These Slow Cooker Cowboy Beans are like traditional baked beans on steroids. They have a hearty mix of ground beef, bacon and three types of beans in a tangy, sweet and slightly spicy sauce.
I’m super excited to be partnering with A.1. Sauce to bring you this ultra-comforting side dish recipe! Did you know that A.1. Sauce has been around since 1862?! I think most people associate this bold flavored sauce with steak, but let’s be real… it’s magnificent with chicken, pork and vegetables too!
What Are Cowboy Beans?
Truth be told, I created this recipe to closely replicate a recipe for “Cowboy Beans” I had when I lived in Denver many years ago. This tiny rib shack along a busy highway served THE BEST Cowboy Beans, which were thick, meaty, sweet and savory and had a hefty punch of spice.
The spice was the kind that made your nose run a little, but it paired perfectly with some smokey ribs. Pure heaven.
Slow Cooker Baked Beans with Hamburger
These steakhouse beans have all the same components, but I tamed the spices WAY down so my kids could eat them. Haha!
Ingredients Needed
Here’s what you’ll need in order to whip up some savoury baked beans in the crock pot. As always, you can find the full list of ingredients located in the printable recipe card below.
- Ground Beef – use a lean ground beef or ground pork
- Thick Cut Bacon – adds that nice smoky flavor to the beans
- Onion – I like to use a sweet yellow onion for these beans
- Beans – Chili Beans, Kidney Beans and Black Beans from a can
- Spices – Cumin, Red Pepper, Black Pepper and Cayenne Pepper bring out the heat!
- Sauces – A1 Steak sauce, Ketchup and Apple Cider Vinegar bring tang and sweetness to the beans.
- Brown Sugar – gives the beans a nice molasses flavor
How To Make Cowboy Beans
You’ll want to start out by cooking up the bacon until crisp, then set it aside and brown the ground beef and onions in a skillet. This is probably the most laborious step and it literally takes 5 minutes to do. You’re welcome.
Once your beef is browned just toss it along with the beans, A.1. Sauce and other seasonings into the slow cooker.
How Long To Cook Beans
Since everything is already cooked, we’re basically just bringing it all up to temperature. Slow cooking the beans with the seasonings allows the beans to absorb all that delicious flavor.
Cook the beans on LOW for 3 to 4 hours or on HIGH for 1 to 2 hours.
Make Ahead and Storage
You can cook these beans ahead of time and let them stay on warm in the slow cooker for several hours. This makes it a great option for bbqs, footballs games and entertaining.
Store any leftover beans in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freezer for up to 3 months.
What To Pair With Cowboy Beans
What I love best about this recipe is that it’s easily made in the slow cooker, so you can enjoy your day while these hearty beans cook away. They’re perfect for game day entertaining too!
- Instant Pot Baby Back Pork Ribs – smoky, tender and fall off the bone ribs.
- Caesar Pasta Salad – a nice cool crisp salad with tender pasta
- Caramelized Onion Hamburgers – baked beans and hamburgers are a match made in heaven.
- Honey Cornbread – sweet and tender cornbread that’s buttery and delicious.
- Classic Potato Salad – everyone loves this cool and creamy red potato salad recipe.
You’re going to LOVE these saucy beans!
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Slow Cooker Baked Beans Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ lb. thick cut bacon, cut into pieces
- ½ lb. ground beef
- 1 small onion, diced
- 30 oz chili beans, do not drain
- 15 oz kidney beans, drained
- 15 oz black beans, drained
- 2/3 cup Steak Sauce, like A1.
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup Ketchup
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet with a slotted spoon and set aside on a paper towel lined plate. Discard all but 2 tbsp of the bacon grease and return skillet to stovetop. Brown the ground beef and onion in the remaining bacon grease until no longer pink and onions are tender, about 5 minutes.
- Add the ground beef mixture, bacon and remaining ingredients to the slow cooker and stir to combine. Cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours or HIGH for 1 to 2 hours. Stir before serving and enjoy.
Video
Nutrition
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The ACV taste was too much for me, so I tweaked the recipe. I added 1tbsp molasses, 1tbsp mustard, no chili flakes.. added jalapenos, and a few hot dogs with a cup of water and 1 1/2 tsp chicken bouillon!
Absolutely FANTASTIC!!!!!!
I am allergic to cayenne. Do you think chili seasoning would work?
You can leave out the cayenne pepper and it’ll be just fine. Enjoy!
Can I freeze this when cooked ?
Yes! Baked beans freeze very well.
