One Pot Cowboy Spaghetti

One Pot Cowboy Spaghetti is pure comfort food heaven! This hearty, protein-packed dish combines crispy bacon, smoky kielbasa, seasoned ground beef, and tender spaghetti all simmered together in one skillet with tomatoes and topped with melted cheddar cheese.

Love More Spaghetti Recipes? Try My Cheesy One Pot Spaghetti or this One Pot Spaghetti with Meat Sauce next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

A bold twist on classic spaghetti, this one-pot dish combines seasoned ground beef, smoky bacon, and tangy barbecue sauce for a hearty, flavor-packed meal. It’s cheesy, savory, and satisfying — the perfect comfort food for busy weeknights or laid-back weekends.

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Ingredient List

Proteins:

• 4 strips bacon, chopped
• 1 ring (13 ounces) kielbasa sausage, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
• 1 pound ground beef

Aromatics and Seasonings:

• 1 yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Liquids and Sauces:

• 1.5 cups (12 ounces) beef broth
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons hot sauce (or to taste, optional)

Pasta and Tomatoes:

• 8 ounces dry spaghetti, broken in half
• 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) petite diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce

Cheese and Garnish:

• 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• Chopped chives, for garnish

Why These Ingredients Work

That bacon grease stays in the pan – just one tablespoon of it – and becomes the foundation for every other flavor you’re building. First time I made this I poured it all out like some kind of responsible adult and the whole thing tasted flat. Learned that lesson quick.

Kielbasa brings smoke and salt and this meaty richness that ground beef alone just can’t match. I’ve tried making this without it and my kids immediately noticed something was off. They didn’t even know what was missing but they knew it wasn’t right.

Cooking the pasta directly in all that meat and tomato liquid means every single noodle gets flavored from the inside out. The starch that releases while it cooks thickens up the sauce naturally. It’s the difference between pasta with sauce on it and pasta that actually tastes like something.

Sharp cheddar matters because you need that tang cutting through all the richness. Mild cheddar just disappears. And I specifically use petite diced tomatoes because my kids will actually eat visible tomato chunks if they’re small enough. Crushed tomatoes freak them out for some reason.

Essential Tools and Equipment

• Large, deep skillet with a lid (at least 12 inches is ideal)
• Slotted spoon
• Paper towels
• Wooden spoon or spatula for stirring
• Sharp knife and cutting board
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Cheese grater (if shredding cheese fresh)

How To Make One Pot Cowboy Spaghetti

Step 1: Cook the Bacon

Chop up your bacon and throw it in the skillet over medium-high heat. Stir it around every couple minutes for about 7-8 minutes until it’s brown and crispy. Fish it out with a slotted spoon onto paper towels. Now pour off most of that grease but eyeball about a tablespoon to leave in there.

Step 2: Brown the Kielbasa

Drop your kielbasa slices into that bacon grease and let them sizzle for 4-5 minutes, flipping them once so both sides get some color. Move them to the plate with the bacon when they’re done.

Step 3: Cook the Aromatics

Toss your diced onion in the pan and let it cook down for 3-5 minutes till it’s soft. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper and keep stirring for another minute. Don’t walk away during the garlic part or it’ll burn and you’ll have to start over. Done that twice.

Step 4: Brown the Ground Beef

Add your ground beef and break it into smaller pieces with your spoon as it cooks. Keep going till all the pink is gone, maybe 5-8 minutes depending on your stove. If you’ve got a puddle of grease forming, drain most of it off.

Step 5: Add Liquids

Turn your heat down to medium-low. Pour in the beef broth, Worcestershire, and hot sauce if you’re using it. Scrape the bottom of the pan good to get up all those brown stuck-on bits.

Step 6: Return Meats

Put the bacon and kielbasa back in. Stir everything around so it’s mixed together. Your kitchen smells ridiculous right now.

