Cowboy Pie
Cowboy Pie is proper old school comfort food! Juicy sausages with baked beans topped with cheesy mashed potatoes. Perfect cold weather food!
When it comes to comfort food you really can't beat a plate piled high with Cowboy Pie!
Juicy sausages, cooked in a smoky tomato and baked bean sauce, topped with creamy mashed potatoes and finished with grated cheese for a little added deliciousness!
Our sausage and baked bean pie is great cold weather food and a super easy dinner recipe the whole family will enjoy. It's a great 'big family dinner idea' too, as it's easy to double up and make a huge tray of this yummy pie!
Serve the Cowboy Pie just as it is, or add a few family friendly side dishes. Garlic bread, peas and sweetcorn all work really well with this dish.
Plus you can easily make this using chicken or vegetarian sausages if you wish. And if you use frozen sausages and chopped onions and peppers, then this is practically a store-cupboard recipe you can throw together just with ingredients from the cupboard and freezer.
COWBOY PIE RECIPE
- Serves – 4 people
- Prep Time – 10 minutes
- Cook Time – 40 minutes
- Total Time – around 1 hour (but you can make this ahead of time or freeze for later)
- Make It Quicker – use tinned hotdog style sausages
- Our Most Popular Alternative – Easy Cottage Pie
EQUIPMENT NEEDED
- Chopping board
- Vegetable knife
- Saucepan with a lid
- Pan - a large skillet pan or frying pan works best here
- Potato masher
- Casserole dish
COWBOY PIE INGREDIENTS
You'll just need a handful of simple ingredients to make our tasty sausage and bean pie.
For the cowboy pie filling
- Olive oil - you can swap this for sunflower or rapeseed oil if you prefer.
- Onion - peeled and diced
- Red bell pepper - diced
- Pork sausages - (see cooks note below) you can swap these for vegetarian sausages if you prefer.
- Can of BBQ baked beans - we used Heinz
- Can of passata - choose a flavoured variety - we used Mutti pizza sauce flavoured with basil.
- Worcestershire sauce
- Italian seasoning
- Pinch black pepper
For the mashed potato topping
- Potatoes - peeled and chopped into chunks
- Butter
- Milk
- Cheddar cheese - grated
Cooks Note - Sausages!
When it comes to sausages, I like to remove the skins when using them in a pie - this is personal preference - it's easy to do just slit the sausage and flip it from the skin, then break the sausage into 4 pieces.
If you like the skins on - then just snip the sausage into four using scissors. You can also swap the pork sausages for vegetarian, chicken or whatever sausages you prefer.
HOW TO MAKE COWBOY PIE
Step One - fry the onions and peppers
- Add the olive oil to a skillet pan or frying pan over a medium heat. Then tip in the onions and peppers and fry for 5 minutes until starting to soften.
Step Two - brown the sausages
- Tip in the sausage pieces and fry them with the onions and peppers until they start to brown on the outside.
Step Three - add the rest of the Cowboy Pie filling ingredients to the pan
- Add the pasatta, BBQ beans, Worcestershire sauce, Italian seasoning and black pepper.
- Give everything a good stir together and then bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer for around 20 minutes on the hob whilst you make the mashed potatoes.
Step Four - preheat the oven
- Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F / Gas Mark 6
Step Five - make the mashed potatoes
- Cover the peeled and quartered potatoes with cold salted water.
- Bring the pan to the boil, keep the lid on so it boils faster.
- Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and cook the potatoes for around 20 minutes or until the centres feel soft when a knife is inserted.
- Drain the potatoes and mash with butter and milk to a smooth, creamy mash.
Step Six - make the Cowboy Pie
- Tip the cowboy pie filling mixture into an oven proof casserole dish.
- Add the mashed potatoes to the top of the filling and spread out with a fork.
- Then sprinkle the cheese over the top of the mashed potato layer.
Step Seven - bake the Cowboy Pie in the oven
- Put the Cowboy Pie into the oven and bake for around 20 minutes or until the mashed potatoes and cheese are turning golden.
- Then serve with your favourite side dishes and sauces.
