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?
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I just made this for dinner and it was really delicious- full of flavor and nice and spicy! Stuck at home under the coronavirus quarantine and still can’t find dry beans so had to use canned kidney beans which made me nervous but the texture was fine. I drained and rinsed them thoroughly before adding them. I also had to use water instead of chicken broth but this recipe has so much other flavor I don’t think it lost anything. I am excited to make this again next week with some homemade hush puppies.
My son asked if I would make something that included andouille sausage, as he was feeling nostalgic from our New Orleans visit. I searched online for a recipe and came across yours. I followed the directions (except for scaling down the veggies and seasoning) but only used two (2) cans of beans because I didn’t have three. Didn’t want to overpower the dish since I was not using the full three cans the recipe called for. I must say, it was delicious!!! The cajun seasoning and hot sauce gives it just enough heat to not be unbearable. This is definitely going to be put (and kept) in my rotation. I’ve been trying to find new ways to incorporate beans into my meals and thanks to you, I’m one step closer. My son, who can be a pit picky, loved this. Thank you for sharing!!!
My 1st time ever making red beans and rice. I used dried dark red beans. Cooked the beans in water and chicken bullion. Saved 3 cups of that liquid to combine later with the recipe. SO FLAVOR FULL!!!! Followed every step to a “T”. DELICIOUS! Love finding a recipe that is “THE ONE”, the first time I make it. Definitely a keeper!
I made this today and OH MY LORD!!! It is sooooo good! I followed the directions precisely. Only thing I changed is I used Louisiana Cajun Seasoning that had salt included. I will be making this again and again!
Fantastic recipe – have made as written several times and it never disappoints. Easy and delicious!
This recipe is fantastic and easy to follow! I used kielbasa (what I had on hand) and it was really good!
I just made this dish and honeyyyyy. Flavorful and such an amazing taste.
Wow! This recipe blew my socks off! I made it exactly according to the recipe except that I used Jenny-O Turkey Andouille sausage. You’d never know the difference! Your recipes are always spot on!
Thanks!
Can I give you 100 stars. WOW !!!!! This recipe is so deliciously amazing that it has been added to my kitchen cookbook. This is my go to meal when I need my NOLA fix. Yes I will be signing up.
This has become a go to!!! Love this dish.
This was great and SUPER easy to make. Thank you so much! My husband asked me to make sure I save this one and put it in my cook book.
Enjoyed what I made but can’t help but wonder if I did something wrong. Mine did not end up looking as red as the one in the picture. Mine was more of a brown color. Also I used organic canned dark red kidney beans. I’m thinking these were not the right type of bean lol.
Any ideas as to why mine looked so different?
Matt, You can actually buy canned beans called Red Beans. They are not as big or as thick skinned as kidney beans. Walmart for sure carries them; Safeway too, I think. Maybe the brand of tomato paste lent to the color being not so red. But hey…if it tasted good, who cares! I hope that helps.
I made this using canned and rinsed red beans instead of Kidney beans and thought it was wonderful! Posting on another group I was admonished by a cook who was in New Orleans because I did not use Kidney beans; though I found people and sites backing both versions. Various explanations of the why and wherefore of Cajun versus Creole recipes. I had never heard of and have since I found that I might be able to get it here in North Texas (H-E-B) or by ordering online, so I might add some pickled pork to the preparation in the future.
Absolute banger of a recipe.
There’s a lot of RB&R recipes out there, but this is by far the easiest and most flavorful I’ve found. Bookmarked!
I used butter instead of oil to cook the holy trio (onion, celery, pepper) and added pre-cooked sausage at the very end.
I made this today and it is delicious! We don’t eat meat so I just followed the rest of the recipe until I got to the stock. Oh no, I only had a cup and a half of veggie stock. Went with that anyway and I think it just made for an even more concentrated and tasty sauce. We will be having this again.
Yum, yum, yum, and yum; one for me, one from my husband, and two from our tummies. Oh, this was so good. Thank you. Definitely a keeper.
My family loved this recipe!! Prefect for Mardi Gras Day
This is a good recipe to make from scratch. It was easy if onion celery and green pepper or chopped up in advance. My Cajun seasoning was salty, so I held back and added my own blend of cayenne, chili powder, and Spanish smoky paprika to taste. As a last step, I rinsed and drained a can of red kidney beans and mash them before adding to the pot. This served as additional thickening for the dish. I like serving the rice on the side or sparingly over the top so this is a great way to serve red beans and rice!
Made this for Mardi Gras and it was absolutely delicious!! I used smoked kielbasa and browned some more to add to each serving. Also made sure to scoop out the cup of beans to mash them well for extra creaminess. Served bowls with generous 1/4 cups of basmati & chopped fresh parsley, and big chunks of your go-to cornbread on the side. This is a total keeper for any time of year. So good, i was looking for more even though it lasted me for days. Thank you so much for this!! xx
Excellent. I prefer for the celery, bell pepper and onions to be super soft, so I simply cooked longer. I used jasmine rice instead cooked with chicken bouillon. Will do this one again!
So yummy
All the picky eaters loved it