![Lamb Chops With Guajillo Chili Sauce and Charro Beans](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Lamb_Chops_With_Guajillo_Chili_Sauce_and_Charro_Beans.jpg)
Cowboy beans (also known as chuckwagon beans) is a bean dish popular in the southwestern United States. The dish consists of
pinto bean
The pinto bean () is a variety of common bean (''Phaseolus vulgaris''). In Spanish they are called , literally "painted bean" (compare pinto horse). It is the most popular bean by crop production in Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United Sta ...
s
and
ground beef
Ground beef, minced beef or beef mince is beef that has been finely chopped with a knife, meat grinder (American English), mincer or mincing machine (British English). It is used in many recipes including hamburgers, bolognese sauce, meatloaf, ...
in a sweet and tangy sauce. Other types of meat can be used.
The flavor is similar to
baked beans
Baked beans is a dish traditionally containing white beans that are parboiled and then, in the US, baked in sauce at low temperature for a lengthy period. In the United Kingdom, the dish is sometimes baked, but usually stewed in sauce. Canned ...
but with a southwestern twist. Although
cowboy appears in the name, the use of canned beans,
ketchup
Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and tangy flavor. The unmodified term ("ketchup") now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes used egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, grapes, mussels, or walnuts, among o ...
, and
barbecue sauce means the dish is unlike anything
ranch hand
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...
s would have eaten in the 19th century. Cowboy beans are served stewed or baked,
depending on the recipe.
It is unclear how cowboy beans got their name or where they originated from. They are easy to prepare and variations on the recipe are available on the Internet and in cookbooks and cooking magazines. Cowboy beans use many of the same ingredients as
chili con carne
Chili con carne (also spelled chilli con carne or chile con carne and shortened to chili or chilli; ), meaning " chili with meat", is a spicy stew containing chili peppers (sometimes in the form of chili powder), meat (usually beef), tomatoes ...
with a very different taste.
Cowboy beans is a
staple food in Texas.
Ingredients
![Dinner @ Ole's Big Game Steakhouse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Dinner_%40_Ole%27s_Big_Game_Steakhouse.jpg)
A typical recipe might include:
*
Pork and beans
Pork and beans is a culinary dish that uses pork and beans as its main ingredients. Numerous variations exist, usually with a more specific name, such as Fabada Asturiana, Olla podrida, or American canned pork and beans.
American canned por ...
"Old-Time Vittles"
''Backpacker''. September 2000.
* Ground beef
Ground beef, minced beef or beef mince is beef that has been finely chopped with a knife, meat grinder (American English), mincer or mincing machine (British English). It is used in many recipes including hamburgers, bolognese sauce, meatloaf, ...
* Onion powder
Onion powder is dehydrated, ground onion that is commonly used as a seasoning. It is a common ingredient in seasoned salt and spice mixes, such as beau monde seasoning. Some varieties are prepared using toasted onion. White, yellow and red onions ...
* Black pepper
Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, known as a peppercorn, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in dia ...
* Ketchup
Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and tangy flavor. The unmodified term ("ketchup") now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes used egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, grapes, mussels, or walnuts, among o ...
* Barbecue sauce
* Brown sugar
Brown sugar is unrefined or partially refined soft sugar.
Brown Sugar may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Brown Sugar'' (1922 film), a 1922 British silent film directed by Fred Paul
* ''Brown Sugar'' (1931 film), a 1931 ...
* Milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modula ...
* Flour
See also
* Borracho beans
Borracho beans (from ''borracho'' meaning "drunk" or "drunken"), also referred to as ''"drunken beans"'' or ''"frijoles borrachos"'', is a traditional dish of both Mexican and Southern Texas cuisines made of pinto beans cooked in beer and flavored ...
* Frijoles charros, a Mexican dish, sometimes translated as ''cowboy beans''.
** Texas caviar
Texas caviar, also called cowboy caviar, is a Tex-Mex bean salad consisting of black-eyed peas lightly pickled in a vinaigrette-style dressing, often eaten as a dip accompaniment to tortilla chips.
History
Texas caviar was created in the U.S. ...
, sometimes called "cowboy caviar"
* List of legume dishes
References
External links
Cowboy Beans with Bacon Recipe
{{Legume dishes
Beef dishes
Baked foods
American legume dishes