TEXAS COWBOY STEW by Cheryl Pierson

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Fall’s on the way, so it’s time for some good recipes to fix on those cool evenings. I’m thrilled to find recipes that are EASY, QUICK, and GOOD. Have you ever noticed how many times cowboys in films and books sit down to a hearty bowl of stew?

Growing up, my mom made a lot of vegetable soup, but never made stew. I don’t know why, because I have seen my dad eat stew elsewhere, but for some reason, Mom just never did make it. I learned to make it because my husband mentioned he’d like some. My early attempts were not the best. BUT…I found those wonderful McCormick Beef Stew seasoning packages with directions on the back and voila—I was suddenly a gourmet stew-maker!

I found this recipe the other day, and boy, does it look great! It’s different from my usual recipe, but looks fabulously tasty. I will be going to the store this weekend for what I DON’T have, but many of the ingredients are every-day items we all probably have on hand in our pantry.

 

TEXAS COWBOY STEW from “Cooking Professionally” website

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds ground beef
  • 2 packages kielbasa sausage, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 (14.5-ounce) cans of peeled and diced tomatoes, drained
  • 4 medium baking potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 2 (15-ounce) cans of pinto beans, with liquid
  • 1 (15.2-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
  • 2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chile pepper, with liquid
  • 1 (10-ounce) package frozen mixed vegetables
  • 4 cups of water
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • salt and pepper, to taste

recipe image

Step 1

In a dutch oven, sauteé the onion over medium heat. Add ground beef and cook until there’s visibly no pink left. Add sliced sausage.

Step 2

Pour in both the diced tomatoes & tomatoes with chiles, pinto beans, potatoes, corn, and veggies. Stir everything until well mixed, then add spices.

Step 3

Add the water, bring to a boil, and let simmer for one hour.

Step 4

Serve with your favorite cornbread recipe!

(Recipe and photo credit to Cooking Professionally)

Do you like stew? If so, what’s your favorite recipe for stew? What do you like to eat with it?

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A native Oklahoman, I've been influenced by the west all my life. I love to write short stories and novels in the historical western and western romance genres, as well as contemporary romantic suspense! Check my Amazon author page to see my work: http://www.amazon.com/author/cherylpierson
I live in Oklahoma City with my husband of 40 years. I love to hear from readers and other authors--you can contact me here: fabkat_edit@yahoo.com
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49 thoughts on “TEXAS COWBOY STEW by Cheryl Pierson”

  1. Thanks for this – it looks wonderful! Being from the Northeast, we grew up on stew and casseroles – they’re wonderful when it’s cold. When I married my Texan, after a couple months, he asked if we couldn’t afford meat when I was a kid! Ha!

  2. My mom made stew with leftovers, so whatever was in the fridge and freezer went into it. And my dad was the same way, he put everything in and it was always good. The only thing that was never in our stew was celery, my dad didn’t like eating celery, so it was rarely in the house and never in stew. He also didn’t care for tomatoes in stew so that was rarely added, but everything else was up for consideration.

    • OH, I cannot stand celery, either, Veda! Nor can my hubby, so it was a match made in heaven. LOL Everyone else in my family–Mom, Dad and sisters–all loved celery. I had to endure it in foods when I was growing up. UGH. But I do love tomatoes!

  3. I make stew from stewing cubes of beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, and seasonings, plus a few other things. Mine is much better than what my mom made in those old-fashioned pressure cookers. Hers was watery and overcooked. She wasn’t much of a cook, more of a heat it up and serve. I grew up on frozen entrees, fried till it was tough as shoe leather meats, and processed canned pasta.

    Let’s just say my kids are lucky I didn’t serve them Chef Boyardee. I had to teach myself how to cook, and my husband and sons always loved what I made.

    • Denise, my mom was a wonderful cook, but I never did really like to cook that much. I think it was because my sisters were grown and gone out of the house by the time I was 8, Dad worked in the oilfields and had an inconsistent schedule and so Mom and I kind of ate “this and that” during the week, with our family dinners being more for the weekends. And I wanted to go play, not learn to cook! LOL Sounds like your family got very lucky having a wife and mom like you that loved to cook and made good food for them.

  6. I love soups and stews. Thank you for this great recipe. It’s funny when I make soup, it’s never the same. I used all my leftovers in the fridge and always have such a new and exciting taste.

    • I love to make vegetable soup, but I’m the only one who will eat it. My hubby is not a soup person–except for homemade potato soup or Campbell’s chicken noodle. LOL I hope this recipe turns out great–I’ve yet to make it too.

  9. Not a big fan of stew or chili – unless it is this one Teresa‘s Easy Taco Chili
    1 15 oz can chicken broth
    1 or 2 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
    2 15 oz cans petite diced tomatoes or 1 29 oz can
    1 12 oz can chicken breast
    ½ tsp Dill
    1 tsp Parsley
    1 tsp dried onion or ¼ cup fresh
    1 tbls minced Garlic (I used minced from jar)
    2 pkgs Taco seasoning
    2 pkgs Ranch dressing mix
    ½ to 1 cup Instant brown rice
    Dump broth in dutch oven, open chicken and drain water into pot, smash chicken up and add to pot, add beans, tomatoes and I rinse the can and add that liquid also. Add all seasonings and bring to a boil – make sure there is some liquid – if not add water to pot – then add the rice to thicken – ready in less than ½ hr. I usually have to double the recipe. This was adapted from a weight watchers recipe and is very good – can use 1 # ground turkey cooked instead of canned chicken!! Enjoy served over cornbread, or tortilla chips and top with sour cream and shredded cheese.

