Vegan Cowboy Beans is a bean focused meal that can be made in the slow cooker. It’s hearty, filling, and sure to warm up the cold winter months — and it’s so easy too. Just add to the slow cooker or Crock Pot and wait. You can also make this dish in the instant pot.
This is a vegan version of a traditional meal made in the American southwest. But the usual version contains bacon, and possibly animal-based fats, which have been removed in this vegan version of the meal. This version is focused on beans and vegetable, with optional garnishes.
An easy, inexpensive, and healthy plant-based meal. It’s also a low fat and oil-free recipe.
Vegan Cowboy Beans
Ingredients
- 6 cups low sodium vegetable broth or water
- 16 oz pinto beans dry
- 15 oz tomatoes diced
- 1 white onion medium, diced or sliced
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup jalapenos diced, optionally deseeded
Optional toppings/seasonings
- cilantro or flat leaf parsley chopped
- vegan bacon optional
- sea salt optional
- wedges of limes optional, but strongly encouraged
Instructions
- In a pan on the stovetop add the onions with a small amount of vegetable broth (or water) and cook until golden at medium heat.
- Add garlic and jalapeños to onion and cook until the garlic is browned and fragrant.
- Add the tomatoes to the onion mixture.
- Transfer the onion mixture to the slow cooker, and add the beans and 6 cups of water.
- Cook in a slow cooker for 4 hours at high. Alternatively, cook at 6 hours at low.
- When finished, remove 2 cups of the beans and blend in a food processor or high-powered blender. Mix smoothly blended beans, and salt, into remaining beans.
- Optionally made some vegan shiitake bacon (or find some oil-free vegan bacon from the store) and/or vegan sour cream to use as a topping.
- Top with the cilantro or flat leaf parsley, and optionally season with salt.
Notes
Garnishes
Vegan cowboy beans is a low fat, healthy meal made without oil. There are many different garnishes you can add to this dish for variety – dress it up a different way each time you have it! Here we have added sliced jalapenos (for a bit of heat), cilantro, and limes. You can also add a bit of vegan sour cream, for a touch of creaminess. I enjoyed a cauliflower based sour cream, pictured below, which I will be adding to the site soon.
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