Get loads more easy dinner recipes here
COWBOY PIE INGREDIENT SWAPS AND VARIATIONS
We've given you a super simple recipe for sausage, mash and beans pie. But there's loads of ways to add your own twist and make it your way!
Make spicy sausage pie
Add in some freshly chopped chillies, a pinch of chilli powder or curry powder and give your pie a spicy kick.
Make a hotdog pie
You can make this recipe more quickly and simply by using tins of hot dog sausages or a couple of cans of baked beans with mini sausages in them. You can still add the fried onions and peppers or skip them and just have a sausage, mash and bean pie.
Cook up a vegetarian sausage pie
Just swap the pork sausages for your favourite plant based variety and skip the Worcestershire sauce (as it usually contains anchovies) and turn this into a veggie pie.
Make sausage and baked bean stew
You can eat the sausage and baked bean pie filling just as it is. However, if you're doing this, be sure to cook the filling and sausages through properly for at least 30 minutes on the hob, as they won't be cooking in the oven with the mashed potato topping.
You could serve this with baked potatoes, mashed potatoes or just some crusty bread for dipping in.
Browse all our meat recipes here
TIPS FOR MAKING COWBOY PIE
Can I make Cowboy Pie ahead of time? - yes, just make the pie to the end of step 6. Then place it in the fridge covered in foil, then cook in the oven and add extra cooking time to ensure that it's heated properly throughout. I'd recommend that you cook and eat the pie within a day of making, and always within the use-by date on ingredients used.
Can I freeze Cowboy Pie? - yes, again, just make the pie to the end of step 6. Then cool, cover rightly with foil and then slip inside a freezer bag, labelled and dated. Then place in the freezer, it will keep for up to 3 months. You might find it more useful to make the pie in a disposable foil tray (you can pick these up on Amazon in multipacks) This way you can batch cook easily and load up the freezer with yummy meals!
MORE SAUSAGE RECIPES TO TRY
- Sausage Casserole
- Sausage Hotpot
- Sausage Bap With Boozy Onions
Get all our delicious sausage recipes here
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Cowboy Pie
A super easy sausage, mash and beans pie that's simple to cook and great for family dinner with the kids.
Ingredients
For the Cowboy Pie Filling
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion - diced
- 1 red pepper - diced
- 6 pork sausages
- 400g can BBQ baked beans
- 400g can pasatta
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- pinch black pepper
For the mashed potato topping
- 1kg potatoes
- 30g butter
- 75mls milk
- 100g Cheddar cheese - grated
Instructions
Make the Cowboy Pie Filling
- Add the olive oil to a skillet pan or frying pan over a medium heat. Then tip in the onions and peppers and fry for 5 minutes until starting to soften.
- Tip in the sausage pieces and fry them with the onions and peppers until they start to brown on the outside.
- Add the pasatta, BBQ beans, Worcestershire sauce, Italian seasoning and black pepper.
- Give everything a good stir together and then bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer for around 20 minutes on the hob whilst you make the mashed potatoes.
- Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F / Gas Mark 6
Make the mashed potatoes
- Cover the peeled and quartered potatoes with cold water. Add a pinch of salt.
- Bring the pan to the boil, keep the lid on so it boils faster.
- Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and cook the potatoes for around 20 minutes or until the centres feel soft when a knife is inserted.
- Drain the potatoes and mash with butter and milk to a smooth, creamy mash.
Make the Cowboy Pie
- Tip the cowboy pie filling into an oven proof casserole dish.
- Add the mashed potatoes to the top of the filling and spread out with a fork.
- Then sprinkle the cheese over the top of the mashed potato layer.
- Put the Cowboy Pie into the oven and bake for around 20 minutes or until the mashed potatoes and cheese are turning golden.
- Then serve with your favourite side dishes and sauces.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 653Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 72mgSodium: 885mgCarbohydrates: 81gFiber: 10gSugar: 15gProtein: 24g
Nutritional content will vary depending on the exact ingredients you use and how careful you are with measuring - this nutritional information is given as a general guide only and may not be accurate - you should always calculate your own nutritional information especially if you have specific dietary requirements.
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Wendy is the creator of Daisies & Pie, a UK food blog sharing easy meals and home lifestyle tips since 2012
