Hearty Cowboy Baked Beans are some of the BEST baked beans you’ll ever eat. No kidding. These beans are fabulous. On top of that, after browning the meat and onions everything else is just dumped into the casserole and heated through, making this a lower maintenance recipe than some. You can also make this in the crockpot if you don’t have time to watch it on the stove.

Follow Me On Instagram!

This flavorful bean combination is a great addition to your cookbook collection. It uses several different types of beans. The amount is large — 15-16 servings, so it is great to take to a potluck, family reunion, or other social occasion where you have to feed a lot of people. It has savory and sweet flavors blended throughout. It’s really delicious. Our family loves this recipe and I think yours will too.

This version of baked beans is similar to the Calico Bean versions but adds barbecue sauce and liquid smoke in the ingredients to give the dish a little more zip. I found this recipe in a Taste of Home Cookbook, perhaps the ground beef one or another specialty cookbook rather than an annual recipes cookbook.  Everyone who eats beans this way usually doesn’t want to go back to the plain and simple pork & beans out of a can.

If you’re looking for a baked beans recipe to WOW your company, Hearty Cowboy Baked Beans will surely do it. If you just love baked beans you need to give this a try. The flavors can’t be beat.

When I originally published this recipe in June 2012, I had just begun my blog a week beforehand. I retook pictures in November 2012, but they were still made with an inferior iPhone 3 at the time so they were less than pleasing. I’ve been going through all my first-year blog posts and remaking the recipes so I can get new pictures that are more appealing. I recently remade this recipe (May 2015) for a large potluck at our church and retook pictures beforehand.

Everyone at church raved over this recipe when I served it, and many circled back and asked me for the recipe! It’s a baked bean recipe that can’t be beat! 🙂

Hearty Cowboy Baked Beans is one of the BEST baked beans recipes you’ll ever eat!

Here’s a serving of these delicious beans. They have chili, pinto beans or navy beans, black beans, great northern beans, lima beans, pork and beans, and red or kidney beans. 

This recipe makes a huge pot of Hearty Cowboy Baked Beans.

Here’s what I did.

I used these ingredients.

Fry a pound of ground beef in a skillet. You can also use ground turkey, instead. Add a pound of bacon. Cut bacon in 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces and cook with ground meat in skillet. Cook until done. Drain.

Add drained beans to a crockpot.

Add 1/2 cup brown sugar, a tablespoon of liquid smoke, 3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar, 1 heaping tablespoon of minced garlic, a teaspoon of salt and a 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, an 18-oz. bottle of KC Masterpiece original BBQ sauce. 

Add cooked ground beef and bacon.

Stir beans thoroughly making sure seasonings are well dispersed. Bake in a crockpot a couple of hours on high.

Hearty Cowboy Baked Beans are ready to ladle into dishes and serve.

Hearty Cowboy Baked Beans are a great side dish to serve with BBQ Brisket and Heavenly Cole Slaw.

Here’s the recipe.

HEARTY COWBOY BAKED BEANS

(Recipe adapted from  Taste of Home Cookbook recipe, 2003)

Hearty Cowboy Baked Beans

Teresa Ambra

This amazing baked beans recipe uses six different kinds of beans, bacon, ground beef or turkey and is smothered in a wonderful sauce with barbecue sauce, liquid smoke and cinder vinegar for superb taste. Great for potlucks and summer holiday menus.

