Feeding a crew on a budget? Check out this warm, hearty and easy recipe for Crock-Pot Cowboy Casserole. It is sure to please even your hungriest cowboys!
Slow Cooker Cowboy Casserole
While doing a bit of organizing of my recipes and cookbooks this past weekend I came across this recipe from my grandmother. While I don’t remember ever eating it before it sounded yummy so I thought I would give it a try to see how it turned out.
The consensus from the crew…”Pretty tasty mom!”
And it was super easy to make as well so no complaints from me.
Ground Beef Tip:
When hamburger is on sale at a great price, buy extra for meals later. When you get home from the store brown your ground beef, drain and rinse and then store in labeled freezer bags and freeze for up to 6 months. When a recipe calls for browned ground beef just pull out a bag from the freezer and you are already one step ahead of the game
I have no idea why this recipe is called cowboy casserole. But considering I am in Wyoming and have seen the rancher’s wives come in to town to do their shopping (4 + carts of groceries at a time) I assume they need to feed them cowboys something hearty and filling and probably something that is not too expensive to make.
We are not cowboys…but feeding our crew of 6 requires those same sort of ideas for dinner. So this recipe is a winner!
Equipment Needed For Crock-Pot Cowboy Casserole Recipe:
- 6 Quart, 6.5 Quart Or 7 Quart Slow Cooker
- Large Skillet
- Wooden Spoon
- Can Opener
- Knife
- Cutting Board
- Measuring Spoons
Frequently Asked Questions
You can use just about any type of canned or pre-cooked beans in this cowboy casserole recipe. While the recipe calls for kidney beans, other types of beans such as black beans, pinto beans, navy beans or cannelloni beans will work great in this recipe. One reader even reported using chili beans which would add some additional flavor to the casserole.
If you have leftover cooked sliced or diced potatoes or leftover baked potatoes you can easily substitute them for the raw potatoes in this recipe. However because everything in the casserole will already be pretty much cooked before going in the slow cooker you will want to reduce the cooking time of this casserole in half and cook just until everything is warmed through and hot, then add the cheese and let it melt.
Some of our readers have mentioned that they have had great success adding other vegetables to this recipe such as corn, green beans and even chopped cabbage. So, while we have not tested this recipe using every vegetable out there, I think it is safe to suggest that you can add canned, frozen or fresh vegetables such as those mentioned (corn, green beans, or cabbage). Other vegetables that we think will work well with the flavors in this casserole would include carrots, peas, or peppers such as jalapenos, bell peppers, poblano peppers or diced canned green chilies.
Special Diets
High Fiber | Low Fat | Low Sugar
This recipe for Crock-Pot Cowboy Casserole is Weight Watchers Friendly on the new Personal Points plan. You can see the WW personal points for this recipe here on the Weight Watchers website. Click here for MORE of our Weight Watchers Recipes
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Recipe Collections:
- 6 Quart Crock-Pot Recipes
- Beef Crock-Pot Recipes
- Entrée Recipes
- Ground Beef Recipes
- Kid Friendly Recipes
- Reader’s Favorite Recipes
Crock-Pot Cowboy Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Pound Extra Lean Ground Beef (Browned, Crumbled And Drained)
- 6 Medium Russet Potatoes (Washed And Sliced)
- 16 Ounces Canned Kidney Beans (Undrained (Low Sodium Preferred) )
- 15 Ounces Canned Diced Tomatoes (Undrained)
- 10.5 Ounces Canned Cream Of Mushroom Soup
- 1 Medium Yellow Onion (Peeled And Diced)
- 1 Clove Garlic (Minced)
- 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Dried Oregano
- ¼ Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- 1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Instructions
- Mix all of the ingredients except the cheese in a 6 quart or larger slow cooker and stir well.
- Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or on LOW for 8 hours.
- Uncover slow cooker and sprinkle shredded cheese over top and recover and let cook an additional 1 hour.
- Eat and enjoy!
Notes
- Place all ingredients (except for the cheese) into a 1 gallon size zippered freezer bag OR FoodSaver bag.
- Place bag on flat surface and seal bag closed while pressing out as much excess air as possible OR use your FoodSaver sealing system to vacuum seal the bag closed.
- Label bag with date prepared, name of recipe, ingredients and cooking instructions.
- Lay bag flat in freezer and allow to freeze for several hours. At that point you can stand the bags upright in your freezer if desired.
- Remove freezer meal bag from freezer and place either in refrigerator overnight OR in a clean kitchen sink filled with cool water for several hours just until the freezer meal is partially thawed enough to dump the contents of the bag into the slow cooker.
