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Square overhead image of cowboy baked beans in a vintage enamelware pan.
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5 from 3 votes

Cowboy Baked Beans

Serve these easy cowboy baked beans as a side dish at your next cookout, or as a dinner entrée with a side of cornbread!
Course Dinner, Side
Cuisine American
Keyword cowboy baked beans, cowboy baked beans with ground beef, cowboy beans
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Resting Time 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 8 people (as a side dish)
Calories 396kcal
Author Blair Lonergan

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 2 – 3 -quart baking dish; set aside.
  • Heat a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the beef, onion, and bell pepper; cook until the meat is no longer pink, about 5-7 minutes. Drain off excess grease. Stir in pork and beans, ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Simmer the mixture for about 5 minutes.
    Process shot showing how to make cowboy baked beans.
  • Transfer the beef and beans to the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle bacon on top. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove cover; continue baking for 10 more minutes.
    Adding bacon to the top of a dish of cowboy baked beans.
  • Let the dish rest for 10 minutes, then serve!
    Overhead shot of a pan of cowboy beans.

Notes

  • Alternate slow cooker method: Brown the beef and vegetables on the stovetop, as instructed. Simmer with the other ingredients for 5 minutes, and then transfer the mixture to a Crock Pot. Do not add the bacon yet. Cover and cook on HIGH for 1-2 hours or on LOW for 3-4 hours. Remove the cover during the final 30 minutes, sprinkle the bacon on top, and continue cooking without the lid to allow the sauce to thicken slightly.
  • This dish serves about 6-8 people as a side dish, or about 4 people as a main dish entree. If you're feeding a larger group, double all of the ingredients and bake the beans in a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish.
    The total cooking time may vary. For really soft, broken-down beans or a thicker sauce, you might like to leave the dish in the oven a little bit longer.
  • The beans and sauce will continue to thicken as they cool, so don’t worry if it looks a little bit soupy when it first comes out of the oven.
  • For added heat, season the beans with Cajun seasoning or Creole seasoning, some hot sauce, or a dash of cayenne.
 

Nutrition

Serving: 1/8 of the recipe | Calories: 396kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 57mg | Sodium: 1187mg | Potassium: 713mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 258IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 95mg | Iron: 4mg