My cowboy stew recipe is one part beef stew, one part chili, five parts DELICIOUS! Three types of meat and wholesome veggies will have everyone in your family begging for more of this stew recipe!
Love hearty stew recipes? You’ll flip for this! With the tender meat of an Instant Pot beef stew and the veggies and beans of a Brunswick stew, cowboy stew takes the best parts of your favorite recipes and simmers them to perfection.
The only thing it doesn’t have is a nod to chicken stew…but hey, let’s throw in some shredded poultry! Why not? Cowboy stew welcomes every ingredient!
Bring your appetite and let’s get cooking!
What I Love About This Recipe
This ain’t your mama’s stew recipe! Loaded with three types of meat and tons of veggies, this stew is the lip-smacking dinner your family’s been waiting for.
- Tender, juicy meat
- One-pot wonder
- Easy cleanup!
- Crowd-pleasing flavor
How To Make Cowboy Stew Recipe
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Cook bacon until brown and crispy in a large pot. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain.
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Add the sausage to pot drippings and brown on both sides, adjusting heat as needed so fond (brown bits on the bottom of the pot) does not burn. Remove to the plate with bacon; set aside.
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Add beef, onion, and garlic to the pot and brown until the beef is no longer pink. Sprinkle flour, salt, pepper, and chili powder over beef. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
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Add diced tomatoes, baked beans, green chilies, sweet corn, potatoes, bacon, sausage, and water. Bring to a boil then immediately reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
***See Full Instructions Below.
Cowboy Stew Recipe Notes
My cowboy stew recipe is an amazingly wholesome and easy to prepare a meal that you’ll feel great about feeding your family! Cooking everything in one pot helps contain the mess and build incredible layers of flavor.
- Kielbasa – This recipe uses three types of meat for a fully dimensional flavor sensation! If you’re thinking about skipping one, don’t — I promise, it’s worth it. For instance, the kielbasa brings a delicious smokiness that the bacon and beef don’t have. You just can’t have cowboy stew without all these treats!
- Tomatoes – I use canned tomatoes for this recipe to save on time in the prep stage as well as the cooking stage. And using petite diced tomatoes helps them break down even faster! If you can’t find petite, using crushed is a good alternative.
- Beans – I love the flavor and sweetness that comes with using canned baked beans in this stew! My favorite is good ol’ Bush’s Original, but you can use any brand at your store.
- Corn – Playing up the sweetness, even more, I use sweet corn in this recipe too. Sweet corn is NOT just corn canned with sugar — it’s a specific type of corn. So make sure you’re reading labels and not just getting plain corn with added sugar. Yuck!
Crockpot Instructions
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Cook bacon until brown and crispy in a large pot. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain.
-
Add the sausage to pot drippings and brown on both sides, adjusting heat as needed so fond (brown bits on the bottom of the pot) does not burn. Remove to the plate with bacon; set aside.
-
Add beef, onion, and garlic to the pot and brown until the beef is no longer pink. Sprinkle flour, salt, pepper, and chili powder over beef. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
- Add all meats to a large crockpot.
- Add diced tomatoes, baked beans, green chilies, sweet corn, potatoes, and water to crockpot.
- Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.
Storing + Freezing + Make-Ahead
- How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? Store your cowboy stew leftovers in an airtight container, and they’ll last in your fridge for up to four days. If saving space is a priority, you can put your cooled cowboy stew in a gallon-sized Ziploc.
- It does tend to thicken a little as it sits in the fridge so you may need to thin it out with a little water when you reheat it.
- Can You Freeze This? Yes and no. This cowboy stew recipe is fantastic for meal prep and it always helps to have a ready-made meal in the freezer. But the potatoes can be quite finicky in freezing temps, so you may want to leave those out — you can always add canned potatoes to this when it’s time to serve!
- If you do freeze it sans potatoes, you can let it sit in your freezer for up to three months. To thaw, let it sit in the fridge overnight. Then add your potatoes and reheat!
- Make Ahead Tips: This one-pot wonder comes together pretty quickly thanks to those canned goodies! The various meats can’t be cooked ahead because you need them to build the flavor for your stew, but you can always chop the onions, garlic, potatoes, and kielbasa ahead of time.
- The onions and garlic can be stored together, and the kielbasa can go in a sealed plastic bag — all of it can sit for up to a week in the fridge.
Serving Recommendations
This cowboy stew recipe goes with pretty much any favorite chili and stew sides! Southern cornbread or Bisquick cornbread if you like it sweet, bisquick biscuits, beer bread, or tender buttery crescent rolls. I also like to add some veggies and crunch via my KFC coleslaw, strawberry spinach salad, carrot salad, or broccoli salad!
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More Hearty Soups And Stew
- Hamburger Stew
- Classic Beef Stew
- Slow Cooker Beef Stew
- Pork Stew
- Beef Barley Soup
- Beef Noodle Soup
- Beef Tomato Soup
- Vegetable Beef Soup
Cowboy Stew
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon, chopped
- 2 (12-ounce) package kielbasa sausage, cut into 1/2 inch slices
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, 80/20
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes, with liquid
- 2 (16-ounce) cans baked beans, with liquid
- 1 (7-ounce) can chopped green chilies, with liquid
- 1 (15-ounce) can sweet corn, with liquid
- 2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Cook bacon until brown and crispy in a large pot. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain.
- Add the sausage to pot drippings and brown on both sides, adjusting heat as needed so fond (brown bits on the bottom of the pot) does not burn. Remove to the plate with bacon; set aside.
- Add beef, onion, and garlic to the pot and brown until the beef is no longer pink. Sprinkle flour, salt, pepper, and chili powder over beef. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
- Add diced tomatoes, baked beans, green chilies, sweet corn, potatoes, bacon, sausage, and water. Bring to a boil then immediately reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
- Garnish with parsley.
