I had never tried Red Beans & Rice before I moved to Louisiana many years ago. I’ve eaten a lot of the dish since, and everyone has their own “way” of doing it. This is my version–red beans from a Utah girl living in the South and learning from the best! This slow cooker dinner recipe is comforting, flavorful, and simple.
Ingredients Needed
- Red Kidney Beans – if you’re at a higher elevation, it’s important to soak these overnight (or for at least 5 hours) before proceeding with the recipe; raw or undercooked beans are high in lectin content, which can lead to stomach upset.
- Chicken Broth – you can get yours from a carton or can at the store, or make your own.
- Smoked Sausage – we recommend Andouille sausage for this recipe, if you can find it. A large, meaty ham bone works well too.
- Onion – a sharp knife, well ventilated area, and chilling the onion beforehand will result in less tears while cutting.
- Garlic – we recommend using freshly minced garlic for this recipe, not jarred.
- Cajun or Creole seasoning – Tony Chachere’s is the best! If you’re using Andouille sausage, omit this ingredient.
- Cumin
- Coriander
- Oregano
- Cinnamon – not a typo; you definitely don’t want to leave this out!
- Smoked paprika – or liquid smoke to taste
How to Make Red Beans & Rice
- Soak the beans overnight (or for at least 5 hours), if you are at a higher elevation. If you don’t have time for soaking beforehand, you could also cook the beans longer in the slow cooker; just be sure to adjust your timeline accordingly and start earlier in the day.
- Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker, and cook for 4 – 5 hours.
- When beans are tender, mash most of them while still in the slow cooker.
- Cook rice and serve. Most people in the South put their rice on the bottom with beans on top, but you can put in your beans first too. This recipe makes 8 1-cup servings of beans, and 8 1/2 cup servings of rice.
Tips
- If you’re looking for a really good quality smoked sausage, try a local butcher. Quality sausage makes a world of difference in this recipe!
- For leftover storage, store the red beans and rice separately from each other.
- When re-heating rice, always add 1 – 2 tablespoons of water per cup of leftover rice. Heat in 30 second intervals until it’s piping hot. Due to food safety concerns, it’s recommended to reheat leftover rice only once. Take out only what you need, or reheat it all together and discard any remainder.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you’re close to sea level, yes, just please ensure they are rinsed and sorted first. If you’re at a higher elevation, we recommend soaking the beans for 5+ hours (or overnight), or, plan on a longer cooking time in the slow cooker.
Yes! Just note, the flavor might not be as rich and as complex with canned beans. Keep in mind, you’ll just have to get around 8 cups of mashed beans and liquid (you want it semi-soupy, not thick like canned refried beans). You will probably want to cut down on the amount of water used, and include some of the liquid from the beans. We have never personally tried it this way, so we can not offer any guarantees on the outcome.
Yes! Although the classic Red Beans and Rice calls for – you guessed it, red beans – this method makes any variety of bean taste delicious. Black, white, or pinto will all taste great with the same technique.
Sorting and rinsing beans means to comb through the dry beans carefully, and remove any stones, damaged beans, or other debris. Then, rinse under cold water to remove dust and dirt. It’s surprising what can end up in dry beans, so taking a moment to complete this step is vital.
Yes! Freezer meal instructions can be found at the bottom of the recipe card.
Red Beans and Rice
Equipment
Ingredients
Beans
- 1 pound red kidney beans, dry rinsed and sorted
- 6 cups chicken broth
- ⅓-½ pound smoked sausage, or 1 large, meaty ham bone Andouille sausage recommended
- 1 onion chopped
- 4-5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon Cajun or Creole seasoning Tony Chachere’s is the best; omit this if using Andouille sausage
- ¾ teaspoon cumin
- ¾ teaspoon coriander
- ¾ teaspoon oregano
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon not a typo; you definitely want this in there!
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika or liquid smoke to taste
Rice
- 4 cups water
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 2 cups white rice
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low all day, or you can start on high until it starts to simmer and then switch it to low. If you're at a high elevation, the beans will need to cook longer and/or you need to soak them overnight before you start cooking them in the morning.
