Serve the Perfect Accompaniment to Your Summer Barbecue

Comfort Food
Side Dishes
Pinto Beans
Ham

These slowly cooked cowboy beans are a great accompaniment to a summer barbecue. Forget the canned variety—these are easy to make with pinto beans, ham hocks, barbecue sauce, and a secret, flavor-enhancing ingredient.

Elise Bauer

Elise founded Simply Recipes in 2003 and led the site until 2019. She has an MA in Food Research from Stanford University.

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Updated May 22, 2022

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Let's be frank. If you are of a certain age in this country, and you don't live on a ranch where there are, say, actual cowboys, if I mention the words "cowboy beans" to you, what comes to mind?

Uh huh. You too? Yep, can't escape it. The cowboy bean scene in Blazing Saddles.

I only watched that movie once and even I remember that scene. (Of course at the time I would never admit to my scatologically obsessed brothers that I found it remotely funny, lest it encouraged them to be even more obnoxious.)

Humorous cultural references aside, cowboy beans are actually good, and an excellent accompaniment to summer barbecues.

Cowboy Beans Ingredients

There are probably as many versions of cowboy beans as there are barbecue cooks. There's usually one or more varieties of beans, some smoked meat like bacon or ham, sometimes with ground beef, always with a sweet tangy barbecue sauce.

What defines this scratch-cooking version, besides the beans, is a sweet barbecue sauce, smoked meat, and coffee.

Yes, coffee.

The Secret Ingredient in Cowboy Beans

Coffee is the secret ingredient in many a chili recipe. Legend has it that back in the day, cowboys added leftover coffee to their pot of beans because fresh water was not so easy to come by—a cowboy version of waste not, want not.

Coffee adds a depth of flavor and a slight bitterness that keeps the sweet-spicy of the barbecue sauce in line.

Serve the Perfect Accompaniment to Your Summer Barbecue—Cowboy Beans Recipe (3)

What Smoked Meat To Use for Cowboy Beans

For the smoked meat, bacon works, in this version we use a smoked ham hock. Traditionally, you'd use the odd, slightly burnt ends of Texas barbecue brisket or tri-tip.

The key is to add a smoky flavor from meat that can handle being cooked for a long time.

Don't have smoked meat available? You can use ground beef (cooked) and add some liquid smoke.

What Beans To Use for Cowboy Beans

As for the beans? You can use any of these beans for cowboy beans or a combination:

Pinto beans
Red kidney beans
Black beans
White navy beans

For this recipe, we are cooking our beans from scratch, starting with dry pinto beans. If you want, you can use canned beans instead. You'll need four 15-ounce cans, drained.

Want to make your beans from scratch? Here's how to make them on the stovetop or in a pressure cooker.

Serve the Perfect Accompaniment to Your Summer Barbecue—Cowboy Beans Recipe (4)

Tips for Cooking Dry Beans

The one problem that people can encounter when cooking beans from scratch in a recipe like this is that the beans don't soften up, even with long cooking. Many things can cause this. Beans like to be stored in a cool, dry environment. If you store beans in a humid, warm environment, they'll get harder. Calcium can firm up beans, so if you are cooking with hard water, that can cause beans to be too hard as well. Finally, old beans take longer to cook. So, what to do?

Soak the dry beans overnight in plenty of water. This will help "open up" the beans before cooking them.
Add a teaspoon of salt and/or a quarter teaspoon of baking soda to each quart of soaking water. Either will replace some of the minerals that cause the beans to be hard.
Add BBQ sauce only after the beans are soft enough to eat. BBQ sauce has sugar and calcium in it that will keep the beans from softening.

Serve the Perfect Accompaniment to Your Summer Barbecue—Cowboy Beans Recipe (5)

How to Cook Cowboy Beans in a Slow Cooker or Crock Pot

Follow Steps 1 and 2 in the instructions as directed. Transfer the soaked beans and the onion/garlic mixture to a 6-quart slow cooker. Add the ham, water, a little salt, coffee, and barbecue sauce. Stir, and cook in the slow cooker on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours, checking from time to time to make sure the beans aren't breaking down. When the beans are done cooking, taste for seasoning and add more salt as needed, and add the pickled jalapeños, if using.

Amazing BBQ Recipes to Complement Cowboy Beans

BBQ Chicken on the Grill
Instant Pot BBQ Baby Back Ribs
Braised BBQ Beef Sandwich
Pickle Slaw
Dad's Potato Salad

From the Editors Of Simply Recipes

Cowboy Beans

Total Time0 mins

Servings8to 10 servings

If you have hard water or have difficulty getting beans to soften, try adding 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda to the soaking water.