  10. I am afraid that I use the McCormick Beef Stew seasoning packages and through a bunch of stuff in it. I usually start with some kind of roast beef carrots and potatoes and add other stuff to it. We usually have fried corn bread with it. Also use the McCormick chili mix when I am making chili, which we just had.

    • I use those packages too, and my hubby and I both love the way it turns out. I make mine a little more “juicy” (add more water) instead of thick. We love corn bread with it but biscuits are great, too! If you can get Williams Chili mix where you live, it was what I grew up on and I use it to this day–it is wonderful, wonderful chili mix.

    • Cathy, if you make it before I do, let me know how it comes out. I’m going to try to make it this week or next. Got company coming, though, and I’m not sure if they like stew…LOL

    • Caryl, we had chili all the time growing up, but never stew. I really do love them both, and I like cornbread with both of them, usually, but can eat biscuits with the stew and crackers with the chili if need be. LOL

  14. I make beef stew with fresh potatoes, fresh carrots, and frozen peas. I cook it in the pressure cooker so the veggies take on the beef flavor and make the thickening from flour and water. I also make homemade biscuits with it.

    • I need that home made biscuit recipe! My m-i-l used to make home made biscuits but I lost the recipe and haven’t made them in years. I would love to have a good, easy recipe for biscuits.

  15. I like soups and stews! Mom made some while I was growing up, and when I started cooking after becoming her caregiver, I made them, too! We never went by a recipe, we just put in what we like!!

    • Trudy, I always needed a recipe early on since I didn’t know what the heck I was doing about cooking. My mom and sisters always just cooked like you’re talking about. I finally got the hang of it later on with one ever-present rule: You can always put more salt (or whatever else) IN, but you can’t take it OUT. LOL

  16. I make pork stew.
    I use pork, carrots, onions, mushrooms, potatoes, red and green peppers, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and ginger.

    • Sarah, what would we do without McCormick’s and Lawry’s? LOL They are so convenient and so good. I really depend on a lot of those seasoning envelopes for different things. Hope the recipe turns out great!

  18. OH, I cannot stand celery, either, Veda! Nor can my hubby, so it was a match made in heaven. LOL Everyone else in my family–Mom, Dad and sisters–all loved celery. I had to endure it in foods when I was growing up. UGH. But I do love tomatoes!

  19. The easiest stew is use your leftover roast, cut in pieces, leftover potatoes and carrots. Add onion flakes, can of whole corn, can of petite diced tomatoes, and if you like more juice, which I do, I add a 6 oz can of tomato sauce, too. Add a can of water from the 15 oz can of diced tomatoes. You can add green beans and peas if you want, but I don’t usually, unless I just happen to have some from leftover, in the fridge. Add garlic powder, salt, pepper and the best part is it’s done by the time you whip up a batch of crunchy cornbread to go with! I do this every time I cook a roast!

  22. I love to make vegetable soup, but I’m the only one who will eat it. My hubby is not a soup person–except for homemade potato soup or Campbell’s chicken noodle. LOL I hope this recipe turns out great–I’ve yet to make it too.

  24. thanks for the recipe. this looks like one my mom made a lot. very filling. i make stew. we put a lot of fresh veggies in it. I like to serve it with homemade cornbread

    • Lori, looks like my picture has disappeared, but it really looks good in that image that I’d put in the blog (that’s no longer there now). I am going to make this SOON. It looks wonderful to me.

  25. this looks so good, cheryl. We’re big stew/soup/chili eaters in cold weather, then we have NONE when it’s hot. So it’s almost time and this stew and the chicken chili sound great!/

    • Hi Mary! This is much different than the regular stew I make, but it looks so good for a change, as do these other recipes that have been shared here! I’m definitely going to enjoy making these and trying them out. We don’t eat a lot of soup/stew/chili in the hot weather, but sometimes I think that’s weird–we don’t give up OTHER hot meals in the summer…so why chili and stew, etc.? LOL I do make chili in the summer sometimes. I just get hungry for it.

    • Debbie, I wasn’t either, growing up–probably because I never did eat it. But had to learn to make it when my mother-in-law suggested it when Gary and I were first married and trying to stretch a dollar any which way we could.

  27. We love stew. I usually just cut beef into cubes or buy stew beef, brown it adding a chopped onion. When it is browned, I add water and beef broth, diced potatoes and carrots, salt and pepper to taste, maybe a bit of rosemary from the garden, and let it simmer until done. It can be served as is or it can be thickened a bit with flour and water. If I serve anything with it, it would be yeast rolls. It is a pretty basic, no frills recipe, but hearty and satisfying. I have a squash soup recipe that turns out more like a stew that is really good. It is a bit like the cowboy stew above. I will have to try the cowboy stew recipe when the weather gets cooler. It definitely lends itself to cornbread as a side.

    • Patricia, that sounds really great. I love yeast rolls. I make those ones that are frozen lumps of dough that you put out and let rise then bake for 20 minutes–I think they are Rhodes? Rodes? But they taste like home made and are so easy, even I can do them! LOL

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