It’s been a while since I’ve made something that was just a straight-up simple comfort food, and after a super long week, comfort food was definitely in order. Think of these BBQ Beef and Beans as a cousin to sloppy Joes, or the love child of baked beans and beef chili. They’re hearty and flavorful, they meal prep well, and can be as no-fuss or as “from scratch” as you want them to be. I’ve included instructions to make them vegetarian or to amp up the vegetable content below, so scroll on down to see more!
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P.S. I’ll be posting this homemade BBQ Sauce recipe on its own tomorrow, along with plenty of ways to put it to good use!
Make it Vegetarian
To make this dish vegetarian, you’ll need to swap the Worcestershire sauce for a vegetarian version (Worcestershire contains anchovies). Annies Vegan Worcestershire Sauce is the most popular brand and can be found at stores like Whole Foods, or other large grocers. Once your BBQ sauce is vegetarian, just swap the ground beef for one extra can of beans. I suggest pinto, so you have a nice trio of shapes and colors with your beans, but you could also double up on either the kidney or black beans.
Pump Up The Vegetables
I’m usually all about adding vegetables into my dishes wherever possible, but today I just wanted to keep things as simple as possible. If you want to add a few vegetables in there to balance things out, you can add a diced onion, diced bell pepper, or even some shredded cabbage (make it easy and use bagged shredded coleslaw mix, a couple handfuls added when you brown the beef should do it).
Homemade BBQ Sauce vs. Store Bought
I had been working on a homemade BBQ sauce recipe this week, so I went ahead and used my homemade sauce in this recipe. If you don’t feel like making your own, or don’t have the necessary ingredients on hand, feel free to sub 1 cup of your favorite bottled BBQ sauce.
How to Serve BBQ Beef and Beans
I served mine bowl-style over some brown rice and topped with cheddar and green onion, but you could also serve this on a bun like a slider or sloppy joe! Or just on its own with some saltine or oyster crackers.
BBQ Beef and Beans
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.04)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 1/2 lb. ground beef ($2.65)
- 1 15oz. can kidney beans ($0.89)
- 1 15oz. can black beans ($0.89)
Homemade BBQ Sauce*
- 8 oz. tomato sauce ($0.25)
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste ($0.10)
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar ($0.12)
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.08)
- 2 Tbsp molasses ($0.35)
- 1/2 Tbsp Dijon mustard ($0.05)
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce ($0.02)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika ($0.10)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.01)
- freshly cracked pepper ($0.02)
- salt to taste ($0.02)
For Serving
- 4 cups cooked rice ($0.80)
- 4 oz. shredded cheddar ($0.85)
- 2 green onions, sliced ($0.22)
Instructions
- Add the oil and minced garlic to a large skillet. Sauté the garlic for one minute over medium heat. Add the ground beef and continue to sauté until cooked through. If using a higher fat content beef, drain the excess fat before moving on to the next step.
- Rinse the two cans of beans, then drain them well. Add the beans to the skillet with the ground beef.
- Add the ingredients for the Homemade BBQ Sauce to the skillet (tomato sauce, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, molasses, Dijon, Worcestershire sauce, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, and some freshly cracked pepper).
- Stir and cook the mixture until the sauce ingredients have combined and created a thick sauce. Allow the sauce to come up to a simmer and then simmer the beef and beans in the sauce for 5 minutes, stirring often. Taste the sauce and add salt to taste (I added 1/2 tsp).
- To serve the BBQ Beef and Beans, place 1 cup cooked rice in each bowl, top with 1 cup of the BBQ Beef and Beans, then top with about 1/4 cup shredded cheddar and a sprinkle of sliced green onion.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Love BBQ sauce? Try these Recipes with BBQ Sauce:
How to Make BBQ Beef and Beans – Step by Step Photos
If you’ll be serving your BBQ Beef and Beans with rice, begin cooking it first so that it’s ready when the beef and beans are finished cooking (cook your rice according to the package directions).
Add 1 Tbsp cooking oil to a large skillet, along with 2 minced cloves of garlic. Sauté over medium for one minute.
