Red Beans and Rice
by Chungah
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Louisiana red beans and rice! With smoky andouille sausage, the holy trinity, and the creamiest red beans, topped with white rice.
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Why you’ll love this red beans and rice recipe
- Comfort food goodness. Firstly, this dish is quintessential comfort food, consisting of thick, creamy, tender beans, smoky andouille sausage, and Cajun seasoning.
- Budget-friendly. Red beans and rice is not only budget-friendly, but also incredibly filling, making it an economical, high protein, and high fiber dinner for the entire family to enjoy.
- Versatile and flexible. This recipe can easily be customized with different proteins or made vegetarian-friendly!
- Makes for the best leftovers. The flavors meld even more overnight, making for the most perfect leftovers and meal prep.
What is red beans and rice?
Red beans and rice is a classic Louisiana dish made with red beans, sausage, and the “holy trinity” (onions, bell pepper, and celery), typically served over white rice alongside cornbread and hot sauce.
Monday tradition
This dish was served on Mondays known as the “wash day” tradition, a day devoted to laundry. Cooking a pot of red beans, a slow cooked, no-fuss meal, allowed more time for chores to be completed.
How to make red beans and rice
- Cook the rice. Cook the rice to package instructions. Long grain white rice (ex. jasmine) is generally the gold standard for red beans and rice.
- Brown the sausage. While the rice is cooking, brown the sausage in batches until lightly browned; set aside.
- Add the holy trinity. Stir in the onion, bell pepper, and celery until tender.
- Cook the aromatics. Stir in the tomato paste, garlic, and Cajun seasoning until fragrant.
- Simmer. Add the red beans, chicken stock, hot sauce, bay leaf, and cooked sausage, simmering for 15 minutes covered, and then an additional 15 minutes uncovered.
- Mash the beans. Using a wooden spoon, mash the beans for a creamier consistency.
- Serve. Top with the cooked rice, garnished with parsley, and served alongside some cornbread.
what to serve with red beans and rice
Red Beans and Rice: Frequently Asked Questions
Not at all! There is no need for an overnight or quick soak here. This is a super quick recipe using canned red beans – perfect for when you just don’t have the time to soak dry beans.
I recommend using small red beans or kidney beans.
Traditionally red beans and rice is prepared with spicy andouille sausage but kielbasa is also a solid option.
The spice level can be adjusted to mild by using mild andouille sausage and omitting the hot sauce.
Absolutely! Similar to lasagna, red beans and rice taste better the very next day, allowing the flavors to meld and intensify overnight.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers without the rice (or else they will get mushy) in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop, adding freshly cooked rice when serving.
Red Beans and Rice
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 (12.8-ounce) package smoked andouille sausage, thinly sliced
- 1 medium sweet onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 2 celery ribs, diced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons Cajun seasoning, salt-free
- 3 (15-ounce) cans small red beans or kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- In a large saucepan of 2 cups water, cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Working in batches, add sausage, and cook, stirring frequently, until sausage is lightly browned, about 3-4 minutes; set aside.
- Add onion, bell pepper and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in tomato paste, garlic and Cajun seasoning until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in red beans, chicken stock, hot sauce, bay leaf and sausage; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Uncover; continue to simmer until reduced, an additional 15 minutes.
- Using a wooden spoon, mash beans until slightly thickened, if desired; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately, topped with rice and garnished with parsley, if desired.
Equipment
Notes
- Serve with long grain white rice. Use long grain, basmati or jasmine rice – all light and fluffy to absorb and soak up the creamy, saucy beans. Avoid short grain, sushi rice or instant rice.
- Tomato paste adds so much flavor. Tomato paste adds body and richness in small amounts without adding too much liquid. Opt for tomato paste in a tube, using up only what you need at a time without having to open up a whole can.
- Use small red beans or kidney beans. Soaking dry beans is not required here. Canned red beans (or kidney beans) allows this recipe to come together so fast, making it a true weeknight hero.
- Mash the beans. Add the finishing touches by mashing up about 1 cup of the softened beans off to the side of the pot – this is what makes the red beans and rice so thick and velvety creamy.
- Make it vegetarian. For our vegetarian friends, substitute plant-based sausage for the andouille sausage, and vegetable stock for the chicken stock.
- Pair with cornbread. Serve with a scoop of rice and a side of cornbread, a quintessential pairing.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
made according to recipe, added 1 tsp cumin and used smoked turkey sausage. first time ever made this, and give 5 stars for this recipe. my husband loved it also. going in my recipe book. thanks for sharing it.
Making this tonight with Cajun sausage from this year’s deer hunt.
I love this recipe! I make it vegan by using vegetable broth and Tofurkey brand vegan Andouille sausage, adding a bit more cajun seasoning and keeping everything else the same, and it’s a hit in my house!
Wooowwww!! This was so delicious! Made for the superbowl tonight! Very simple to put together and followed directions except a little longer simmer at the end to thicken a bit more. The chicken andouille sausage I used had alot of sodium so no added salt was necessary for our taste. Winner!! Will make again for sure!
Absolutely awesome! We added 2 beef kelbosa, 2 cans of chicken broth 1 cup of water and 1 1/2 tsp HAM boilon! It was great! The ham flavor added a nice added flavor!
Can’t thank you enough for this recipe. Made exactly as stated. This was “damn delicious”! Have made this many times over. If you don’t try it, your missing out! Now, if you could perfect a quick French Cassoulet recipe, I would deeply appreciate it!
Love your recipes and your is one of the few websites I visit again and again. Thank you!
Chungah, I have been addicted to your website for a while now and recommend it to all I know (most recently my 23 year old niece who is starting to cook)! How is it that you are not on the Food Network yet? Your meals are super delicious, always fresh, easy to follow, beautifully photographed, etc. You are the full package! Thanks so much!
Tried this recipe with spicy Italian sausage and it turned out awesome! I’m always looking for ways to incorporate more protein and fiber and this fits the bill!
Thanks!
What kind of beans should I use if I don’t care for kidney?
Question for any/all: Because I like to use dried beans but also the Instapot,how would you convert timing/liquid for this recipe to be done in the IP?
There is an instapot version of this recipe on her blog
This looks so amazing and I’m eager to try it! My family is unfortunately a non-spice family. Any tips on what ingredients I could use to keep it mild?
Make your own Cajun seasoning and leave out the cayenne. Just paprika, garlic powder, thyme, pepper, oregano and onion powder.
I have made this, on numerous occasions. It’s always, damn delicious, and almost perfect on consistency. I haven’t been able to tear myself away from this website. This is my go to website for most of my meals. Once this is removed from heat, and set aside. The consistency changes, and makes it more hearty. The rice absorbs the juices and it makes for a great meal on a cold day. This. Is. Delicious.
This was Amazing!!! My store had no Cajun seasonings so I made my own. First time making this and will now be a staple in my house I added ham shanks to mine and let it simmer for more than an hour. Comfort food at its finest. Mahalo for sharing this recipe.
Very well described and I loved it..Thank-you!
This is the second time I’ve prepared this dish and it’s so delicious. I added a 1/2 tsp more of cajun this time. This recipe will be part of our rotation collection of delicious recipes.
Great recipe, I simmered it longer and the flavor was wonderful
Delicious made a few adjustments due to what was in our pantry used corn and ranch style beans. Cavendars seasoning and chili paste instead. Loads of flavors!
Great recipe! I used kidney beans and thanks to the reviews below, cooked it for double the amount of time. It wasn’t too soupy or tomato-y, like some of the reviews. There was enough for 3 of us and then some leftovers. I had it with homemade cornbread and a salad, with Franks Red Hot on the side.
If your red beans are too “soupy” then you did it wrong. Mash some of the beans in the pot (as you’re supposed to) after the stated cook time. Typically takes about 15 min. Do this while simmering. Come on y’all, figure it out
As written this tastes like tomato sauce with andouille. I’ll skip the tomato paste next time