Calico Beans is a baked casserole made with an assortment of beans combined with bacon and ground beef that is mixed in a thick sweet tasty sauce.
It makes a great side dish for cookouts and back yard barbecues.
It makes a lovely addition to hotdogs, hamburgers, and pulled pork.
Calico beans are sometimes called "Cowboy Beans " and "Trucker Beans."
I imagine you could make these beans on a fire, hence a perfect meal for a cowboy that is herding cattle.
However, I am not sure where "Trucker Beans" came from. Do you?
Watch how to make
Ingredients
For this baked beans casserole, you need the following ingredients:
- ground beef-You can substitute with ground turkey or chicken, but beef is better
- pork and beans or baked beans
- kidney beans-I prefer the dark kidney beans, but you can use light red kidney beans
- butter beans- If you can find the large butter beans, I recommend those. If you can not find butter beans, you can use lima beans.
- mustard- Yellow is fine. If you want to use a hearty grain mustard, that would be good also.
- ketchup
- brown sugar-Dark is better, but you can use light brown sugar if that is what you have on hand.
- onion
- bacon
Steps
Follow these steps to make calico beans.
- Cook bacon until crispy. Crumble into pieces.
- Cook onion in 1 tbs of bacon grease.
- Cook ground beef and drain fat.
- Mix butter beans, pork and beans, and kidney beans together and add to a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
- Mix ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar together.
- Mix in the sauce with the beans.
- Mix in the bacon, ground beef, and onion.
- Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
About the recipe
I was visiting my Aunt Sue this summer in Wisconsin and being the nosey recipe hunter that I am; I raided her recipes. She is a great cook.
Hidden among her recipe stash was this Calico Beans recipe. I took one look at the ingredients and knew I had to make this dish.
I did a hot dog cook off with a group of my friends and it was the perfect occasion to make the Calico Beans.
Hotdogs and baked beans go hand in hand!
They were sooooo GOOD!!!! Every bite begged for more.
They also disappeared pretty fast. It is a great crowd pleaser.
I now get asked for the recipe all the time.
I really do think this is the best Calico Bean Recipe ever.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Happy eating from my family to yours!
Please leave me a comment below if you make this calico beans recipe, tell me what you thought about it. I would love to hear back, and so would my readers.
Also post your picture of your beans on Instagram or Facebook, and tag @aforkstale with #aforkstale hashtags! I will share with my followers! xoxo!
Deliciously Baked Calico Beans Recipe with Bacon
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- ½ lb bacon
- 15 oz can drained butter beans
- 30 oz can pork and beans do not drain
- 15 oz can drained kidney beans
- ¾ cup ketchup
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- small onion diced finely
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Cook ½ lb bacon until crispy. Crumble into pieces.
- Chop one small onion. Cook onion in 1 tbs of bacon grease.
- Cook 1 lb ground beef and drain fat.
- Mix ¾ sup ketchup, 1 teaspoon mustard, and ¾ cup brown sugar together.
- Mix bacon, beef, sauce, onion, 15 oz butter beans, pork and beans, and 15 oz kidney beans together and add to a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
- Bake 40 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
karrie @ Tasty Ever After
Ground beef and bacon in beans?? Where have these been all my life? Pass me the hot sauce and a big plate of these beans! Perfect for the holiday weekend too!
Eileen Kelly
I absolutely love these beans. The flavors are fantastic.
Kristy Wyllie
I and my family have loved this recipe forever!!
I lost my recipe card and was so happy to find my recipe here! This is amazing because we are diabetic so I just use Splenda Brown Sugar instead of regular and it does not change the taste at all!!
Amy
Made these for a hayride and everyone loved them. I added a teaspoon of liquid smoke, which made them perfect. Sooooo good!
Donna
I use ground chicken instead of beef. Omg sooo good!
Bonnie
Best recipe ever. Family loves these beans with cornbread. Yum!!
Colleen
This recipe is so good! I've made it several times now & it's always a hit. Thanks for a great recipe!
Kathryn
This looks so hearty, easy, and tasty! I love all these ingredients so I must try it! Thanks for the recipe idea!
Sharon
These calico beans are wonderful with bacon and are a great side dish for any meal.
Amanda Dixon
These beans came out so, so good! I just love the depth of flavor the bacon added, and the mustard gave it a nice kick. Thanks for such a tasty recipe!
Cathleen
Oh wow, this is perfect!! I love this recipe so much. Thanks so much for the recipe 🙂
Mikayla
A new favorite to cook to share with friends and family alike. Every flavor melts in your mouth and leaves you savoring every single bite.
Megan
I could eat this every day and be eternally happy! Delicious!
Amy Liu Dong
I have never tried to make this but it looks delicious and is easy to make.
I will gather my ingredients and I will do this for tonight. Thank you!
Natalia
I had never tried since I tasted them at my friend’s house and was hooked immediately. So happy to finally have the recipe !!
Erin
I needed a quick recipe for dinner tonight and this was fantastic! We all really enjoyed it and my family asked me to make it again. Thanks!
Tim W
Just what kind of monster are you? Use the whole package of bacon! Who uses 1/2 a package? For the love of God, get your kitchen scissors out, cut it in 1/2 inch pieces and cook it up. Use 2 packages if you want. There are probably only 2 people on earth that would complain about to much bacon. Also don't be afraid of the onion. Load it up. Most of it is going to cook up anyway. Splash a bit, teaspoon, tablespoon, whatever of ACV or white in to help breakdown the indigestible sugars in beans. Otherwise you are spot on. This is delicious. It is truly hard to screw this up. Don't be afraid to add another can of beans like pinto or great northern. It is all good!