Add 1/2 lb. ground beef and continue to sauté until the beef is cooked through. If you’re using a higher fat content ground beef, drain the excess fat before moving onto the next step.
Rinse and drain one 15 oz. can of kidney beans and one 15 oz. can of black beans. Add them to the skillet with the browned beef.
Next, add the ingredients for the homemade bbq sauce (8 oz. tomato sauce, 2 Tbsp tomato paste, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, 2 Tbsp molasses, 1/2 Tbsp Dijon mustard, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, and some freshly cracked pepper). Or add 1 cup of your favorite bottled BBQ sauce. You may notice that my tomato paste is covered in frost. I routinely portion and freeze my leftover tomato paste in 1 Tbsp portions to save it for later. :)
Continue to stir and cook the mixture until all the sauce ingredients are completely combined. Allow the sauce to come up to a simmer, then let the skillet simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often. Finally, taste the BBQ Beef and Beans and add salt to taste (I added 1/2 tsp).
To serve, place 1 cup cooked rice in each bowl, top with 1 cup BBQ Beef and Beans, some shredded cheddar, and sliced green onions. Then go to town!
I made this based on 4 servings however found it on the dry side.
I followed all the measurements as per the recipe.
Any suggestions?
That’s interesting! It’s always pretty saucy for us. Did you feel like it was dry after serving over rice or straight from the pan? It’s possible the sauce may have just reduced too much. In that case you could always thin it out with some stock. :)
Another winner! I made this with store-bought BBQ sauce for the convenience, ground turkey (on sale), and pinto beans instead of kidney beans (just my preference). It was so good! I accidentally used the whole pound of ground turkey, and if you do that, you’ll have to use more BBQ sauce, but no matter. It was delicious served over sweet potatoes, and I’m happy to have another bean-based recipe in my rotation. I’m definitely adding veggies next time.
Budget Bytes is slowly changing my opinion of beans (I also made Cheesy Pinto Beans this week–that one is still my favorite, probably on the whole site), and thank goodness, because meat is so expensive these days!
This was a great recipe, everyone had seconds! Swapped store bought bbq sauce for homemade because I needed a low-effort dinner. Cheap, easy and filling! I can’t ask for more than that.
We bought the 30 day, 30 minute meal plans.
So far this has been my favorite meal. Great flavor and easy to make. My 10 year old and wife made it together. Was a great meal.
My son turned his into a sloppy Joe rather than having it on rice.
I tried this recipe with vegetarian beans (drained them before adding to beef), red onion, red peppers, garlic powder & smoked paprika. I added bbq sauce, mustard & 2 chipotle peppers. Beef mixture was added to low carb tortilla, which was cut in half length-wise. It was good.
It was okay. Followed the recipe to a T. It was definitely filling but flavor was lacking so I added a bit of pre-made bbq sauce.
I enjoyed it enough for two bowls but it wasn’t a hit with kids. Made as per recipe except subbed the black beans for a can of white beans.
I reviewed this before, but wanted to add that I froze some in individual portions. Tonight, I rolled one of those thawed portions into a tortilla and it was suddenly dinner. Thanks again for a great recipe.
This was a hit at my house. I made it the lazy way with bottled bbq sauce and served it over some oven roasted potatoes
So good. I thought it might be a lot like chili but it has a unique flavor. We served it on baked potato halves. My husband liked it too. Doubled the recipe to be able to freeze some for later.
This is very tasty and I will definitely make again. I already had Baby Ray’s bbq sauce so I used it, but will try making your sauce next time.
I made this with Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce (with some added smoked paprika and black pepper) on top of roasted sweet potato halves and topped with cheddar cheese. Delicious.
This was tasty and easy. I had all the ingredients on hand. I made twice as much bbq sauce and didn’t find it too saucy. I guess I like sauces! I put a dollop of sour cream on top too. I like having a new ground beef recipe for my rotation.
Such a delicious and quick meal! I made this vegetarian by using a package of Impossible “meat”. Since it is more than a 1/2 lb. I doubled everything else. Now I have leftovers for lunch and/or another dinner. Thank you for another great recipe!
