Cowboy baked beans is a make-ahead main course or a side dish for a family gathering or potluck dinner. The earthy sweetness of baked beans, together with savory pork sausage and crispy bacon make this a hearty one-pot meal.
These are my husband’s favorite beans because they’re so meaty. They’ll disappear before your eyes from the buffet table!
Love baked beans? Try our calico beans, Coca Cola baked beans, and charro beans, next!
Cowboy Baked Beans Ingredients
- Bacon: Use your favorite American-style bacon such as thick-cut, applewood smoked, or uncured.
- Pork Sausage: I use Jimmy Dean Regular Breakfast Sausage. This comes in a tube and is easy to break down and brown in a pan.
- Onion: Vidalia onions are a sweet yellow onion.
- Garlic: Garlic is the perfect complement to the meat and bean mixture.
- Baked Beans: I used canned baked beans with pork. Use your favorite brand.
- Green Chilies: Use canned diced green chilies. These are typically Anaheim Variety.
- BBQ Sauce: I used a bottled grocery store brand. Use your favorite.
- Brown Sugar: A must in this recipe, light brown sugar adds the necessary sweetness for this dish.
- Chili Powder: This mild spice adds smokiness and a little heat. Did you know that chili powder is not only ground chilies? Actually, chili powder contains a blend of cayenne, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, and paprika.
- Creole Mustard: This is a common mustard in the Southeast, which is made with brown mustard seed marinated in vinegar, horseradish, and other spices. If you don’t have Creole mustard, you can substitute with Dijon mustard and a dash of hot sauce, or Spice Brown Mustard.
- Liquid Smoke: This is a flavoring used to substitute the smoky wood flavor when cooking with smoke.
- Hot Sauce: Use hot sauce to your liking: medium, hot, or scorching!
Tips
- Experiment! This a very forgiving recipe. I liked adding all the juice from the canned baked beans, which resulted in a juicy bean and meat mixture. There are many variations of ingredients such as cut and flavor of bacon, type of canned baked beans, heat, and smoke.
How To Make Cowboy Baked Beans
- Cook the bacon until crispy. Set aside.
- Brown and crumble the sausage. Set aside.
- Saute the onion and add the garlic. Return the bacon and sausage to the pot.
- Add canned beans, BBQ sauce, sugar, chili powder, diced chiles, Creole mustard, liquid smoke, hot sauce;
- Add kidney beans and black beans. Stir.
- Pour into the baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 1 and a half hours.
- Serve hot.
***See the full instructions below.
How To Make Cowboy Baked Beans In The Crockpot
- Cook and crumble bacon as directed in recipe.
- Brown and crumble sausage.
- Saute the onion and add the garlic.
- To a large crockpot add cooked bacon, sausage, onion and garlic.
- Add canned beans, BBQ sauce, sugar, chili powder, diced chiles, Creole mustard, liquid smoke, hot sauce, kidney beans, and black beans. Stir until well combined.
- Cover crockpot and cook on low for 3-4 hours.
Storing + Freezing + Make-Ahead
- How Long Can You Keep This in The Fridge? Once cooked and cooled, your cowboy baked beans casserole will last up to three days in the fridge.
- Can You Freeze This? It is not recommended to freeze, as the texture of the beans will change with freezing.
- Make-Ahead: My old fashioned cowboy baked beans recipe is easy and convenient. Delicious and so easy to simply warm up in the microwave oven. It may even taste better the next day!
More Potluck Side Dishes
- Grape Salad
- Cucumber Tomato Salad
- Macaroni Salad
- Pea Salad
- Corn Pudding
- Strawberry Fluff
- Watergate Salad Recipe
- Zucchini Corn Fritters
- Dill Pickle Pasta Salad
- Paula Deen Corn Casserole
- Creamy Cucumber Salad
- Sweet Corn Casserole
- Crack Green Beans
- Crockpot Baked Beans
- BBQ Baked Beans
- Mashed Potatoes
Tried This Recipe?
Leave a review, I love hearing your feedback! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cowboy Baked Beans
Cowboy baked beans are a hearty one-pot meal with earthy sweetness, savory pork sausage, and crispy bacon, perfect for family gatherings or potluck dinners.
Servings: 14 servings
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound bacon, chopped
- 1 pound breakfast pork sausage
- 1 medium Vidalia onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped
- 4 (16-ounce) cans baked beans with pork, undrained
- 1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (4-ounce) canned diced green chiles, undrained
- 1 cup BBQ sauce
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 tablespoons creole mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
- hot sauce, to taste
Instructions
- Place an oven rack in the bottom 1/3 position in your oven. Preheat oven to 350ºF (177ºC).
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon (1/2 pound) until crispy. Remove cooked bacon to a paper towel-lined plate. Drain the bacon grease and save for another use or discard.
- Brown and crumble the sausage (1 pound). Remove to a paper towel-lined plate. Keep sausage drippings in the pot.
- Add the onion (1 medium) to the pot and sauté over medium heat, until the onions are translucent. Add garlic (1 tablespoon) and continue to sauté, stirring often so garlic doesn't burn, for about 1 minute or until the garlic is fragrant.
- Remove the pot from the stovetop. Return the bacon and sausage to the pot.
- Add the baked beans with pork (4 cans), kidney beans (1 can), and black beans (1 can) to the pot.
- Add diced green chiles (1 can), BBQ sauce (1 cup), brown sugar (1/2 cup), chili powder (1 tablespoon), Creole mustard (2 tablespoons), liquid smoke, and hot sauce. Stir to combine. Pour into an 11x14-inch baking dish, or an extra deep Pyrex 9x13-inch baking dish (a standard 9x13-inch baking dish won't accommodate the volume.) Cover the baking dish tightly with foil.
- Bake in preheated ovens for 1 1/2 hours. Serve hot and enjoy!
Fans Also Made:
Notes
- Experiment! This a very forgiving recipe. I liked adding all the juice from the canned baked beans, which resulted in a juicy bean and meat mixture. There are many variations of ingredients such as cut and flavor of bacon, type of canned baked beans, heat, and smoke.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 429kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 43mg | Sodium: 1.323mg | Potassium: 781mg | Fiber: 12g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 259IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 114mg | Iron: 4mg
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It’s so good! My mom loved it!
Amazing! I’m glad you like this, Maya 🙂
Thank you for the positive feedback!
This looks like another winner Kathleen! Can you suggest a cooking time to cook in a crockpot instead of the oven? Summer is here and don’t like heating up my kitchen if possible. Yes
Hi Marjie. Great question! I added the instructions to the article. Here they are:
Crockpot Instructions
1. Cook and crumble bacon as directed in recipe.
2. Brown and crumble sausage.
3.Saute the onion and add the garlic.
4. To a large crockpot add cooked bacon, sausage, onion and garlic.
5. Add canned beans, BBQ sauce, sugar, chili powder, diced chiles, Creole mustard, liquid smoke, hot sauce, kidney beans, and black beans. Stir until well combined.
6. Cover crockpot and cook on low for 3-4 hours.
Thank you!