- Cook according to the recipe directions adding 1 additional hour cooking time (in this case 5 hours on LOW or 9 hours on HIGH from the partially thawed state ).
- Add cheese during the last hour of cooking.
Weight Watchers Points calculated using 96% lean ground beef, Campbell's Healthy Request cream of mushroom soup, and Kraft fat-free shredded cheddar cheese.
Nutrition
This looks delish! I’m excited to try it!
I went to print the recipe and it started printing 40+ pages of bs comments!!!!!!!! what a crock, no pun intended!!
Oh no Larry, that should NOT have happened at all if you clicked the Print Recipe button. That is the little printer icon right next to the title in the actual recipe box.
I just printed this recipe off to test it when I saw your comment Larry and it did not print 40+ pages of comments or other “bs”. Just the recipe.
https://crockpotladies.com/recipe/crockpot-cowboy-casserole/print/
Awesome Kris, let us know how you like it!
I had all the stuff to make it and a pound of ground beef defrosting for dinner (plan was hamburgers) so it is bubbling in the crock pot as we speak. Can’t wait to taste it!
That is awesome Cheryl. Come on back and let us know how it turned out for you!
This recipe was definitely a win! My husband said “wow the house smells good!” when he came home from work, and then nommed down a big bowl of the casserole. We’ve got enough for leftovers tomorrow night. I’m thinking about putting it over rice or mixing rice in with it to extend it a bit more tomorrow night.
I am so glad you and your husband enjoyed this recipe. It is really quite versatile I think. When I was making it I was thinking you could definitely add some other things to it. I was thinking about adding some veggies (carrots or corn perhaps?) to it. But serving it over rice would be good too I bet!
I didn’t end up adding rice, just heated it up (I added a little chicken broth to thin it out) and served it with corn muffins. Still super yummy. Corn sounds good…
If i wanted to cook it on low what would the cook time be and would that effect the recipe ?
Thanks Melanie
Hi Melanie you can cook this about 8 hours on low and it will be just fine. In fact let me go and adjust the recipe.
Hi I am making this today. Super easy but I think 8 hours on low and then ANOTHER hour just to melt the cheese is overkill…. especially since the ground meat is already cooked…. why do you want it cooking for 9 hours on low? It just seems super long.
Hi Laura, the cooking time is to cook the potatoes more than anything. You can cook this a shorter amount of time as long as your potatoes are cooked. I created this recipe to be a longer cooking recipe for those days when I am not at home and I can just let my slow cooker do the work.
Hi! I hope this isn’t a dumb question, I’m new to my crock pot… Do you brown the ground beef first in the skillet before you put it in the crock pot? Thanks!
Hi Amy,
No such thing as a dumb question. Most recipes for the crock-pot that call for ground beef/hamburger you cook the hamburger in a skillet, drain and I like to rinse the meat off in a strainer with hot tap water. This removes the extra fat. The only recipes I can think that don’t call for pre-cooking the ground beef are meatloaf.
Rinsing the cooked ground beef, while removing some fat will also wash away water soluble vitamins. Draining and patting dry with paper towels will increase the nutritional value of the recipe.
Good to know Sandy. To be honest I have always just rinsed my ground beef. It’s something my mother did and taught me.
Hi! I was wondering if I drain or rinse the kidney beans? Thanks!!
Hi Mallory,
Great question! I have updated the recipe. You just put the whole can of kidney beans in with the juices from the can.
Thank you for the recipe! Looks delicious. I’m printing this out. Can I use pinto or black beans instead? Not a fan of kidney beans
Hi Amber, thanks for your question. Feel free to use any sort of beans that you prefer. Pinto or black beans would be fantastic in this recipe I think!
How old are the children that like this. The 10 year old would not try it and the 31/2 year old did not like it.
Hi Lau, my children are 15, 9 and I have 8 year old twins and they all really liked this recipe. Of course each child is different I guess. I am sorry your kids did not enjoy this recipe.
My almost 4 year old son loves this. Every kid us different I guess.
You are right Melanie, each kid is different. But I am happy that your 4 year old son loved this recipe!
My husband and I liked it. I just could not get the kids to like it or taste it. They are all different.
Is it supposed to be so liquidy?? Should i add something to thickem it up?
Hi Rachael, I am sorry your casserole turned our liquidy. I am not sure why it would be on the runny side, it should not be. Did you follow the recipe exactly or add anything extra? The only liquid in the recipe is the cream of mushroom soup and the juice from the canned tomatoes. You might be able to thicken it up with a little flour slurry (a couple of tablespoons flour mixed with a couple tablespoons of water mixed well till there is no lumps and then pour into your dish stir well and cook a while till it thickens up.
