These hearty and addicting Cowboy Beans are loaded with ground beef and bacon, slow cooked in a tangy and sweet BBQ sauce. The ultimate barbecue side dish, or really, a meal all on its own.
Love easy side dishes like these tasty baked beans? Check out our Cheesy Crock Pot Potatoes (also perfect for parties) and our favorite way to make Corn on the Cob, no boiling water and no shucking!
Why You’ll Love Our Cowboy Beans Recipe
This Cowboy Beans recipe is hands down the best you’ll ever taste. We make these baked beans in a slow cooker to make it easy, especially for BBQs or parties.
Another bonus to using a slow cooker, once these beans are done cooking you can set your slow cooker to warm and use it to serve the beans. This way the beans will stay warm all night during your party!
- Family Recipe: We used to call these Buddha’s Beans, my mom’s nickname that has stuck over the years and this was her recipe. She kept it simple, a little more on the sweet side and totally loaded with beef and bacon.
- Easy To Make: Just brown the meat, cook the bacon and then dump everything into the slow cooker. Turn it on and walk away.
- Feeds A Crowd: This recipe will feed at LEAST 10 people. Especially if you’re serving them with a main course and other sides.
- Make Ahead Recipe: You can make these beans ahead of time, even a day before your party or cookout. See the post below for best ways to warm them up!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Ground Beef: We use a fairly lean ground beef, just make sure to drain the drippings off after browning.
- Dry Onion Soup Mix: Found in the soup aisle. We keep them on hand for this recipe and many others.
- Baked Beans: Canned baked beans either in the original flavor or in your favorite flavor. We like the brown sugar variety.
- Bacon: Cook the bacon in the oven while you’re browning the ground beef, or in another skillet to save time.
- BBQ Sauce: You can use your favorite brand here.
- Brown Sugar: Adds a sweet flavor and caramelizes while the beans slow cook.
How To Make (slow cooker, oven & stove top!)
There’s only a couple of steps to making this loaded baked beans recipe. For complete instructions, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Ground Beef & Bacon: The ground beef and bacon need to be cooked ahead of time. Brown the ground beef in a skillet and drain the grease. Cook the bacon in the same skillet or in the oven, whichever way that you like to do it.
- Dump & Cook: Add the bacon and ground beef to the slow cooker along with the rest of the ingredients. Stir, cover and slow cooker on low for 6 hours or on high for 3 hours.
Oven Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brown the ground beef, cook the bacon and then add the rest of the ingredients to a large, oven-proof pot or Dutch oven. Stir to combine. Cover the pot and place in the oven for 1 1/2 – 2 hours, stirring once during cooking. Keep the baked beans in the oven on low (200-250) to keep warm until ready to serve and/or during your party.
Stove Top Instructions
- Brown the ground beef, cook the bacon and then add the rest of the ingredients to a large, oven-proof pot or Dutch oven. Stir to combine. Simmer for at least an hour until warmed though. Keeping the beans on low heat until you’re ready or even during your party will only make them taste better!
How Do I Know When Baked Beans Are Done?
Since we’re using canned beans for this recipe, really all you need to do is warm the ingredients up. However, flavor will get better and better as these beans slow cook together with the beef and bacon.
Let them cook low and slow for the coziest, most wonderful flavor.
What Main Courses Go With Baked Beans?
Cowboy beans are so hearty and delicious, you really will want them for your whole meal. But just in case, here are some dinner ideas to go along with these baked beans!
Variations
There’s lots of different ways that you can switch up these baked beans to your liking. This recipe is the way my mom made them, and we think it’s pretty perfect. But there are a few ways that you can make them a little different!
Instead of ground beef you can use ground pork or even sausage. Try different flavors of barbecue sauce, maybe a Hawaiian flavor or a maple flavored sauce.
There are also, of course many different flavors of the canned baked beans that you can start with. Our preference has always been the brown sugar flavor but you can play around with the flavors that you like, too.
Like in some other cowboy beans recipes, you can add diced onion and/or green pepper to the beef while it’s browning. To spice it up you can add a diced jalapeño, too!
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Cowboy Beans Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 hours
- Total Time: 6 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeCowboy Beans are a staple at any party or BBQ. These beans have a whole pound of ground beef and a whole pound of bacon, slow cooked in a sweet and tangy sauce that’s absolutely irresistible.
Ingredients
- 1 pound bacon
- 1 pound ground beef
- 4 – 28 ounce cans brown sugar baked beans
- 2 – 15 ounce can red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup barbecue sauce (your favorite kind)
- 2.6 ounce package dry onion soup mix
Instructions
- Cook the bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Drain most of the drippings from the skillet, leaving some behind. Chop the bacon and add to your slow cooker. (you’ll need a large, 7-8 quart slow cooker)
- Add the ground beef to the same skillet and cook while breaking up into crumbles. When the meat is no longer pink, drain the grease and add to the slow cooker with the bacon.
- Pour the baked beans and the kidney beans into the slow cooker. Stir in the brown sugar, barbecue sauce and the onion soup mix.
- Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Turn the slow cooker on the “keep warm” setting for serving.
Recipe Notes
Store: Store cooled down baked beans in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Freeze: These cowboy beans freeze perfectly. We like to store them in smaller freezer bags or containers so that we can have an individual portion if we need to. Freeze for up to 3 months.
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Can I use any kind of baked beans with this recipe?
Yes you can use whatever brand you like!
Is it really (3) 41 ounce cans? Or 123 oz of baked beans? Can you use any baked beans?
Yes, the brand I used was 41 ounces, 2 lbs. 9 ounces. If your brand doesn’t have that exact measurement just find the closest you can!
My husband is such a big baked bean fan and he would love these!
I do too! I hope he does, let me know!
I’ll take a double scoop, please ;)
Coming right up!
I can’t wait to make these! These baked beans have all the good things!
They sure do you have to try them!
These sound so, so good! Perfect accompaniment to so many dinners!
Or even on their own!
These sound amazing! Can’t wait to try them at our next BBQ!
Let me know if you do, they are so good!