I made this, again, two days ago. It was delicious as usual. This time I tweaked it a little and added some chopped Andouille sausage. I browned it with the bacon and then followed the rest of the recipe! Delicious!
The andouille sausage sounds like a great addition! Yum!
Everyone liked it a lot.
These are amazing. I made them for the first time tonight, but with some minor changes. My husband doesn’t like black beans, so I used kidney beans, spicy Ranch style beans and a large can of Boracho beans from H-E-B. Also added in a can of Rotel. OMG, so good. My husband is a very picky eater and he went back for seconds! Proud to say there are no leftovers tonight!
That sounds like a winner in my book!
Thanks for this great recipe for slow cooker baked beans. These sound great! We appreciate having new and tasty recipes. Keep up the great work!
So glad you enjoyed them!
jjust made this for the 4th of july 2019. I did not have apple cider vinegar add extra a[1 sauce cause it has vinegar turned out great also added some garlic
So glad you enjoyed them Scott!
Came across this recipe on Facebook while camping. I had almost everything. Only chile beans and no Cumin though.
But it was so so tasty!
Definitely will be making this again!!
If not able to get red pepper flake what else to use in place of
You can add an additional 1/8 tsp of cayenne pepper in place of the 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes.
What a shame you people can’t be bothered to tell us what size crock pot to use. Nothing like getting everything ready and dumping it into my 4-quart crock pot and realizing the pot’s too small. I just can’t believe you omit something so basic!!
You’re using 4 cans of beans and a pound of meat! Do the math diptard.
I think that is quite rude and unnecessary to say. Common sense tells me that I need a large crockpot for this recipe.
Common sense has to kick in at some point, don’t blame the recipe or the person sharing it.
Just my humble opinion.
People that are as dumb as you Elliott Humrich deserves to have that happen to you! Go follow another recipe, Chef Boyardee! This recipe is delicious!
There is no way you would ever need a recipe using four cans plus 1 pound of anything since there’s no possible way you have that many friends or family members to cook for.
There’s no need to be so rude. Common sense goes a long way. But maybe it’s not so common anymore.
You should be able to tell what size crockpot to use by the amount of ingredients. Average size crockpot will hold this recipe.
Hi, excuse my ignorance, what is A1 sauce. I live in Glasgow, what could I substitute it with? Thank you
A1 is a steak sauce. You can use any type of steak sauce you would like, or you can try using a bbq sauce in it’s place if you don’t have steak sauce available.
If you have access to HP Sauce, you can substitute that (in equal amounts) for the A1. They have similar ingredients and, in my opinion, they taste very similar.
HP – its better anyway!!
It’s a steak/brown sauce from the UK. You can substitute with any brown steak sauce of your choice.
Hi can you freeze this dish after cooking?
Hi i am just confused for chili beans idk were to find them im in canada
Hey Marc, they are usually just a seasoned pinto bean. If you can only find pinto beans, those will work too!
Marc, you can make your own from scratch. There is a good recipe on homesicktexan.com Click on Recipes and select Recipe Index. Then enter Smoky Chili Beans in the search box. If you can’t find ground ancho or chipotle chilies, any good quality chili powder would be OK.
Yes, if I remember correctly, it’s difficult to actually find canned pinto beans in Canada. I remember buying them dry and slow cooking them until tender. Thanks for the tips Patty!
I live in Canada and I can buy dry or canned pinto beans anywhere.
I lived in a pretty remote area of Northern BC and had trouble! But I’m glad you can find them!
Great recipe!!!! I kicked it with turkey meat and jalapeño with juice from the jar…BAM!!!!!
Nice! Love the jalapeno addition!
Have an upcoming Cowboy night at Church and these sound great. How many does this recipe serve?
I’d say this would serve 6 to 8 as a side dish, 4 to 6 as a main.
Ooopps, instead of “ski” cook, I meant slo cook. Darn spell check!
What kicks this up even better is to use dry beans, soak overnight, still use the can of chili beans, and ski cook for 6-8 hrs. Hearty good!
What kicks this up even better is using dry beans, soaking overnight, using that can of chili beans for a kick and slow cooking for 6-8 hrs.
Hi, can this be cooked in the instant pot? How would you adjust the timings please? Many thanks.
I have a Instant Pot & would use it for this dish. I would follow her steps, but saute the bacon & veggies in the IP. Than all the seasonings & beans & use Chilli/Soup mode for 35min, let NR for 10min & do a QR.
I’m a little worried that there might not be enough liquid to allow this to come to pressure without getting a burn notice when using an instant pot. That being said, you’re welcome to try it and let us know how it turns out!