Aye Rachael, its funny over multiple of years, I have heard many [Lassies]? degrade crock pot cooking. Their biggest complaint is – that it always had too much liquid. Being only “just a man” I tend to look @ cooking/methods in a mechanical way!! As all meats & vegetables consist of around 80% moisture/water & the crock pot is a slow cooking method, then the moisture/liquid from ALL scources has time to appear! If trying a new dish then to be fair to all, be prepared to cook it slow/longer time [lowest setting. This will not only give the contents time to exude most of their juices [moisture] but flavours as well. Also too it will give you time to have the “odd peek” & [if required you add YOUR favourite choice to keep moist >> gravy/sauce/soup/wine or simple water. As I said in another article, it pays to keep some “real gravy/stock/soup or other in fridge or pantry so that one can add to your crock pot or any other dish. To avoid “burning”/crusting/difficult cleaning, avoid ADDING later – powder type gravies – real meaty types OK, best all rounder ‘vege’ or fruity stock/juices.
NOTE – some people complain that they “did not like a dish”, to be fair – – EVERYONE should know their taste preference or zone. Examples would be – ‘love salt or hate salt’ – like hot dish [chili/curry] or normal dish – – USE the recipe THEN decide if a touch, or part, or ALL of your preferred taste should be added to it >> as long as it does not clash >> a wrong colour/ a runny mess/ too chewy/ to crusty/ too hot/ not to your taste – – – no ones fault but your OWN!!!?? Be mindful >> it could be your pot, it could be your cooker, it could be the meat or veg’., quality, or your timing to blame!?? Also >> THE SIZE OF THE DIFFERANT CUTS OF MEAT/VEGETABLES, OR VARIETY OF VEGETABLES or simply where you cook – outside or inside > colder/warmer therefore medium heat instead of low & so on????
Well stated! I thought all those things – too much typing LOL Thank you!
Can you give the nutritional value of this dish?
Hi Brenda, Sorry I don’t have the nutritional value for this recipe. But there are several calculators available online. One I have personally used before can be found here: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp
Hi I put everything in the crockpot like I was supposed to but it seems very thick should I add some chicken or vegetable broth to it? I’m nervous it might burn to the crockpot if I don’t add some kind of liquid to it. Thanks.
It should be just fine as is without adding any additional liquids. My casserole did not burn to the crockpot at all.
I absolutely hate cream of mushroom soup… could I substitute cream of potato soup or would that be too much potato? What would you substitute it with?
Hi Brit, I am sure it would be just great with cream of potato soup. Actually that sounds pretty tasty. Let us know how it turns out for you!
I was not at all impressed with this recipe. It was very runny, rather tasteless, and the cheese separated after cooking for an hour. I followed the recipe exactly.
Hi Elisa, Sorry this recipe was not to your liking.
We too found this to be rather tasteless. We ate a little the night I made it, but threw out the rest.
do i have to make the soup according to directions by adding the milk to it or just the contents of the can?
Hi Janet, you just use the soup right from the can without adding the milk. – Hope that helps!
Thank you Lady Heidi:)
Really enjoyed this meal! My husband said it tastes like a baked potato. My kids, ages 5 and 1, both enjoyed it as well. Cooked on high for 3 hours and it was done, so I turned it down to low until we were ready to eat. Will try on low next time. Also added the cheese the last few minutes instead of for an hour. Thanks for sharing this! Perfect for a stormy Wyoming evening 🙂
My husband and I LOVED this! We’ll definitely make it again- it was flavorful and super easy.
I followed your directions exactly as written, cooking on low. I was worried at first with the number of potatoes used, but they came out tender and perfectly cooked through and didn’t overwhelm the other ingredients.
Thanks so much for sharing!
So glad you and your husband enjoyed this recipe!
Made this for my family and they loved it! The only thing I changed was the addition of carrots and celery. Just seemed like it needed some veggies. No problems with it being dry.
Those sound like yummy additions Cheryl!
Has anyone tried this with chili diced tomatoes instead of plain? I always think of chili flavors with kidney beans, I am just unsure of how it will taste with the cream of mush soup.
I have not tried it. But I am thinking it would be great. If you give it a try Katie let us know!
I combine the mushroom soup and rotel tomatoes in MANY things – jambalaya for one, and this recipe for another. It’s GREAT. 🙂
Hi Heidi,
Have a question…..I am having 9 people over for a family dinner and would like to try this recipe. Can you tell me if I wanted to double the recipe would I just multiple all ingredients by 2? If so, would this change the length of cooking time? Thanks for the help and the recipes!