I just made this recipe for lunch and we loved it. I made the barbecue sauce–so good. I added 1/2 half chopped red onion, 1/2 chopped red bell pepper, and about 3/4 cup of cauliflower rice. I served it over brown rice–just perfect.
Like with every other recipe from this site, this is our new favorite dish!!! I made a double batch and immediately wished I’d made even more to freeze! Too good!!! Thank you!!
WOW!!! This is seriously outstanding!!! Thank you!!!
Just made this and it is delicious! If you are looking to add more vegetables, a very easy way is to serve it over cauliflower rice, which is what I did. Even if you are not a big fan of cauliflower rice, this is the kind of recipe where you really can’t tell the difference or taste the cauliflower. Just a very delicious and easy meal! Thanks Beth!
Very nicely laid out. Directions are clearly written. The add-vegetables part is especially welcome. If including celery, Marcella Hazan says peel it it first, then slice into 1-inch pieces. Add sweet bell pepper. Never use canned beans; always do dried. Top-flight beans at ( ranchogordo.com ) with which my only tie is being a customer. Forget hot peppers or hot sauce. For very mild heat but pleasant flavor add (dry) Aleppo pepper from Penzeys online. Your site is the 1st I found. I need not look further.
This is amazing – so delicious and comforting. I used ground turkey and added onion, bell pepper, and shredded cabbage. It was super easy and fast to meal prep – this will definitely be a repeat. Thank you!
This recipe turned out really well. Don’t substitute the BBQ Sauce. So much better if you can get creative and make your own. I’d suggest that if you don’t have all the ingredients for the BBQ sauce to start googling BBQ sauces and to only use ingredients that you have. You can make random BBQ sauces with all kinds of stuff. I feel like this is a great idea since the point of these recipes is to save some money. The veggies I added were green pepper and onion. Adding the rice to the side makes the meal go a long way budget-wise. This recipe took me 30 minutes at most.
Hello Beth! This was absolutely delicious! Do you reckon this would freeze well? Or how long would it last in the fridge?
Yep, this one should freeze great. :) It will probably last in the fridge about four days, but your mileage may vary.
Found this after looking for ideas on what to make with 1/2 lbs of ground beef. This was ridiculously easy to make and very tasty. Didn’t have cheddar, but this is definitely not the last time I’ll be making this, so next time I’ll make sure to have some.
What can I use instead of molasses? Maybe honey?
Molasses is really key to getting that classic BBQ flavor. While honey might taste alright, it won’t taste as much like BBQ sauce. :)
I do not have any molasses and was wondering if it could be omitted or if that would really mess with the flavor.
In my opinion, the molasses is pivotal to getting that BBQ sauce flavor.
We subbed leftover pulled pork for beef… soo good
Hi Beth, I just had a question about the nutritional values. Are the 4 cups of cooked rice included in those values? I was just wondering because of the sodium content, it seems a bit on the elevated side to me and I was wondering if it was because of the 4 cups of rice. Thank you so much! :)
The nutrition data provided is calculated using all ingredients listed on the recipe card, including any ingredient listed as optional. Keep in mind that recipes that involve marinades, breading, salad dressings, oil for frying, or salt for cooking pasta and potatoes may be skewed because some of these ingredients will be discarded and not included in the final edible portion.
This is a pretty good recipe, very easy! I used your homemade BBQ sauce, but I’m really interested to see how varied this can taste with other BBQ sauces – I’ll try something different next time. I used ground turkey, since I had a conveniently packaged 1/2 pound in the freezer. I think my husband assumed it was chili when I handed it to him, but once he recovered from the surprise flavor, he said he really liked it too.
Very good!!!
This recipe is amazing. We doubled it, added an onion at the beginning and used Stubbs Mesquite to speed things up. Also gave it a few shakes of Worcestershire because we like it. Served over brown rice with a mild chedder and squeezed lime juice over the top. In rotation now!! Thanks!!
I have a 30oz can of black beans but no red kidney beans. I have everything else I need for the meal – could I get away with subbing black beans for kidney beans? I’m trying to avoid going out to much as my state has a stay-at-home advisory going currently.
