Cowboy Calico Beans Food

THE BEST COWBOY-CALICO BEANS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Brown beef, bacon and onion in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium heat.
• Add beans and remaining ingredients, stirring to combine.
• Pour into two (1 1/2- quart each) buttered baking dishes.
• Bake uncovered for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until beans reach desired thickness (do not stir---a nice chewy, crispy crust will form, which is my favorite part--yum!).
• Alternatively, place in a buttered crock pot and heat on low for about 4 hours, uncover during the last hour of cooking if you like your beans thick.
• Freezes/reheats well.

COWBOY BAKED BEANS RECIPE (OVEN OR SLOW COOKER)

Steps:

• Decide if you are going to make them in a slow cooker or bake in the oven. You can use a deep casserole dish or large pot like a dutch oven. I like a large heavy cast iron pot so I can cook in it and finish baking all in one. Slow cookers are great for parties to keep them warm for several hours.
• Chop the sliced uncooked bacon into small pieces, over medium heat, brown the bacon in a heavy cast-iron skillet or a large cast iron dutch oven on the stove top using a wooden spoon. Tip, you can cut the bacon into small pieces with clean kitchen scissors right into the pot-I find this faster!
• Remove the crispy cooked bacon to a small bowl with a slotted spoon. Don't remove the bacon drippings from the pan. Next add the chopped onion and brown for 5-6 minutes until translucent, add the minced garlic, stir for one minute.
• Next, brown the ground beef, cook for 6-8 minutes. Next, add the bacon, back in with the cooked ground beef, onion, and garlic.
• Next, add 3 cans of baked beans (don't drain), 2 cans of kidney beans (drain), 1 can of cannellini beans (drain), and 2 cans of black beans (drain).
• Add the remaining ingredients; brown sugar, cider vinegar, ketchup, and yellow mustard. Stir all the ingredients well to combine.
• Place into the slow cooker or large dutch oven or large deep casserole dish. The baked beans usually doesn't all fit in one standard 9 x 13, you need a deeper dish.
• Cook in slow cooker crockpot on low for 2 hours OR bake 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours in a large covered dish. Serve hot.

COWBOY BEANS

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, bring the soaked beans, ham hock, bay leaf, garlic, jalapeno, and 5 cups of water to a boil over high heat. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 2 hours or until beans are tender. If the beans absorb too much water, add 1 cup of water after 1 hour and continue cooking (Beans mixture should remain soupy while cooking). Turn off the heat.
• Cook the bacon in a large saute pan over medium-high heat until almost crisp, about 10 minutes. Add onion and cook for about 3 minutes or until translucent. Transfer bacon and onion mixture to the pot with the beans. Wipe pan clean. In same pan cook chorizo over medium heat until crisp, about 1 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chorizo and drain on paper towels. Add to the beans. Season lightly with salt, if necessary. Stir the beans over medium-high heat until heated through. Remove the bay leaf and ham hock and discard. Ladle into bowls and serve.
• Cook's Note: In place of soaking the beans, you can use 3 (15-ounce) cans rinsed and drained pinto beans. Proceed as above but reduce the cooking time to 1 hour.

COWBOY CALICO BEANS

Steps:

• In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon and set on a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Drain the bacon fat from the pot, leaving about 1 tablespoon.
• Add the ground beef, onion, garlic powder, and a good pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Cook, breaking apart the meat with a wooden spoon, until the meat is cooked through. Drain the fat from the pot and return the ground beef mixture. Stir in the ketchup through molasses.
• Add the beans to the pot, including the liquid from 1 can and draining the rest. Stir carefully. Let the mixture heat through, stirring often (carefully so as to not mush up too many beans). Crumble the bacon and return it to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Adjust the other sauce ingredients as needed, too.
• Serve immediately, or transfer to a slow cooker on low to keep warm until serving. You can also prepare a day ahead of time and then warm them up and place in a slow cooker on low or warm until serving.
• If you find your beans are too dry, add a little water as needed.

