This Texas Cowboy Stew recipe makes a hearty, homemade one-pot meal. It’s filled with flavorful ground beef, smoked sausage, veggies, and beans that simmer in a seasoned tomato-based broth.
Easy Cowboy Stew
Our recipe for Texas Cowboy Stew is so easy to make using two types of meat (although you can bulk it up even more with bacon), vegetables, beans, seasonings, and broth, all cooked together in a single pot or dutch oven on the stovetop or simmered all day in a crockpot.
This old-fashioned Texas Cowboy stew is a delicious one-dish dinner; it’s packed with protein, veggies, and carbs and filling enough to feed your hungry family.
With minimal work and not much clean-up, this dish feels like comforting cowboy food meets the convenience of cooking from cans and kitchen staples, all in a warm meal meant for cold weather.
Why We Love Texas Cowboy Stew Recipes
- Quick and easy to make in one pot.
- Uses a handful of simple ingredients.
- No-fuss, filling meat and veggie meal that’s full of flavor.
- A traditional Texas cowboy soup makes a hearty home-cooked supper for fall and winter months.
- Delicious dish to feed a crowd for tailgates, game day gatherings, potlucks, or weekday dinners.
Texas Cowboy Stew Ingredients
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- Beef smoked sausage: I used Hillshire Farms brand, but any smoked sausage will work well.
- Lean ground beef
- Yellow onion
- Minced garlic
- Russet potato
- Beef broth: You can use chicken broth or vegetable broth in a pinch.
- Frozen, sweet yellow whole-kernel corn
- Frozen peas & carrots medley blend
- Pinto beans with the liquids
- Stewed tomatoes
- Original Rotel diced tomatoes & green chilies: You can also combine a can of diced tomatoes and a can of green chilies.
- Chili powder
- Ground cumin
- Smoked paprika
- Salt
- Black pepper
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions and Additions
- Swap The Sausage: Feel free to swap the beef sausage for chicken, turkey, or kielbasa sausage.
- Serve It Spicier: If you like extra heat, you can substitute the original Rotel for a can of hot Rotel. You can also add ⅛-¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper to the spice blend.
- Prepare Without Pinto Beans: You can substitute the pinto beans for a different kind of small-sized bean, like small red beans, kidney beans, or even black beans. I do not suggest using canned garbanzo beans, though.
- Vary The Veggies: You can substitute the frozen corn and frozen peas & carrots for a bag of frozen mixed vegetables if you want to keep it simple.
- Vegetarian Version: To make this stew meatless, replace the beef and sausage with extra veggies and beans. Or use your favorite plant-based meat substitutes to make a vegetarian stew.
