Chuck wagon flavor comes home in this easy, Southwestern cupboard meal.
Cowboy Beans is a hearty baked bean dish with chunks of browned hamburger and a zippy sauce.
Ready to scroll through 10,462 words about how Cowboy Beans settled the American West? Just kidding; the One Income Wonder respects your time by getting right to the recipe (a more compact, printable version appears below):
Table of Contents
- Cowboy Baked Beans Recipe: Ingredients
- How to Make Cowboy Baked Beans
- Cowboy Baked Beans Printable Recipe
- Cowboy Baked Beans Tips for Success
Cowboy Baked Beans Recipe: Ingredients
- 1 lb. dried Navy beans
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1T. chopped onion
- 1/2c. catsup
- 1t. mustard
- 1T. molasses
- 2T. vinegar
- 1/2c. brown sugar
- 1 1/2t. salt
- 4 slices bacon (cooked)
How to Make Cowboy Baked Beans
- Boil beans in water for 1/2 hour.
- Shut off heat, cover, and let stand for 2 hours.
- Brown ground beef, reserving fat. Set aside in its skillet.
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees, unless you’re using a Crockpot.
- Rinse beans well, and place in a well-greased beanpot, Pyrex bowl, or Crockpot.
- Deglaze skillet with 1/4c. or more of water, and add beef and this liquid to the beans.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to beans.
- Stir in about a cup of hot water.
- Bake for 3 hours. In the Crockpot, cook on LOW for 12-16 hours, adding water as needed.
Cowboy Baked Beans Printable Recipe
Cowboy Baked Beans Recipe
Cowboy Baked Beans is a hearty recipe with chunks of browned hamburger and a zippy sauce.
Servings: 12
Calories: 270kcal
Cost: $8
Ingredients
- 1 lb. dried Navy beans
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 T. chopped onion
- ½ c. catsup
- 1 t. mustard
- 1 T. molasses
- 2 T. vinegar
- ½ c. brown sugar
- 1½ t. salt
- 4 slices bacon (cooked)
Instructions
- Boil beans in water for 1/2 hour.
- Shut off heat, cover, and let stand for 2 hours.
- Brown ground beef, reserving fat. Set aside in its skillet.
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees, unless you’re using a Crockpot.
- Rinse beans well, and place in a well-greased beanpot, Pyrex bowl, or Crockpot.
- Deglaze skillet with 1/4c. or more of water, and add beef and this liquid to the beans.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to beans.
- Stir in about a cup of hot water.
- Bake for 3 hours. In the Crockpot, cook on LOW for 12-16 hours, adding water as needed.
Cowboy Baked Beans Tips for Success
- Cowboy beans are excellent with pork subbing for the beef; whether it’s ground pork, or leftover roast or chops.
- I love this traditional beanpot, made in Ohio (view here). Besides making the creamiest, tastiest beans, I use it for oatmeal, and apple desserts.
- Instead of Steps 1 and 2, you may soak the beans overnight in cold water. Then, proceed from Step 3.
- Don’t skip Step 4; it makes them more digestible.
- If using the Crockpot, it can be tricky to get the right texture. If your beans look too soupy 2 hours before the end of the cooking time, remove the lid and move the heat up to HIGH.
- Overly soupy beans can be rescued by transferring to a soup pot and reducing (boiling out some of the liquid) on the stovetop.
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