This recipe for cowboy beans makes a filling dish with beans, ground beef, and bacon in a sweet and sour sauce.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 3 hrs 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 20 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- ½ pound bacon, chopped
- 1 (28 ounce) can baked beans with pork
- 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 (15 ounce) can lima beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 onions, chopped
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon prepared mustard
Instructions
- Gather the ingredients.
- ALLRECIPES / MADHUMITA SATHISHKUMAR
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir ground beef and bacon together in the hot skillet until beef is browned and crumbly, about 7 to 10 minutes.
- ALLRECIPES / MADHUMITA SATHISHKUMAR
- Transfer hamburger and bacon into a slow cooker; stir in baked beans with pork, kidney beans, lima beans, onions, ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard.
- ALLRECIPES / MADHUMITA SATHISHKUMAR
- Cover and cook on Low until thickened and bubbling, at least 3 hours.
- ALLRECIPES / MADHUMITA SATHISHKUMAR
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 471 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 68 g |
| Cholesterol | 53 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 11 g |
| Protein | 25 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 1217 mg |
| Sugars | 35 g |
| Fat | 13 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This is the same recipe for calico beans that I used to make 40 years ago.
I have made this recipe several times now.soooooo easy to make and very delicious.My family loves it.And has become a yearly family reunion request..
Made this for a pitch in everyone liked them, I don’t like Lima beans so I used northern beans, So GOOD
I used 12 oz bacon, two cans of baked beans and two other cans of beans, hamburger, 1 onion, 1 c bbq sauce, 1/4 br sugar and 1/2 T brown spicy mustard. Perfection. I’m going to add a green pepper next time
used exact ingredients. tasted so so good
I made this recipe as written and I don’t see any reason to add or change anything, as it was absolutely fantastic. I made it for our potluck dinner for the first time and all that was left was a couple of cups. Everyone came to me to say they loved it. I did reduce the brown sugar, to 1/2 cup, and 1/4 would be just as good especially if your using canned beans such as Bush’s or any that already contains brown sugar. Very good dish, highly recommended.
I have made this many times but I always use the Baby Butter beans instead of the Green Limas. We love it and always a good dish to take to a crowd. We call these HOBO Beans.
I loved this! Just made it today for lunch! I have a smaller crockpot so I mixed it all up in a big bowl after cooking the bacon and ground beef. Then I put half of the mixture in my crockpot and the other half in a ziplock freezer bag and put it in my freezer for another day! I made some Jiffy cornbread to go with it. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Fantastic taste .. easy to make.. substituted ground beef with ground turkey .. added a bit of cumin for a little kick .. not quite spicy enough will add more spice next time
Absolutely loved it. Couldn’t get Lima beans or beans with pork so used a tin of mixed beans and baked beans and sausages. My wife found it too sweet, but I love it. I’ll reduce the brown sugar a wee bit next time.
No Lima beans. My dad has cooked this now info for my boys. We called them gpa”s cowboy beans. We also just used orknams beans with juice but I am Anxious to try some. I do not add sugar tho. Just throw ins some bbq and what is Chester sauce Other beans with it it
I have made this several times for potlucks and at home. The pot comes home empty every time. It’s very similar to baked beans but with hamburger added in and different types of beans. If it’s too sweet, cut back on the sugar. We love it at our house.
I have made it several times. The original recipe is good, but it’s better with half a cup of brown sugar, only one onion, add 2 cloves of minced garlic, and swap out the lima beans for butter beans, which are fully ripened lima beans, and they are are more tender and better-tasting. Other worthwhile changes I have tried: using BBQ sauce instead of ketchup (cut the sugar to 1/4 cup if it’s a sweet sauce), great northern beans instead of butter/lima beans (made it for a Vietnam Vet who refused to eat ANY form of lima bean XD ), adding Frank’s Red Hot, and using baked beans instead of pork & beans (again, reduce the sugar). I’ve also tried a variation which I baked it in a dutch oven, uncovered, in a 350F/177C oven for 30 minutes. This works well, although I recommend cooking the onion and garlic in with the hamburger and bacon until translucent. Can you tell I like Cowboy Beans?
I’ve made this & add a can of pork & beans also
The canned beans are already cooked, so having to cook them to mush in a slow cooker seems wasteful of time and electricity. Also, it has so much sugar it’s more like a dessert than a main dish. Sorry, not making this again.
I have been making these for years. The recipe is in our state cookbook. My grocery store calls canned lima beans butter beans but it’s the same. The longer you cook this on low the better the flavor. Very popular at potlucks and get togethers, especially with men.
This is my son-in-law’s favorite dinner, and ours too. Sometimes I add a few more cans of beans to stretch it out. Serve with biscuits or dinner rolls.
Made it as per OG instructions. Amazing.
Wow! Great recipe! I only used one onion, and sautéed it in the bacon grease before adding it to the crockpot. It was delicious! My guest asked for the recipe.
Added some gochugaro! We like a bit of heat in our food
7-13-22 I used only 3/4 cup brown sugar. This is a fabulous bean recipe. Loved the bean combo in this dish. Served with warm cornbread.