Step 7: Add Pasta

Break your spaghetti in half and lay it over everything in a criss-cross pattern instead of dumping it all in one pile. First time I made this I just dumped it and wound up with a solid mass of stuck-together noodles.

Step 8: Add Tomatoes

Pour both cans of tomatoes over the top – don’t drain them, you need that liquid. Add the tomato sauce too. Push the pasta down gently till most of it’s under the liquid but don’t stress if some sticks out.

Step 9: Simmer

Put the lid on and let it simmer. Every 5 minutes you gotta take the lid off and stir it, then put the lid back. I set my phone timer because otherwise I’ll get distracted and forget. Do this for 15-20 minutes total. Pasta’s ready when you can bite through it without it being hard in the middle.

Step 10: Combine and Cheese

Take the lid off for good and mix everything together really well. Smooth out the top, then cover the whole surface with shredded cheddar. Lid back on for about 5 minutes till the cheese melts.

Step 11: Serve

Throw some chopped chives on top if you’ve got them. I usually forget to buy them. Serve this hot. My family starts eating it right out of the pan before I can even get it to the table.

You Must Know

The One Tablespoon Rule: Pour off all that bacon grease except about one tablespoon. I made this once keeping like half the grease because I thought more flavor would be better and ended up with something that tasted like I’d wrung out a bar towel into a pot of spaghetti. Gross.

Personal Secret: After I drain the ground beef I press it with paper towels to soak up even more grease. My mom showed me this when I was learning to cook and it makes everything taste cleaner somehow.

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

• Laying the pasta in a criss-cross pattern actually matters. First time I made this I dumped all the broken spaghetti in the middle and it welded itself into one giant pasta puck at the bottom of my pan.
• Every 5 minutes you gotta stir this. Set a timer. Put it on your phone. Tell Alexa. Whatever it takes because burnt stuck-on noodles are impossible to scrub off.
• Buy a block of cheese and shred it yourself. Pre-shredded has some kind of coating that makes it melt weird and slightly gritty.
• You need a big skillet for this. Tried it in a smaller pan once and literally had tomato sauce all over my stovetop.
• Wait till everything’s simmering before adding pasta. I added it too early once and the noodles just sat there absorbing cold liquid and turned into wallpaper paste.
• Running late? Those pre-cooked bacon bits from a bag work fine. Not as good as fresh but they’ll get you dinner 10 minutes faster.

Flavor Variations & Suggestions

Spicy Cowboy: Use twice as much hot sauce and chop up a jalapeño to cook with the onions. Switch the cheddar for pepper jack. My husband dumps extra hot sauce on his because he’s got something to prove.

Italian Twist: Swap kielbasa for Italian sausage and skip the hot sauce. Use Italian seasoning instead. Top with mozzarella and parmesan. Basically becomes a different meal.

Tex-Mex Style: Add a tablespoon of taco seasoning. Use chorizo instead of kielbasa. Top with pepper jack cheese. Add sliced jalapeños if you’re feeling bold.

Lighter Version: Ground turkey, turkey bacon, turkey kielbasa. Add diced bell peppers and zucchini. Still tastes good, just won’t give you a food coma after.

Veggie Boost: Bag of fresh spinach thrown in during the last 2 minutes. Wilts down to basically nothing but makes me feel like I’m feeding my kids something nutritious.

Smoky BBQ: Couple tablespoons of BBQ sauce mixed in with the Worcestershire. Makes it sweet and smoky and kind of addicting.

Make-Ahead Options

Partial Prep: Brown all the meat and cook the onions the night before. Stick it in the fridge. Next day just pick up from adding the liquids. Cuts your actual cooking time way down when you’re rushing.

Meal Prep Friendly: Make this on Sunday. Tastes even better on Tuesday after all the flavors have had time to hang out together. I portion it into containers and take it to work for lunch.

Freezer Meal: Make the whole thing, cool it completely, freeze in portions. Pull one out when you get home late and need dinner in however long it takes your microwave to heat something up.

