Add bacon: Cook 1/2 pound to 1 pound chopped bacon in a skillet until crispy. Remove the cooked bacon from the skillet, then cook the beef and onion in the drippings in the skillet. Add the cooked bacon with the beans and sauce into the slow cooker.
- Add peppers: One cup diced bell peppers will add color and more vegetable goodness to these cowboy beans.
- Add spices:Â You can’t go wrong with a few shakes of extras like smoked or sweet paprika, garlic powder, black pepper and onion powder.
- Make it spicy: To increase the heat, add chopped poblano pepper or jalapeno pepper or several dashes of hot sauce or Sriracha to the slow cooker.
- Add molasses: You might prefer molasses in place of some of the brown sugar, as we use in some of our best baked bean recipes.
- Bake your beans: You can bake this recipe for cowboy beans in the oven, which takes less time. Cook the ground beef and onion in a large Dutch oven on the stove, then add the beans and the sauce ingredients. Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes to one hour, until the beans are hot and bubbly.
How to Store Cowboy Beans
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for four to five days. To make them a few days ahead of time, reheat on the stovetop or in the slow cooker until fully warmed through.
How to Freeze Cowboy Beans
Cowboy beans are great for freezing. Let the beans cool completely, then store in a freezer-safe container in the freezer for up to three months. Let the beans thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then gently reheat in a microwave or on the stovetop over low heat, stirring occasionally. For more tips, see our definitive guide on how long you can freeze food.
Cowboy Beans Tips
Can you use dried instead of canned beans to make cowboy beans?
You can use dried beans instead of canned, but the cook times will vary for the butter, kidney and lima beans. Also, a handy rule of thumb is that dried beans roughly double in volume when cooked. So, for each can of beans you’re looking to replace, you would start with just less than 1 cup dried beans. And, remember, you can quick-soak dried beans to avoid waiting overnight.
How do you thicken cowboy beans?
To thicken your cowboy beans, use the same staples you would to thicken a sauce. The easiest way is to use a cornstarch slurry: Simply stir together 1 to 2 tablespoons cornstarch with equal parts water, and whisk until smooth. Whisk or stir that into your cooked bean mixture until it’s well incorporated. Let the mixture to cook a few minutes longer, or until thickened.
