The 2011 North Queensland Cowboys season was the 17th season in the club's history. They competed in the National Rugby League's 2011 Telstra Premiership. They finished the regular season in 7th place and were knocked out in the first week of the finals by the eventual premiers, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.

After missing the finals the previous three seasons, finishing 15th in both 2008 and 2010, the Cowboys underwent a major overhaul of personnel for the 2011 season. Club legend Ty Williams retired and they parted ways with club favourites Luke O'Donnell, Carl Webb and Steve Southern. Their biggest signing for the 2011 season was Queensland and Australian representative centre Brent Tate. They also made key recruits in the signings of former Melbourne Storm and Queensland State of Origin representative Dallas Johnson, premiership winner Glenn Hall from the English Super League, re-signing a former Cowboy in Gavin Cooper and picking up younger, experienced first graders such as Antonio Winterstein.

The Cowboys' new signings had a positive impact on the NRL team, with the club spending the majority of the year in the top four before a late slide dropped them to seventh position and giving them their first finals appearance since 2007. In 2011, they were the most watched NRL club on pay television, and their Round 4 clash against the Parramatta Eels was the fourth most watched sports event in Fox Sport's history.

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