- When beans are tender, mash about 85-90% of them against the side of the crock pot. Give them a taste and add any extra seasonings if you need to, particularly more Tony’s or salt and pepper. Replace lid and set heat to “low", or "off".
- In a medium saucepan, bring 4 cups water, 1 tablespoon white vinegar, and 2 cups of white rice to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and steam for 20 minutes.
- Serve beans with rice.
Questions & Reviews
These red beans and rice look awesome! 🙂 My hubby and I just recently moved to Louisiana, Kate (from Dallas, Texas) so I totally agree with you that it IS a whole new world! And even though I've been a southerner for my whole life, Louisiana is definitely MORE southern then Texas! haha Moving so far away from family was the hardest thing, but after living here now for about 3 months, I've learned to like it a lot more here. 🙂 The people are really friendly (they remind me a lot of Texans) and YES the food is pretty darn amazing! I have yet to try crawfish (though my husband totally digs them), but the other seafood here is really, really good (and I am NOT a big seafood fan at all). I can't wait to try this recipe! 🙂 Thanks for sharing! (Oh and btw, I think you guys' food blog is fantastic!!!)
Mmm red beans and rice! My dad lives in Louisiana so I've eaten my fair share while visiting him. I tried making it at home several times using kidney beans and was always disappointed because it didn't taste quite right… Next time I was down in Louisiana, I took a close look at the red beans and realized they were way too small to be kidney beans. They actually are a bean variety called red beans! Bought a bag of dried red beans, took them home to Alaska, and made perfect crock pot red beans and rice 🙂 They've even started selling dried red beans at the store here so I don't have to bring them home in my suitcase. I suspect which variety of beans you use may be a regional thing?
Couple things… reading this made me homesick, slightly. I'm not from Louisianna, nor have I ever lived there. But we recently lived in Gulfport, Mississippi for 18 months. Everything was foreign to me when we got there, but I made it home and tried out all those cajun recipes. Some were good, some not so good! I liked red beans and rice though; I'll have to try your recipe. I love the crock-pot idea!
And secondly, I noticed the WW points. Were you counting points for awhile, because I've never noticed them before… Can you do that for all your recipes?? I love WW, and LOVE having the points there! YEA!
This is the best red beans dish I have ever had…spiced just right! I have to admit that I have been eating it cold out of the leftover dish all morning.
oh and we make our own gumbo… my husband hates louisiana gumbo which is so weird since he’s the one from louisiana.
How we do ours… no veggies. None. Just chicken, sausage and roux with lots of tony’s and served over rice… YUMMY!
I too once was a Utah girl living in Louisiana… I cried the whole 27 hours it took us to drive there.
But everybody was right… some of the kindest people and the best food in the whole world! I miss living there every day.
I can’t wait to try your recipe… we loooooooooooooooooo red beans and rice!
Love this blog!!!!
MaryRuth
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I’ve been wanting to try this recipe for a while. I finally made it for dinner tonight. I love this recipe! So easy! Delicious! I think my husband was convinced as soon as he saw the sausage! Up until now I’ve been intimidated by dried beans. I can’t believe how easy this recipe was! Thank you so much for the recipe!
I have the beans in the crock pot for about 5 hours now, they are for tomorrow’s dinner, I’ll finish them tomorrow as they are not soft enough yet.
We used to joke “Way up North in Shreveport”. We even thought BR was north 😉 growing up in NO and Met. We’re almost at the coast but near the TX border now, can’t get much more southern especially since RITA wiped out what WAS south of us.
Bella–where we are depends on who you ask! 🙂 Most people consider us about as far north as you can get and still be considered South Louisiana. Let me know how this goes for you–and now I’m all nervous that someone from Louisiana is trying my recipe! 🙂
North or South Louisiana? I’m in the South. I’ve never seen cinnamon in red beans but am going to try it. The idea of cooking in the crock pot is great too! Never tried it but am anxious to see how well it works for me so I won’t have to keep checking that the beans don’t burn. I’ve got ham and tasso on hand so may use that instead of the Andouille. Thanks for posting this!