These cowboy beans are hearty, smoky, and packed with flavour. Whether you’re cooking over an open fire or in your kitchen on the stovetop, these cowboy beans are sure to hit the spot. Simple ingredients coming together as easy comfort food.
Baked beans, minced beef AND bacon? Sounds like the basis of a proper hearty dinner!
It’s a one pot meal that’s brilliant for a cold rainy day.
On those days that I feel I need a bit more colour in my meals (I suppose it is fairly orange) I quite like to serve it with a few green beans. On those other days, when I just want the coziness of orange/brown bowl food, this is served up with a chunk of buttered crusty bread.
📋 Ingredients
- Beans -3 tins of baked beans in tomato sauce (use your favourite variety) and 1 tin of drained kidney beans.
- Bacon – Use strips of streaky smoked bacon for plenty of flavour.
- Minced beef – I use 10-12% fat. A higher fat percentage than this can make this dish a bit greasy. Low fat (5% fat) works well too.
- BBQ sauce – use your favourite brand.
📺 Watch how to make it
***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post***
- Fry the bacon until crisp, then remove from the pan and chop into pieces.
- Fry the onion and garlic in that lovely bacon grease that’s left from frying the bacon.
- Add the mince and brown it off, then add in the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT the brown sugar. Simmer it all together.
- Give it a taste and add the brown sugar is you want a bit of sweetness. The BBQ sauce may have given the dish enough sweetness, depending on your palate and the brand you use.
- Stir the bacon in, warm it through and serve.
Pro Tip
Save some of the crispy bacon to sprinkle on top at the end. It will warm up with the heat of the beans.
That’s the food equivalent of Autumn right there ⬇️
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🍽️ What to serve it with
This is a great dish to make ahead and eat later or take camping – it reheats beautifully!
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Heat the oil in a large dutch oven or heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Add the bacon to the pan and fry for 6-7 minutes, turning once, until crisp.
1 tbsp oil, 8 rashers
Remove the bacon from the pan with a set of tongs and place on a board. Chop the bacon into small pieces.
Add the onion the pan with the bacon oil. Fry for 5-6 minutes, stirring often, until softened and slightly browned,
1 onion
Add in the garlic and stir together.
2 cloves garlic
Add the minced beef, turn up the heat to medium-high, and fry for 5-6 minutes, until browned. Stir often, breaking up any large chunks of meat as you go. Turn the heat back down to medium.
500 g (1.1lb) minced beef
Stir in the stock, then add the baked beans, kidney beans, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, pepper and BBQ sauce.
120 ml (1/2 cup) beef stock, 3 x 400g (14 oz) tins baked beans in tomato sauce, 400 g (14 oz) tin kidney beans, 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 3 tbsp BBQ sauce, 1/2 tsp pepper
Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring often. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Give it a taste and add in the brown sugar if you’d like the cowboy beans to be sweeter.
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
Add the bacon, stir and cook for a further minute, until the bacon is heated through.
Turn off the heat and serve.
Yes, make the dish, cool quickly, then cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Reheat in the pan over a medium heat, stirring occasionally until piping hot throughout. You may need to loosen it up a with a little splash of water when reheating.
Yes, make the dish, cool quickly, separate into portions and freeze in airtight containers. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator and reheat as per the instructions above.
– Add a tablespoon of Cajun spice with frying the onions for a little spicy kick.
– Use kidney beans in chilli sauce for a little bit of heat.
– Throw in some chopped bell peppers or sliced mushrooms for added vegetables.
Nutritional information is approximate, based on this recipe serving 6 people.
Calories: 584kcal | Carbohydrates: 66g | Protein: 36g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 80mg | Sodium: 1304mg | Potassium: 1276mg | Fiber: 16g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 31IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 153mg | Iron: 8mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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