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
K, I tasted the soupy part and it’s so good! The house smells of cinnamon which is the reason for my panic! 🙂 I see why you don’t add salt to the recipe! The Tonys is awesome! I had gotten two cans and a bunch of samples from their company and I’ve used it sparingly and don’t cook enough “cajun” flavored foods. Oh God I miss real dirty rice.. I’ll let ya know how it goes in spite of having tampered with the recipe! I bet it’s awesome though! Better if it were properly made I’ll bet! Thank you! 🙂 So happy to have stumbled across your blog and I can’t wait to read more and make more of your recipes!
OH DEAR!!! I’ve made 2 lbs of beans and thinking of doubling it, and SO excited to try this recipe, I added about a half a teaspoon of cinnamon BEFORE I read the following posts. 🙁 I only worry as I didn’t have the proper sausage or ham hocks etc.. I’m even out of bacon! And no one bash me please.. tried a small bit of… *blush* a breakfast type sausage. I think I went insane and was just SO excited about having beans and rice I just jotted the recipe down and went to town lol I never cook with cumin, my family won’t eat it.. which is a shame as I’m dying to try curry. (I ADORE the Two Fat Ladies cooking show and learned about it from there)
I too, lived in Louisiana. We moved there with some excitement though as we’ve lived all over the U.S. and just moved from West Texas and I was SO desperate for trees and green! EVERYONE was so sweet and friendly. The more East you go in the South, the sweeter people get. MHO. But people in La. are lovely. Of everywhere we’ve lived Bossier City was my favorite place ever.. and one day we’ll move back. I sure miss the shopping!!
FYI I LOVE Popeye’s Red Beans and Rice. 🙂 Which is how I found your blog, searching for a copy cat type recipe. We don’t have them where we live. Which is back in Texas. North Central-ish. My family’s from the north. And my husband and I debated (him being a born Texan and southern boy) what red beans were. He said they’re found as “Red Beans” I always thought they were pinto beans. :/ Just until I read above.. Had I known I’d have run out and got some and proper sausage too. I live in the country and it’s a pain to drive into town when it’s onlya couple of things. I thought I could improvise. I won’t do that again.
I laughed about your okra statement. 😀 I loove okra as well as gumbo. A favorite food, aside from potato soup (made the southern way 🙂 ) I have no recipes for it though. I think my sons old enough now he’d try it and like it. We have an herb and vegetable farm, with my own private gardens for family and kitchen use. This year my husband planted a whole row of okra just for me 🙂 He said there’s no way he’s harvesting them though! lol I’ve never grown them but hear they will bite ya. Anyways, I wish I could feed you some of my brother-in-laws mom’s gumbo (that was kinda funny) it’s amazing. I wish I had the recipe. It was mostly seafood and other meats and you can’t stick a spoon in it and not find shrimp. Yum… I need to go beg for that recipe now…
I’ll report back! NEXT time I promise to follow your recipes to a tee. Thank you mama 😉
I am making this tonight so I will let you know how it turns out!
I made this on a desperate whim during tax season this year because I needed something different to cook in the crock pot while I worked all day. Neither my husband nor my kids are beans and rice fans – but I was desperate for a crock pot meal! When I got home, the house smelled SO GOOD! We all ate our first bites with trepidation, but holy cow! YUM! My husband even said we could have this more than once a week and he’d be completely happy! That is a HUGE compliment! I made the recipe exactly as you said, except I soaked the beans overnight because I was afraid of getting “bullet beans” in the finished product. I also used brown rice instead of white because that’s how we roll in this house ;). Thank you so, so much! I’m also now hooked on this Tony Chachere’s seasoning. That stuff is really good! 🙂
Have this simmering on the stove top & love the aroma! Used small red beans instead of kidney. Can’t wait for supper!
I lived in Gonzales LA for 5 years and ohh those cajon folk were so friendly and loving! I ate my first red beans and rice at some hole in the wall under an interstate underpass. I thought I was in heaven. You forgot to tell everyone to serve it with corn bread…preferably crumbled into the red beans and rice. mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!
Just tried this yesterday! AWESOME! Thanks so much! I have always tried to “recreate” Popeye’s red beans and rice and failed…this is spot on!
We love this recipe!!! So good, made it for my extended family too and the kids turned their noses up till they tried it, they all wanted seconds!!! Tomorrow though hubby has asked that I sub Black beans but keep the rest the same (reminds him of Brazil a bit) so I hope it’s as good!
I know that some people don’t cook the okra enough to get rid of the slime effect. Try cutting up okra,celery and onions with a little cooking oil and baking them together for a few hours. You will need to stir this every now and then and it will cook down perfectly. No slime but nicely browned. We also usually don’t use roux and okra in the same gumbo. They are both used for thickening but I have had it both ways and I love gumbo. That being said the people in other parts of the state don’t smother the okra down like we do and you have all these big chunks floating around. My way is the old cajun down the bayou way and of course I think it is the best way.
Hi! Just wanted to say I loved your red beans and rice, and I’ve had plenty over the years. Dry beans always seem to take forever for me, so I did soak the beans, but otherwise I stuck to the recipe exactly and had perfect results. Thanks!