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Oh yeah, pardner! You’ll take to these cowboy beans like a horse takes to water! You’ll think you’re out on the prairie sitting by the chuck wagon after a long day of rustling steer. Pinto beans in a sauce of coffee and BBQ sauce, the smoky goodness of a ham shank, and plenty of your favorite toppings. These cowboy beans don’t have to be a side dish, they’re a meal by themselves. Heck, if I’d just spent a long day rustlin’ cattle, I’d sure want a big ole bole of these beans!
Flavor-Packed Beans Like No Others
You won’t be learning anything while you’re eating these cowboy beans. Why is that? Well, because like the old cowboy saying goes, “you ain’t learning while your mouth’s a jawwin'”. Or something like that. You certainly won’t be telling a long tale about the calf you saved down by Dry Gulch. You’ll be too busy eating. You will be telling the chuck wagon cook that he’s a genius, though. It’s probably the same cook that came up with Cowboy pasta.
If I’m reaching for a bottled BBQ sauce, I often go for Sweet Baby Ray’s.
Also try my easy baked beans and smoked sausage and my delicious enchilada beans.
Cowboy Beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried pinto beans
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 medium sweet onion chopped
- 3 teaspoons garlic minced
- 1 ham hock smoked
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups black coffee brewed
- kosher salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 ½ cups your favorite BBQ sauce
- jalapenos roasted, chopped, for garnish
- red onion chopped, for garnish
- cheese shredded, for garnish
Instructions
- Place the beans into a large pot or Dutch oven and cover with 1″ of water.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.
- Drain and reserve the beans.
- Add the oil to the pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
- Add the onion and saute for 3 minutes, stirring, until just starting to soften.
- Add the garlic and cook another 1 minute.
- Add the beans back into the pot along with the ham shank, water, coffee and salt and pepper to taste.
- Bring to a simmer and cover. Cook for 40 minutes or longer until the beans are just soft.
- Stir in the BBQ sauce and cover again and continue to simmer until the meat falls away from the ham shank bone, about 2 hours.
- Remove the shank and remove any meat. Chop and return the meat to the pot, stirring.
- Serve hot with chopped roasted jalapenos, chopped red onion and shredded cheese.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate.