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
I made this today. It was so good! Even my non-bean-eating 11 year old ate it. Better yet, my food allergy kid can eat this with us.
Is this spicy? I’ve never had Popeye’s so that comparison doesn’t help me. I don’t like spicy at all and neither do my kids. The creole/cajun seasoning sounds like it would be spicy.
The Cajun seasoning *is* spicy, but relative to the rest of the dish, you’re not using very much. I would definitely recommend staying away from Andouille or other spicy sausage if you’re trying to stay away from spice, use the Cajun seasoning, and then when they’re done cooking, use season to taste with salt. Hope that helps!
I love beans and rice, and this looks delicious!!! I’d make it more often, except don’t y’all need some bean-o or something after eating it; or am I the only one 🙁 ? Kate, does it help to drain the soak water off repeatedly? That would kinda’ nix the easy idea of throwing it all in the crockpot at the beginning, right?
Nope, no need to drain–there’s just enough broth to reach a good consistency once the beans cooked and they’re mashed a little. As for the beano, I don’t ever need such things. KIDDING. It just kind of comes with the territory, lol!
I’ve heard the soaking and disposing of the soaking water helps, but that hasn’t been my experience. Nevertheless, you could try soaking these beans in plain water overnight, then draining before proceeding with the recipe as written.
One of my very favorite recipes from your site! One I come back to often. I served s mission in Louisiana and this is the best recipe I could find for red beans and rice! Yum! Thanks!
Natalie, when were you here?!
I had these at a friend’s house for the first time this week and they are excellent! I’m glad you reposted the recipe for me.
For fun, take the main picture, rotate it 180 degrees (upside down), then zoom in on the spoon. We can see photographer 🙂
Haaaaa! I wondered if anyone would notice! 🙂
This post is old, so I don’t know if you will even see this comment, but I hope you do.
My family loves these beans. This is one of the only “beans and rice” dishes that certain picky children do not grumble over, and that my carnivore husband eats enough of to not be starving in an hour.
I recently had to go dairy free, and all of the chicken base I have contains whey. Boo hiss. Do you think I could just maybe use chicken broth and decrease the water by that amount instead?
Yep, absolutely! I actually do this pretty frequently! 🙂
Made this today since I was snowed in and had all the ingredients. Oh. My. Goodness. What a delicious recipe! My hubby absolutely loved it. I have tried so many of your recipes and every single dish turns out amazing. So thankful for your blog 🙂
I made this tonight after finding it on Pinterest. All I can say is OMG this is excellent. And the cinnamon adds a wonderful flavor.
ONE more question… sorry to fill your wall. How does one steam rice!?