Yes I’ve made it a few times with kidney as it’s what I’ve had on hand!
Could this be frozen?
Yes it freezes wonderfully!
I’ve made this several times. It’s very easy to make and I generally have most of the ingredients on hand. The only thing I do differently is serve it over quinoa as we are not rice eaters in my household.
I’ve done that a few times too Kim! Happy to hear it’s a staple!
Crowd pleaser! I make this all the time. Kinda reminds me of a sloppy joe except I get to skip the sloppy part since I serve it over rice ha!
It’s a staple in my house too!
I made this last night and it was a real winner. I have made soooo many recipes from your website and this was another winner. My son said I want to each this again…tomorrow. I paired it the rice some green beans and my own guilty pleasure..buttermilk cornbread muffins topped with bananas and maple syrup….Oh how I love it… This a weeknight.. weekend.. anytime recipe keeper.
Wow! I was blown away when I first tasted this. It was so quick and simple to make, yet packed with flavor. I easily doubled the recipe to use up a full pound of ground beef. This is going to become one of my go-to weeknight meals!
I actually make something like this all the time! It’s a nice quick dish. I usually eat it in a wrap with coleslaw.
This was great! I tripled the recipe (because I somehow got an extra 1.5lb of ground beef in my online grocery order) which juuuust fit in my dutch oven. After I browned the beef, I removed it to cook down some onions and peppers just to add some veggies, and I served over quinoa. The BBQ sauce is nice and sweet, little smoky, overall on the mild side. My 13-month old even ate some of the beans. I have so much extra to freeze, yay! Thanks!
I have bbq sauce that I need to use up, how much would I sub in instead of making the homemade bbq sauce?
it says at the bottom that you can substitute w/ 1 cup of bottled bbq sauce :)
Outstanding! I added 1/2 diced sweet onion and 1/2 diced red bell pepper and served it over brown rice. It came together quick and was so flavorful. It’s a perfect dish for football Sundays this fall. Or anytime really.
Delicious!! And so fast and easy. I had a bowl of this after a long swim and now I am all kinds of full and happy. I did add a yellow pepper because I had one and can confirm it was a good idea. I might add some sliced jalapeños next time. Yum!! Another hit.
The perfect recipe to jazz up beans and rice while keeping costs low! Most B&R dishes incorporate salsa or some other element of heat; I end up dolloping a LOT of sour cream to get my littles (5,3,1) to eat dinner! This meal was a hit with all of us; a great balance of sweet and smoky while delivering on nutrients like fiber and protein. Budget-conscious and a delicious bite! Thank you!
For anyone with access to a Kroger, their house brand of Worchestire sauce is “accidentally” vegan—no anchovy or any other animal products/by products. Cheap to boot :)
Thanks for that tip!!
Thanks very much for the barbecue sauce recipe–whipped it up first thing this morning. I have stopped buying bottled barbecue sauce, less for the inclusion of the hated corn syrup than because everything currently on the market is just too sweet for our taste. Plus this lets me customize the spiciness. With family members who have varying tolerance for chilies …
A tomato paste tip–although the cans are tiny, I almost never use a whole one, so freeze the leftover in little snack bags with 2T each, which is a convenient amount to use either whole or half to enrich soups, stews, sauces, etc.. I date the bags and usually use them up within a couple of months. I do the same with those fiery canned chipotles in adobo, 2 peppers + sauce per bag. I actually shaved off a generous tsp (about 1/4 of a pepper) from one still frozen to sub for the cayenne in this recipe. Chipotle adds a delicious barbecue flavor. Humm–I could also drop 1 T amounts on wax paper on a flat pan and freeze then dump the measured bits in a single container. Same for the chipotles–I’ll have to try that next time.
Sounds yummy! Could I sub in maple syrup for the molasses? Can’t wait to try!
That will definitely make it taste a lot different, but it might be good. It’s hard to say without testing it out. :)
Update – cooked recipe for lunch and subbed in maple syrup and it turned out amazing!
Thanks for sharing how it turned out! I know a lot of people will have that question! :)