- Add additional water if stew is too thick.
Fans Also Made:
Nutrition
Love this stew! The sweet spicy taste is a perfect balance
So happy you liked it. Thank you so much, Monica! 🙂
I also found this to be too sweet. Wish I had read the comments and used chili beans instead of baked beans. Sad, but do not want the leftovers because of the sweetness.
I made as is and it was awesome.
So happy you enjoyed, Diane!
My family absolutely loves this recipe!! I would recommend it to anyone! After i put this all together i put it in a prewarmed crock pot on low and let it finish cooking till the potatoes are tender approximately 2 hrs. I like to whip up a batch of homemade biscuits or canned, whatever is easiest and Wala dinner is served. Guaranteed to put a smile on your face! 😊
So happy you and your family love this Cowboy stew! Biscuits are perfect with it! <3
I make this and take it to work every night. I work 12 hour night shift as a NICU RN and this hits the spot in the middle of the night. Now the other nurses are starting to make it too. So good. I put in kidney beans and it’s perfect.
Hi, Sarah! Wow, you are amazing! Shout out to all the nurses! I’m happy you like this recipe. Thank you for sharing your positive review 🙂
It’s a basic everything but the kitchen sink recipe. What do we do with the 3 TBSP of flour? Not in directions. I will assume you throw it in if too watery? Why use flour though? Corn starch is better for thickening.
Hi, Kat. Thank you for asking. Sprinkling flour, salt, pepper, and chili is in Step 3. Flour makes it not so thick. You can use cornstarch to make it thicker.
Any suggestions for making this in a crockpot?
Hi, Kelly. The crockpot instructions are above the “How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge?”
Enjoy! 🙂
All you have to do is brown the hamburger, drain the grease, buy a pkg. of real bacon pieces and throw everything in the Crock-Pot! 😊
We made this for dinner this evening, and despite my being a little cautious because of the use of baked beans ,we loved it!
This is a hearty stick to the bones, delicious and quick meal.
Hello C! So happy you love this stew. It’s our favorite here. Thank you for sharing your feedback 🙂
Can this stew be frozen .
Hi, Cathy. Yes and no. This cowboy stew recipe is fantastic for meal prep and it always helps to have a ready-made meal in the freezer. But the potatoes can be quite finicky in freezing temps, so you may want to leave those out — you can always add canned potatoes to this when it’s time to serve! If you do freeze it sans potatoes.
How many people will country to feed and is it all right to be a substitute for baked beans for something not so sweet thank you
Hi Phyllis. This Cowboy Stew will feed 8 people. Yes, you can substitute the baked beans. I’d try Chili Beans 🙂
I only read one comment about someone not liking the the beans. Anyone else?
Baked beans way too sweet!
I made this for me and my husband. Because there is just 2 of us, I tweeked it a bit by using 1 lb of beef, and one kielbasa. I still used the vegetable sizes of cans, but exchanged the tomatoes & chiles for a can of Rotel. I love the sweet hot flavor. This was a perfect choice for today, it’s snowing right now.
Hi Patricia! So glad you enjoyed. It sounds perfect for a snowy day!!
Absolutely delicious!
Thank you, Doris! 🙂
This is a awesome cold night stew! It’s a big hit & will be made regularly. I added some chicken to the recipe, other than that I made as directed & served it with homemade cornbread, DELICIOUS!
That’s fantastic, Wendy! Homemade cornbread completes the perfection. Thank you for sharing your positive review 🙂
Making this for a second time! My fiancé and parents loved this recipe! I made mine using the stove top setting with my ninja crockpot! It’s delicious with all the layering of flavors.
So happy that you and your family loved this! Using the Ninja crockpot is a great idea!!
Our family staple
That’s great, Autumn! 🙂
Very good stew. I added some extra potatoes and a smoked jalapeño sausage (both personal preference). The flavor was fantastic. Everyone, including the kids, loved it. I’ll be adding this one to the family meal rotation.
I’m so happy your family enjoyed! The smoked jalapeno sausage sounds fabulous!
Is it 2 sausages (1 12oz package) or 2 12oz packages?
Hi Brittany. It’s 2–12oz packages.
This is a fantastic recipe EXCEPT I found the baked beans make this stew too sweet, making it almost inedible. So, I substituted two cans of mild chili beans and some beef bouillon and it was so much more palatable! The recipe is great on its own but would be easy to add or sub other ingredients! 🙂
Thank you, Lexi! We love your tweak! 🙂
This is our absolute favorite thing to make now! We do it in the crockpot (cook the meat as per your instructions and combine in crockpot). My husband asks for it almost every Sunday. It’s so good, I eat a spoon of it every time I walk by, even before the potatoes are done!
Wow, that’s amazing, Ashley! I’m so happy you all like it. Thank you for your positive review 🙂
Do you think you could substitute turkey sausage for the kielbasa?
Hi, Janice! I think it’ll work. Let us know how it turns out. Thank you!
I was just wondering if you would be able to do this in a crockpot. I don’t have the instant pot that you were talking about, but I do have a crockpot
Hi Jason, yes it can. Here are the instructions:
1. Cook bacon until brown and crispy in a large pot. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain.
2. Add the sausage to pot drippings and brown on both sides, adjusting heat as needed so fond (brown bits on the bottom of the pot) does not burn. Remove to the plate with bacon; set aside.
3. Add beef, onion, and garlic to the pot and brown until the beef is no longer pink. Sprinkle flour, salt, pepper, and chili powder over beef. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
4. Add all meats to a large crockpot.
5. Add diced tomatoes, baked beans, green chilies, sweet corn, potatoes, and water to crockpot.
Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.