Since I have not actually doubled this recipe I am not 100% sure. But I am going to give it my best guess. You should be able to double this recipe and be just fine. The recipe already serve 6-8 depending on how big of portions you are serving. So doubling the recipe may yield you a lot of Cowboy Casserole! I would adjust the cooking time by 2 hours on low and 1 hour on high if I was doubling the recipe and see where you are. The only thing you are really cooking here is the potatoes. Let us know how it goes for you Jennifer!
Thank you Heidi, I sure will!
I can not eat mushroom do I have to put soup in or can I just make it without thank you for your help this sounds yummy
You will need to use some other cream of type soup. Cream of chicken or cream of celery soup would work just fine too if you cannot do the cream of mushroom soup.
Mine came out runny, too, but still super TASTY! We ate it with cornbread like stew. 🙂
Recipe states juices from kidney beans and diced tomatoes. commeby stated just from soup and diced tomatoes. which way to go.
All the juices from the beans & tomatoes.
This looks yummy. I’m going to give it a try. I will be substituting the cream of mushroom soup though because my husband is allergic to mushrooms. I think I’ll try cream of chicken or cheddar cheese soup. I’ll let you know how that works.
I think cream of cheddar cheese soup would be fabulous! Let us know how it turns out for you Connie!
What can I sub for the tomato paste?
I don’t like mushroom soup or oregano, so. I used Alfredo sauce, drained the beans, and top crusted with corn chips. Lovely dish. Smells and tastes wonderful!
I’m allergic to tomatoes. Can I just leave them out or do I need to substitute something? I didn’t know if the juices from it helped with anything
Just leave them out.
I have this simmering in the crockpot now. I accidentally bought cream of celery instead of creak of mushroom and I also added cheddar cheese soupand a chopped pepper. We’ll see how it is! Smells good anyway
Can I cook this on the stove top instead?
I don’t see why not.
I made this yesterday and we had the leftovers tonight. It was great! I made a few changes…1/2 cup onion and 1/2 cup bell pepper, diced jalapeño, and cream of potato instead of cream of mushroom. I also seasoned the meat really well as I was browning it with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Thank you, Liz, for taking the initiative and READING a recipe and adjusting it to your families KNOWN preferences and not blaming the recipe for being a “failure”. For my family, I added Ro*tel tomatoes, black beans (drained and rinsed) and southwestern corn (with onions and peppers). Recipes are not set in stone, have fun with them.
I did have a little trouble with this recipe. The potatoes just didn’t want to cook. So I think next time (and yes, there will be a next time!) I will reduce the recipe by one or two potatoes and maybe blanch them before adding them to the slow cooker. That being said, it was really tasty. I never add the extra salt (as I am watching my blood pressure) and added some red chili’s. We like it spicy here! The seasoning was great and it was good with and without cheese. Yum!
Made this for dinner, it was a big hit! Thanks for the recipe.
How thin do you slice the potatoes?
Hi Mary, you slice the potatoes about 1/4 inch thick.
I am testing this out today I did not have the beans or cream of mushroom so I am making a change or two… no beans, cream of broccoli rather than cream of mushroom and baby potatoes quartered rather than full potatoes cut into 1/4 inch. This looks amazing already I cannot wait for it to be done!
I do a lot of the cooking at home. I am normally on lay off status during the winter. I enjoy cooking, and enjoy comfort foods. I like to add my own little dash to things I cook. Normally this would be a healthy splash of red wine, extra garlic, and a hand ground or two hot pepper that I grow and dry myself every year. Looking forward to dinner tonight, as I do every night. LOL
Hi Dan, I love your enthusiasm for cooking. Your suggested additions sound great and would take this recipe from “Cowboy Simple” to “Dude Ranch Perfect” I am sure! Be sure to come on back and let us know how it turned out!
The addition of wine, garlic, and spicy pepper was a very nice mix. I would highly recommend everyone who makes this to add these. Thanks for the recipe.
Wow, so happy to see a slow cooking blog like yours. Like your recipes so much. Would try them out and share to my friends. Talk to you next time.
I made this yesterday and it was delicious! I did the following substitutions: extra lean ground turkey instead of beef, organic salt-free black beans rather than kidney beans, and 4 white sweet potatoes rather than potatoes. I omitted the cheese since I’m dairy-free. So easy to make, I’ll definitely be throwing this recipe into rotations!
That sounds really good Shannon!
Uhhhhh….HOW MUCH CHICKEN??!!!!!!!