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Skillet Cowboy Spaghetti is a deep skillet recipe that will serve a crowd, bursting with flavor, loaded with protein (aka what every cowboy needs), and will quickly become a family favorite recipe.
This cowboy spaghetti recipe has many great flavors accompanying the homemade meat sauce with lean ground beef and pantry ingredients.
Plus who doesn’t love a kind of fusion dish that marries chili and cooked spaghetti, with crisp bacon, and topped with loads of cheese and green onions that the whole family will enjoy?
More great and easy dishes like this cowboy spaghetti casserole recipe with hearty ingredients:
Ingredients used to make Skillet Cowboy Spaghetti:
- Strips crispy bacon, diced
- Medium yellow onion, diced
- Ground beef (I like 80/20)
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Garlic powder
- Cumin
- Smoked paprika
- Kidney beans
- Corn, drained
- Meaty tomato, diced
- Diced green chilis
- Tomato sauce
- Regular spaghetti
- Shredded pepper Jack cheese
- Shredded cheddar cheese
Equipment Needed
For this recipe, you only need a few simple kitchen tools. We recommend using the following equipment:
How to make Skillet Cowboy Spaghetti:
- Cook the bacon. In a large oven-safe skillet, cook bacon over medium heat, sauteing until nice and crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Dab the bacon with paper towel to get the little excess fat.
- Saute the onion. Add the onion to the pan and saute until translucent.
- Brown the beef. Add the beef to the pan and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, and smoked paprika. Cook the beef until browned and cooked through, breaking it apart as you go.
- Build the sauce. Stir in the kidney beans, corn, tomato, diced green chilis, and tomato sauce.
- Simmer. Bring the spaghetti sauce to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Let it simmer while you cook the spaghetti noodles.
- Cook the pasta. Cook spaghetti in a large pasta pot per the package’s instructions to al dente (don’t forget to salt the pasta water). Drain the spaghetti, reserving 1 cup of pasta water.
- Preheat the oven. While the pasta is cooking, preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Put it all together. Stir the spaghetti into the sauce along with the chopped bacon. Stir in half of the pepper Jack along with the cheddar cheese. Cook until the cheese has melted into the sauce. If the sauce has a hard time adhering to the pasta, stir in a bit of pasta water to loosen it up.
- Bake. Sprinkle the pasta with the remaining cheese and bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese is nice and bubbly. Serve it with some garlic bread and you are good to go!
Things to add to this cast iron skillet recipe:
Simple changes to recipe ingredients is a great way to create the meal of your dreams and and satisfy all appetites. This is kinda of the cowboy theme of this dish, throw it all in and you’ll be fed well! Here are a few ideas:
- Swap some of the diced tomatoes for diced fire-roasted tomatoes for extra heat or even some red pepper flakes
- Add in some rinsed black beans for a heartier dish
- Chop some green pepper or red peppers to add some veggies to the dish
- Sprinkle a small amount of chill powder or a dash of hot sauce for an even more robust flavor
How to store this not-so-traditional spaghetti:
Put any of the leftover spaghetti in an airtight container and store it for 4-5 days in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat this delicious meal again.
Enjoy More Delicious Pasta Recipes
We’ve rounded up some of our best pasta recipes, including creamy tomato rigatoni, puttanesca, macaroni and cheese, and more. Check out our comprehensive collection of pasta recipes here.
- Skillet Lasagna
- Baked Spaghetti Casserole
- Beef and Noodle Casserole
- Cheesy Pizza Pasta Casserole
- Chicken Cordon Bleu Lasagna
- Chicken Pasta Casserole
- Creamy Chicken Lasagna
- Homemade Lasagna
- Instant Pot Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
- Instant Pot Loaded Mac and Cheese
Skillet Cowboy Spaghetti Recipe
Skillet Cowboy Spaghetti is a skillet recipe that serves a crowd, bursting with flavor, loaded with protein and a family favorite recipe.
Serving Servings
Ingredients
- 6 strips of bacon, diced
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 pound ground beef, (I like 80/20)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon cumin
- 2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 15 ounces kidney beans, (1 can)
- ½ can corn, drained
- 2 tomatoes, large, diced
- 4 ounces diced green chilies, (1 can)
- 15 ounces tomato sauce, (1 can)
- 12 ounces spaghetti noodles
- 2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Cook the bacon. In a large oven-safe skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat, sauteing until nice and crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Saute the onion. Add the onion to the pan and saute until translucent.
- Brown the beef. Add the beef to the pan and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, and smoked paprika. Cook the beef until browned and cooked through, breaking it apart as you go.
- Build the sauce. Stir in the kidney beans, corn, tomato, diced green chilis, and tomato sauce.
- Simmer. Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Let it simmer while you cook the pasta.
- Cook the pasta. Cook the spaghetti per the package’s instructions (don’t forget to salt the pasta water). Drain the spaghetti, reserving 1 cup of pasta water.
- Preheat the oven. While the pasta is cooking, preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Put it all together. Stir the spaghetti into the sauce along with the bacon. Stir in half of the pepper Jack along with the cheddar cheese. Cook until the cheese has melted into the sauce. If the sauce has a hard time adhering to the pasta, stir in a bit of pasta water to loosen it up.
- Bake. Sprinkle the pasta with the remaining cheese and bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese is nice and bubbly.
Notes
Change up this recipe:
- Swap some of the diced tomatoes for diced fire-roasted tomatoes for extra heat or even some red pepper flakes
- Add in some rinsed black beans for a heartier dish
- Chop some green pepper or red peppers to add some veggies to the dish
- Sprinkle a small amount of chill powder or a dash of hot sauce for an even more robust flavor
Nutrition
Calories: 754 kcal · Carbohydrates: 68 g · Protein: 48 g · Fat: 32 g · Saturated Fat: 16 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 3 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 10 g · Trans Fat: 0.3 g · Cholesterol: 114 mg · Sodium: 1279 mg · Potassium: 1165 mg · Fiber: 9 g · Sugar: 7 g · Vitamin A: 1493 IU · Vitamin C: 15 mg · Calcium: 485 mg · Iron: 7 mg
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
This spaghetti is a fun, hearty twist on classic pasta that came together in no time!