4 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Course Veggie Side Dish/Casserole

Cuisine Southern

Servings 15

Calories 551 kcal

Equipment

• 1 large skillet
• 1 hamburger chopper
• 1 sharp knife
• 1 can opener
• 1 plastic spatula
• 1 wooden spoon
• measuring cups
• measuring spoons
• 1 Dutch oven with lid

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 lb. ground beef cooked and drained; ground turkey can also be substituted
• 1/2 to 1 lb. bacon cut in 1-2” segments
• 15 oz. can lima beans rinsed and drained
• 15 oz. can red beans rinsed and drained; I like these better than kidney beans
• 15 oz. can butter beans drained
• 96 oz. can Bush’s pork ‘n beans, with brown sugar or honey DO NOT DRAIN (two 36-48-ounce cans)
• 15 oz. can navy beans rinsed and drained, or great northern beans
• 15 oz. can black beans rinsed and drained, or 1 can pinto or chili beans, or you can use all 3 if you like!
• 16 oz. bottle KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce or Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce or your favorite BBQ sauce
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
• 1 tbsp. liquid smoke
• 3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. minced garlic I buy the stuff in the jar
• 1 large onion diced, or 2 small onions, chopped
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Instructions

 

• Brown ground beef and bacon.
• Cut beef down with a hamburger chopper into small pieces while frying.
• Drain.
• In large Dutch Oven or stock pot combine all the ingredients.
• Cook on medium heat about an hour.
• Or you can put in your crockpot.
• Cook about 3 hours on high, or 8-10 hours on low.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home.

 

^© Can’t Stay Out of the Kitchen

Nutrition

Calories: 551kcalCarbohydrates: 88gProtein: 29gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 1430mgPotassium: 1413mgFiber: 21gSugar: 19gVitamin A: 161IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 171mgIron: 8mg

Keyword bacon, baked beans, beef, side dish

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Hearty Cowboy Baked Beans are great to take for potlucks, backyard barbecues and Fourth of July parties.

The combination of barbecue sauce, liquid smoke, apple cider vinegar and spices cause Hearty Cowboy Baked Beans to have spectacular taste.

You may also enjoy these delicious recipes!

Spicy Baked Beans

Calico Baked Beans

Coca Cola Baked Beans

Hearty Cowboy Baked Beans

Teresa Ambra

This amazing baked beans recipe uses six different kinds of beans, bacon, ground beef or turkey and is smothered in a wonderful sauce with barbecue sauce, liquid smoke and cinder vinegar for superb taste. Great for potlucks and summer holiday menus.

4 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Course Veggie Side Dish/Casserole

Cuisine Southern

Servings 15

Calories 551 kcal

Equipment

• 1 large skillet
• 1 hamburger chopper
• 1 sharp knife
• 1 can opener
• 1 plastic spatula
• 1 wooden spoon
• measuring cups
• measuring spoons
• 1 Dutch oven with lid

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 lb. ground beef cooked and drained; ground turkey can also be substituted
• 1/2 to 1 lb. bacon cut in 1-2” segments
• 15 oz. can lima beans rinsed and drained
• 15 oz. can red beans rinsed and drained; I like these better than kidney beans
• 15 oz. can butter beans drained
• 96 oz. can Bush’s pork ‘n beans, with brown sugar or honey DO NOT DRAIN (two 36-48-ounce cans)
• 15 oz. can navy beans rinsed and drained, or great northern beans
• 15 oz. can black beans rinsed and drained, or 1 can pinto or chili beans, or you can use all 3 if you like!
• 16 oz. bottle KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce or Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce or your favorite BBQ sauce
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
• 1 tbsp. liquid smoke
• 3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. minced garlic I buy the stuff in the jar
• 1 large onion diced, or 2 small onions, chopped
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Instructions

 

• Brown ground beef and bacon.
• Cut beef down with a hamburger chopper into small pieces while frying.
• Drain.
• In large Dutch Oven or stock pot combine all the ingredients.
• Cook on medium heat about an hour.
• Or you can put in your crockpot.
• Cook about 3 hours on high, or 8-10 hours on low.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home.

 

^© Can’t Stay Out of the Kitchen

Nutrition

Calories: 551kcalCarbohydrates: 88gProtein: 29gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 1430mgPotassium: 1413mgFiber: 21gSugar: 19gVitamin A: 161IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 171mgIron: 8mg

Keyword bacon, baked beans, beef, side dish

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!