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One-Pot Meals

Easy Chuck Wagon Stew (One-Pot Cowboy Dinner)

One-Pot Mealseasy8 servings· Prep 15 min· Cook 40 min
Easy Chuck Wagon Stew (One-Pot Cowboy Dinner)

This is cowboy cooking at its simplest: brown some beef, dump in beans, potatoes, corn, and tomatoes, and let one pot simmer into a thick, hearty stew that feeds the whole crew. It's forgiving — close enough to the recipe is plenty — it stretches cheap, and it tastes like the trail. Use cans for everything and it comes together with almost no chopping.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lbs ground beef (or half beef, half sliced smoked sausage)
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 can (15 oz) pinto or ranch-style beans
  • 1 can (15 oz) baked beans
  • 2 cups diced potatoes (or 1 can, drained)
  • 1 can (15 oz) corn, drained
  • 1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes — or skip them for a brothy version (see below)
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 1 tbsp chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, salt and pepper

Steps

  1. If you're cooking in cast iron, drop in a foil liner or use an old/enameled pot — this one's tomato-based and simmers a while (see the note below).
  2. Brown the ground beef (and sausage, if using) with the onion over the coals, breaking it up. Drain the fat.
  3. Add everything else — both cans of beans, potatoes, corn, tomatoes, broth, and the spices. Stir to combine.
  4. Simmer at the edge of the coals, stirring now and then, about 30–40 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and it's thickened. Add a splash of broth or water if it gets too thick.
  5. Taste, adjust the salt, and serve in bowls with bread or crackers.

Tips & variations

The cowboy one-pot

The whole appeal is right there in the method: brown, dump, simmer. Everything goes in one pot and only gets better as it cooks down, which makes it about the most forgiving dinner you can make over a fire. It stretches a pound and a half of beef into dinner for eight, and leftovers are even better the next day.

Make it easy

Lean on the cans and it's almost no work: canned potatoes, beans, and corn mean nothing to chop, and a pound of pre-browned beef from home turns this into a dump-and-heat meal. Swapping in (or adding) sliced smoked sausage is faster still and adds a ton of flavor. Keep it all cold on the way in with the cooler.

Skip the tomatoes for a brothy stew

Chuck wagon stew is traditionally tomato-based, but it doesn't have to be. For a classic brothy beef stew, leave the tomatoes out: brown stew meat (or keep the ground beef), add carrots, potatoes, and onion, cover it all with beef broth, and simmer until everything's fork-tender. Thicken it at the end with a tablespoon of flour or cornstarch stirred into a little cold water, then stirred into the pot. The bonus: with no tomatoes there's no acid — so your bare cast iron is perfectly happy with this version, no liner needed.

The cast-iron note (tomato version)

If you make the tomato version above, the same thing applies that we flagged on the camp chili: tomatoes and bare cast iron don't love a long simmer. Drop a foil liner in your Dutch oven, use an enameled or old pot, and don't store the leftovers sitting in bare iron overnight. The brothy version skips all of that.

Serve it

Bowls, with cornbread, crusty bread, or just a sleeve of crackers to mop it up. It's a stick-to-your-ribs end to a long day outside, and it sits comfortably in the rest of the dinner lineup.

Common questions

What is chuck wagon stew?
A hearty cowboy-style one-pot stew of ground beef (often with smoked sausage), beans, potatoes, corn, and tomatoes simmered together. It's named for the chuck wagons that fed cattle drives — simple, filling, trail food.
How do you make chuck wagon stew while camping?
Brown ground beef and onion in a pot over the coals, then add beans, potatoes, corn, diced tomatoes, beef broth, and chili spices and simmer about 30 to 40 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Using canned vegetables means almost no chopping.
Can you make chuck wagon stew in a Dutch oven?
Yes — it's the classic vessel. Since it's tomato-based and simmers a while, use a foil liner, an enameled pot, or an old pot to keep the acid off bare cast iron, and don't store leftovers in bare iron.
What goes in cowboy stew?
Ground beef and/or smoked sausage, onion, two kinds of beans (pinto or ranch-style plus baked beans is common), potatoes, corn, and diced tomatoes, simmered in beef broth with chili powder and cumin. It's forgiving — use what you've got.
Can you make chuck wagon stew without tomatoes?
Yes — for a classic brothy beef stew, skip the tomatoes and simmer stew meat (or ground beef) with carrots, potatoes, and onion in beef broth, then thicken with a flour or cornstarch slurry. With no acid, this version is also easier on bare cast iron.

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