Cowboy Kent Rollins on Cooking with Fire, Storytelling, and Cast Iron Cowboy

Kent Rollins doesn’t move fast. He never has. That’s part of the job.

On a patch of red dirt near the Oklahoma-Texas line, Rollins built a life one fire at a time — Dutch ovens in the coals, cast-iron skillets seasoned with more than oil, and coffee that could wake the dead. He’s fed cowboys and governors, beat Bobby Flay on national television, and wrangled more than 6 million followers across the internet without ever acting like a man trying to go viral.

“I’m not here for fancy,” he says. “I’m here to feed you, and maybe tell you a story while I do.”

“Cast Iron Cowboy” Kent Rollins

Rollins grew up on cattle ranches along the Red River. His first taste of cowboy cooking came deep in the Gila Wilderness of New Mexico, feeding elk hunters and sleeping under stars. In 1993, he bought and restored an 1876 Studebaker chuck wagon — Bertha — and hit the road. Not to chase a trend, but to keep something alive.

He hasn’t stopped since.

Now, he’s taking that fire to the small screen. In an interview on the Your Ag Empire podcast, Rollins joined host Jonathon Haralson to talk about his new Outdoor Channel series Cast Iron Cowboy, which premieres Sept. 29. The show follows Rollins and his wife Shannon — the driving force behind their growing digital empire — as they travel from ranch to ranch, cooking old-school meals over open fire and honoring the people keeping the range alive.

The first season takes viewers across Wyoming, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma and beyond. Recipes include cowboy staples like wagon wheel steaks, bison chili, and chicken-fried steak done right. But Rollins says it’s never really been about the food.

“It’s about sitting down,” he says. “It’s about connection. The world spins fast — folks need a place to land.”

His stories are as seasoned as his cast iron. On the podcast, he talked about cooking for branding crews, losing friends to the pace of modern life, and why folks still need fire and truth in equal measure.

“You cook like this, people remember it,” he said. “They don’t just eat it — they feel it.”

Rollins has three best-selling cookbooks, a YouTube channel with millions of subscribers, and a brand that stretches far beyond cowboy country, but his roots stay close. Even as he films and edits and caters and entertains, he still makes time for fall gathers, spring roundups, and the occasional back porch coffee with a neighbor who just needs to talk.

He’s not reinventing anything. He’s reminding us what we forgot.

“Tradition matters,” he said. “It’s not something you dust off for company. It’s something you carry with you. Every meal, every story, every mile.”

And he’s still rolling. With Bertha in tow, dogs in the trailer, and Shannon riding shotgun, Kent Rollins is showing the world what it looks like to feed people — really feed them — and mean it.

Because in his world, you don’t get full on fancy. You get full on home.