Recipe Notes & Baker’s Tips

• Pasta keeps absorbing liquid even after you’re done cooking. If you’re planning on leftovers, save half a cup of broth to add back in when you reheat.
• Pasta still crunchy after 20 minutes? Add more broth and give it another 5 minutes with the lid on.
• That cheese on top isn’t decoration – it actually makes the sauce creamier and helps bind everything together.
• Let your ground beef sit out for 15 minutes before you start cooking if you remember. Room temperature meat browns better than fridge-cold meat.
• Don’t break the spaghetti into tiny pieces. Half-length is perfect. Shorter than that and it gets mushy and weird.

Serving Suggestions

This is filling enough that you honestly don’t need sides. When I’m trying to impress someone or we have company, I’ll throw together a quick salad with whatever vegetables are in the crisper drawer and dump some bottled Italian dressing on it. Garlic bread for soaking up sauce – I buy the frozen kind because I’m not making bread from scratch on a weeknight.

Sometimes I roast broccoli if I’m pretending to be healthy. Green beans work too. Cold beer goes with this perfectly, or sweet tea if that’s more your style.

Most nights I just put the whole skillet on the table on a trivet and everyone serves themselves. Keeps the food hot, I don’t have to wash a serving dish, and it looks kind of cool in a rustic way.

How to Store Your One Pot Cowboy Spaghetti

Refrigerator: Let it cool on the stove with the burner off till it’s not hot anymore, but don’t leave it sitting out for more than two hours. Transfer to whatever airtight container fits it and refrigerate for up to 4 days. Reheat portions in the microwave for 2-3 minutes, stirring halfway. Or warm it on the stove over medium-low, stirring occasionally. Looks dry? Add a splash of water or broth. The day-after leftovers honestly taste even better than when I first make it.

Freezer: Cool completely, transfer to freezer containers or heavy zip bags. Squeeze out as much air as possible. Write the date on it with a Sharpie or you’ll never remember when you made it. Keeps for 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then reheat on the stove with a little extra broth. Or heat it straight from frozen in a covered pot with a quarter cup of broth on low for 15-20 minutes, stirring every few minutes.

Pro Storage Tip: I split this into individual portions before freezing. That way I can grab just one container for lunch without thawing the whole batch.

Allergy Information

Common Allergens in This Recipe:

• Dairy: Cheddar cheese
• Gluten: Spaghetti pasta
• Potential Allergens: Worcestershire sauce sometimes has anchovies

Substitution Suggestions:

Dairy-Free: Leave off the cheese or use whatever dairy-free cheese you like. Nutritional yeast works if you’re into that flavor.

Gluten-Free: Use gluten-free pasta and check your Worcestershire bottle – some brands have malt vinegar with gluten. Cooking time might be different so start checking it earlier.

Fish/Anchovy-Free: Get vegan Worcestershire or mix coconut aminos with a little balsamic vinegar.

Lower Sodium: Buy low-sodium broth, skip the added salt, look for reduced-sodium tomatoes and sauce.

Questions I Get Asked A Lot

My pasta stuck to the bottom – what did I do wrong?

Heat was too high or you didn’t stir enough. Needs to be medium-low after you add the pasta. And seriously set a timer to stir every 5 minutes. That criss-cross pattern when you first add the spaghetti helps prevent clumping too.

Is there a way to make this in a slow cooker?

My friend makes it in her slow cooker. She browns all the meat first then dumps everything except cheese in on low for 3-4 hours. Says you gotta watch the liquid and add more broth if it’s getting dry. Cheese goes in at the end. Her pasta comes out softer than mine though.

The sauce looks too thin – how do I thicken it?

Take the lid off and let it bubble away for another 5 minutes. Or stir in a spoonful of tomato paste. It’ll also thicken up as it sits because the pasta never stops absorbing liquid.

💬 Tried this recipe? Leave a comment and rating below! I want to hear how yours turned out and what you changed.