Cowboy Beans

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These Cowboy Beans are a great addition to a backyard barbecue (or stovetop barbecue if you have an inch of ice and 6 inches of snow outside.)
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Serves: 8-10 | Special Equipment: Colander/Strainer
I came across an old recipe that had my scribbles of changes and notes that I had made and about a quarter of the paper torn off… probably to make more notes about something else. I laughed at myself, how 20 years later, some things stay the same…my note-taking and good food!

I jot down a lot of notes and on just about anything. There are recipe notes on napkins, on the backs of blank checks in my wallet, and some written on the back of sermon notes from my pastor’s message (I guess I just told on myself there, ha). There are some things that you hear or see that give you great ideas and you just don’t want to lose them.

My husband is always telling me to keep everything on my phone, and always have a backup of a backup. I should really follow his instructions…. I might not always be able to find that napkin.

Back to the “old recipe”… The title was for Cowboy Beans and I remember marking off ingredients and substituting others. But, the biggest change was the addition of ribeye steak, shredded and flavored throughout the thick stick-to-your-ribs beans.

These Cowboy Beans are a great addition to a backyard barbecue (or stovetop barbecue if you have an inch of ice and 6 inches of snow outside.) That was our weather this February and my Michigan-born husband grilled anyway, and it was worth it. Then my high school culinary son and I cooked steaks on the stovetop with the basting method using butter, oil, thyme, and garlic. Wow. Just Wow.

This dish may be a carb nightmare, but if you’re not watching your carb intake, these are just down-right enjoyable!

Feel free to change up your meat. As I mentioned before, I have used shredded ribeye steak (my fav) or slow-cooked beef short ribs. Here I used ground beef and Italian sausage since it would still be delicious and hearty, and it’s probably the most convenient. You could serve this meatless, but not at my house.

Cowboy Beans

Pantry To Table
Cowboy Beans are a great addition to a backyard barbecue, filled with 3 types of meat, 4 kinds of beans, and is super-easy to make!
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 8

Equipment

  • Colander/Strainer

Ingredients
  

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 pound Italian sausage, (not breakfast sausage)
  • 1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
  • 1/2 cup yellow onion, diced
  • 1/4 cup ketchup
  • 1/4 cup barbecue sauce, store bought or homemade
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar, light or dark
  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 2 tablespoons golden mustard, (I like Gulden's)
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 - 3 drops liquid smoke, optional
  • 1/2 cup beef broth, lower sodium
  • 16 ounce can pork 'n beans, undrained
  • 16 ounce can kidney beans, light or dark red, drained and rinsed
  • 16 ounce can red beans, drained and rinsed
  • 16 ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
  • Kosher salt, to taste
  • White pepper, to taste

Instructions
 

  • Heat a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
  • Crumble the ground beef and Italian sausage into the hot pan and allow to sauté without stirring for two minutes to sear the meat for flavor. (If you’re using Italian sausage links, remove the casings and crumble the sausage into the pan.)
  • Break up the meat with a spoon or spatula and continue to cook until no longer pink. Drain the meat and set it aside. (I use a colander set inside another bowl and allow the meat to drain while going to the next steps.)
  • In the same skillet over medium heat, add the onions to the hot pan until lightly brown and softened, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
  • Turn the heat down to medium-low. Add the garlic and stir for about one minute until fragrant, but not browning. Add the cooked bacon, ketchup, barbecue sauce, brown sugar, molasses, chili powder, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, beef stock, and liquid smoke if using. Stir the mixture together and allow to warm through.
  • Add the two meats back into the pan with the sauce.
  • Add all the beans and stir well to combine everything together.
  • Keeping the heat at medium-low, bring the cowboy beans up to a gentle simmer, stirring often. Taste for seasoning, adjusting as desired. You can add more beef stock if you like your beans a thinner consistency.
  • Lower heat and simmer gently for 15 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. Serve warm.

Notes

You could use various meats here. I have used ribeye (my fav). You could use pulled pork, too. If you’re cooking a pork butt for a cookout, after shredding, just throw a couple of handfuls into the beans. That would be delicious.
An easy way to cook bacon that needs to be “diced” or “cooked and crumbled” is to take the layered bacon out of its package, keeping it as a whole slab, lay it down horizontally on your cutting board. Using a very sharp knife, cut down the short side of the compacted layers, top to bottom, all the way across. Cutting it this way makes diced bacon very easy. Then, using your fingers, separate the pieces over a hot skillet (no oil needed) and stir occasionally until the bacon is cooked to your liking. I cook bacon this way when I need crumbled bacon in casseroles or salads.
Beans – to drain or not to drain…. Bon Appetit has a fun and insightful article on what the liquid is in canned beans and what it can do for your dishes. I have chosen to drain my canned beans in this recipe.
You could also make this meat-less. Add diced bell pepper to help bulk up the beans. Actually, you could add bell pepper to your onions as they sauté and that would be yummy, too.
Keyword beans, side dish, meaty, picnic, barbecue
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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