If you want to use canned beans, use 4 (15-ounce cans), drained. Combine Steps 3 and 4 and add the beans with the ham hock and BBQ sauce. Simmer on low until the meat on the ham hock separates from the bone.

If you are not using the bacon fat, use 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Ingredients

2 cups dried pinto beans (about 12 ounces)
1 tablespoon bacon fat
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 smoked ham hock or ham shank
2 cups water
Kosher salt, to taste
2 cups brewed coffee
1 1/2 cups tomato-based barbecue sauce
1/4 cup chopped pickled jalapenos for garnish, optional
Grated cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese for garnish, optional
1/4 cup chopped red onion for garnish, optional

Method

Soak the beans:
Place the beans in a large pot and cover with a couple inches of water. Soak the beans overnight and then drain.
Alternatively, bring a pot with the beans covered with 2 inches of water to a boil, remove from heat and let soak for an hour, then drain.
Cook the onion and garlic:
Heat the bacon fat and the vegetable oil in a Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed lidded pot over medium-high heat.
Add the onion and sauté for 3 minutes, stirring often, until translucent and just beginning to brown.
Add the garlic and sauté for another 1 to 2 minutes.
Add the beans, ham hock, water, salt, and coffee, then simmer:
Add the drained beans into the pot with the onions. Add the ham hock, the water, a little salt, and the coffee.
Stir and bring to a simmer. Cook for 1 to 2 hours. (Some beans may take longer to cook, especially if they are older.) The beans should be soft enough to chew but not mushy soft.
Add the BBQ sauce and continue cooking:
Add the barbecue sauce and stir to combine. Cover and simmer on low heat until the meat from the ham hock begins to separate from the bone, up to 2 hours.
After an hour, check on the beans every 15 minutes. If the beans begin to break down, remove from heat.
Strip the ham hock and season the beans:
When the beans are done cooking, pull the ham hock and strip the meat from the bone. Add the meat to the beans and discard the bone.
Add salt to taste. Add pickled jalapeños to taste for some heat, if desired.
Serve with a little grated cheese and chopped red onion on top.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
249	Calories
4g	Fat
43g	Carbs
10g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 8to 10
Amount per serving
Calories	249
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 4g	5%
Saturated Fat 1g	5%
Cholesterol 6mg	2%
Sodium 481mg	21%
Total Carbohydrate 43g	16%
Dietary Fiber 7g	23%
Total Sugars 15g
Protein 10g
Vitamin C 4mg	18%
Calcium 66mg	5%
Iron 2mg	13%
Potassium 698mg	15%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.

Certainly! Based on the information provided in the article about Cowboy Beans, it encompasses several key elements:

Comfort Food:

Cowboy beans are considered comfort food, known for their heartiness and rich flavors. They're often associated with nostalgia and a sense of home-cooked goodness.

Side Dishes:

Cowboy beans serve as a perfect side dish, especially for summer barbecues. They complement grilled meats and other barbecue dishes excellently.

Pinto Beans:

These beans serve as the base ingredient for cowboy beans. The recipe discusses the process of preparing pinto beans from scratch by soaking them and then simmering until they reach the desired tenderness.

Ham:

The recipe suggests using smoked ham hock as the meat component, providing a smoky flavor to the beans. It also mentions alternative meats like bacon or ground beef with liquid smoke if smoked ham isn’t available.

Cooking Method - Slow Cooking:

Cowboy beans are typically slow-cooked for several hours to enhance flavors and allow the ingredients to meld together. The recipe details how to cook them in a slow cooker or on a stovetop for a rich, flavorful result.

Barbecue Sauce & Coffee - Secret Ingredients:

Barbecue sauce adds a sweet and tangy flavor, while coffee acts as the secret ingredient, providing depth and a slight bitterness to balance the sweetness of the sauce.

Cooking Tips:

Tips for cooking dry beans include soaking them overnight in water, adding salt or baking soda to the soaking water, and cautioning against adding BBQ sauce until the beans are soft enough to eat to prevent them from firming up.

Accompaniments:

The article suggests serving cowboy beans with garnishes like pickled jalapeños, grated cheese, and chopped red onion for added flavor and texture.

By incorporating these elements, cowboy beans become a flavorful and hearty side dish that combines beans, smoked meat, barbecue sauce, and a touch of coffee for that unique, savory taste.

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