Cowboy Beans and Beef
Two cans of baked beans, a pound of ground beef, and enough brown sugar to make it taste like a cookout.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 14 oz
- cal / oz
- 44
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 35 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Dutch oven
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Ground beef | 1 lb | 80/20; keep it cold until it hits the pan |
|---|---|---|
| Onion | 1/2 medium | diced at home and bagged |
| Canned baked beans | 2 cans (about 28 oz total) | |
| Ketchup | 2 tbsp | |
| Yellow mustard | 1 tbsp | |
| Brown sugar | 1/4 cup | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- Set a Dutch oven or heavy skillet over coals or a grate. Let it get hot before anything goes in.
- Brown the beef with the onion, breaking it up as it cooks. Eight to ten minutes, until no pink is left and the onion has gone soft.
- Pour off most of the fat if there is a lot of it. Leave a spoonful behind.
- Add both cans of beans with their liquid, then the ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar. Stir.
- Move the pot to lower heat and let it bubble fifteen minutes, stirring now and then so the sugar does not scorch on the bottom.
- Season and eat straight from the pot.
This is a cooler meal, not a pack meal, and it is best on the first night out while the ground beef is still solidly cold. Everything else on the list is a can or a condiment, so the only thing you are managing is the meat.
The brown sugar and mustard are doing more than sweetening. Canned baked beans are already sweet and one-note; the mustard’s acid and the ketchup’s tang give the sauce edges, and the beef’s rendered fat carries them. Cook it down long enough that the liquid thickens and clings, or you are eating soup with a spoon.
Packing
Cans and the sugar/ketchup/mustard go in the food bin. Beef and diced onion ride in the cooler in a doubled bag, and this is a first-night meal for that reason.
Variations
- A few strips of chopped bacon in with the beef adds fat and smoke.
- Swap the beef for two cans of chili or a pouch of shelf-stable ground beef and the whole thing leaves the cooler behind.
- Hot sauce or a spoonful of chipotle in adobo cuts the sweetness.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/cowboy-trail-mix