THE BEST SLOW COOKER COWBOY BEANS

Steps:

• In a large skillet, brown ground beef. Drain and set aside.
• Add bacon to the skillet and cook 5 to 7 minutes or until cooked through, stirring frequently.
• Add onions and cook an additional 4 to 5 minutes or until onions are soft and translucent.
• Add ground beef and bacon mixture to a large 6 quart slow cooker.
• Add pork 'n beans, drained kidney and white beans, ketchup, brown sugar and liquid smoke.
• Stir gently to combine. Place lid on slow cooker and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours or on high 2 to 3 hours, stirring as needed. If the mixture seems a little dry, add a few tablespoons of water.
• Serve with tortillas chips, corn chips, sour cream, cheese, whatever you want. Anything goes!

CALICO BEANS

Steps:

• Cook bacon in skillet until crisp, then crumble and set aside.
• Cook beef in skillet until no pink remains. Add onion, sauté just until tender.
• Combine beef, onion, ketchup, salt, brown sugar, mustard and vinegar in a 3 qt baking dish or crock pot. Partially drain all the beans (I don't drain the baked beans) and add to the baking dish or crock pot, stirring gently to mix. Sprinkle with bacon.
• Bake at 350 F for 40 minutes or cook in crock pot until heated through.
• For vegetarian version just sauté onion and add to bean mixture. If using dry tofu crumbles it isn't necessary to rehydrate them first, I just stir them into the mixture. It may require addition of water to the mixture if it gets too thick, I just play it by ear. When using frozen crumbles or gimme lean ground "beef" I heat it up in the pan with the onion before adding to the bean mixture.

HOMESTEAD COWBOY BEANS

Steps:

• Place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned and crispy, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain bacon slices on paper towels and crumble when cool enough to handle.
• At the same time, heat another large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir ground beef in the hot skillet until browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain and discard grease.
• Place bacon, ground beef, onion, ketchup, and brown sugar in a slow cooker; mix well. Add baked beans, Great Northern beans, pinto beans, and pork and beans.
• Cook on Low, stirring often, about 4 hours.

SLOW COOKER COWBOY BEANS (WITH INSTANT POT VERSION)

Steps:

• In a large skillet cook the bacon for 2-3 minutes. Add in the beef and onion and cook until the meat is no longer pink, then drain.
• Combine the beef mixture, bacon and all other ingredients in a slow cooker. For the liquid smoke you can add to taste, some people like it smokier!
• For the slow cooker, place the lid on top and cook on high for 3-4 hours, or low for 6-8 hours.
• If you want to cook in the oven you can also spoon the mixture into a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 325° for 45-60 minutes.
• Serve and enjoy!
• In the bottom of your Instant Pot using the "saute" button, cook the bacon for 2-3 minutes. Add in the beef and onion and cook until the meat is no longer pink, then drain.
• Combine the beef mixture, bacon and all other ingredients into the Instant Pot.
• For the Instant Pot, use the chili/stew button and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. I do not recommend slow cooking as it doesn't do as good of a job as an actual slow cooker.
• Release the pressure via natural release for the safest way, or instant release it according to the manufacturers directions,.
• Serve and enjoy!

COWBOY BACON BEANS

Steps:

• Rinse the beans under cold water, sorting out any rocks/particles. Set aside.
• In a heavy pot (cast iron), saute the bacon pieces until halfway cooked and the fat is rendered. Add the green peppers and onions to the pot and cook until starting to get brown, about 3 minutes. Add the beans and cover with water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil, and then add the brown sugar, ketchup, mustard, chili powder, salt, pepper and garlic. Reduce the heat to a simmer, place on the lid and cook until the beans are tender and the liquid is thick 3 to 4 hours.

SLOW COOKER CALICO BEANS

Steps:

• Cover and cook on low for 3 to 5 hours.

24 WAYS TO MAKE SLOW COOKER BEANS

Steps:

• Select your favorite recipe.
• Organize all the required ingredients.
• Prep a bean dish in 30 minutes or less!