Have you tried red beans and rice? My first taste of red beans and rice wasn’t at my grandma’s, like so many of my other Southern friends. It was at a local restaurant.
Love creole red beans and rice? You'll want to check out our other delicious Mardi Gras recipes for jambalaya and gumbo.
About
Red beans and rice is a signature dish of Louisiana Creole cuisine made with red beans and pork. It was traditionally served on Mondays, which was laundry day, and made use of Sunday’s leftover ham bone.
This simple dish would simmer for hours, making it an ideal choice for a housewife that was busy doing laundry. It was cheap to make, tasted delicious, and felt so comforting that it quickly became a popular dish.
Ingredients
Red beans and rice uses ingredients that are readily available in the most of the U.S. The only ingredient that might be hard to find is Camellia red beans (affiliate), which can be ordered online.
- Cooking Liquid: most recipes use water versus chicken stock.
- Vegetables: holy trinity (onion, celery, green bell pepper)
- Beans: dried red beans (Camellia brand is highly recommended)
- Pork product: ham bone, ham hock, ham, pickled meat, andouille, bacon, tasso
- Spice Profile: garlic, bay leaf, black pepper, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes
- Garnish: parsley, green onion, hot sauce, pickled pearl onions
How to Make
- Start by soaking the dried legumes with the preferred method. Rinse then place in a large, heavy-bottomed metal pot, and cover with two inches of cold, salted water.
2. Put the lid on and bring to a rolling boil for 10 minutes. Shut the heat off, but keep the pot on the element with the lid on tightly. Let them soak for a minimum of one hour. After an hour of soaking time, they will have swollen and changed in color. Drain and rinse.
3. While they are soaking, prep the rest of the ingredients. Chop up the vegetables for the holy trinity of onion, celery, and bell pepper. I've added a large peeled carrot to help absorb some of the indigestible sugars.
Heat up the fat of choice (lard, bacon grease, or vegetable oil), then add the chopped vegetables. Saute for 5 minutes.
4. Add the spices (red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, black pepper, thyme, and paprika). Stir constantly and cook for one minute.
5. Add the soaked legumes, chicken stock, water, carrot, and bay leaves. Mix well with the holy trinity and nestle in the two ham hocks.
Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium low and simmer for 3 hours with the lid askew. Stir occasionally so they don't stick to the bottom of the pot.
6. After two hours, remove the ham hocks, and place them on a large plate to cool. This will take roughly 45 minutes.
7. During the last 15 minutes of cooking time, remove 3 cups of the red beans.
8. Place in a bowl and mash with a potato masher. You can also mash with the back of a wooden spoon or with the tines of a fork right in the pot. This technique will help you achieve a creamy texture.
9. Once the meaty ham hocks are cool enough to touch, cut the meat off the bone and chop it up. Add most of the ham back to the pot and keep some back for garnish.
Remove the bay leaves and the carrot.
10. Add the chopped ham back into the pot. Sprinkle on the salt and sugar and give it a good stir. Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary.
Let them simmer for another 15 minutes to meld the flavors. Now, it's ready to serve.
11. Serve this recipe over fresh rice (in the recipe card) and garnish with chopped ham hock, green onion, and a few cracks of black pepper.
12. Provide additional garnishes and condiments for your guests to enjoy, such as chopped parsley, a bottle of hot sauce, a shaker of vinegar, and pickled pearl onions.
Recipe FAQs
No, they are not. Red beans are smaller, rounder, oval shaped and have red skin. The flavor is more delicate and the texture is softer. We use Camellia red beans for our recipe. This brand will give you creamy red beans after they are cooked and mashed. This brand also becomes more creamy after 24 hours, so it's best to make them a day ahead.
It's best to make white rice cooked with onions and a bay leaf, then serve with cornbread or French bread. Add pork to the beans, such as a meaty ham bone or meaty ham hocks. Andouille sausage is also very popular.
During the last 15 minutes of cooking, take out some of the beans and mash them with a potato masher or the back of the wooden spoon and return them to the pot.
Yes, it is a healthy meal. A standard serving size of one cup of beans with ½ cup of rice has 13.4 g of dietary fiber, 20.4 g of protein, 7.1g of fat, and is high in vitamin C and iron.
Serve
The most popular way to serve this recipe is to keep them separate. This allows the guest to decide the ratio they would like and keeps the rice from absorbing the liquid. Traditionally, the ratio is twice as much beans to rice, but if it is extra spicy, a guest might reverse that ratio, if they prefer things on the milder side.
It’s also nice to provide additional garnishes and condiments for your guests to enjoy. The most common choices are chopped green onions, parsley, a vinegar based hot sauce, and vinegar, but we also like to add pickled pearl onions. An old school garnish is placing a sieved egg on top.
Store
- Make Ahead: This type of food tastes better the next day, so if you have the time and the patience to wait. It's best to make it a day ahead.
- Leftovers: If you have any leftovers, cover them so they're airtight and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Freeze: If you would like to freeze your leftovers, allow them to cool completely, then store in freezer friendly containers or zip-top bags. Make sure to label them with the date. They will keep for up to 3 months.
- Thaw: Thaw from frozen in the fridge overnight.
- Reheat: Place the thawed legumes in heavy-bottomed saucepan and reheat over medium heat until heated through. Stir occasionally.
Expert Tips
- Want a creamy texture? Fifteen minutes before serving, mash some of the legumes with a fork, wooden spoon, or potato masher.
- Want to adjust the spices? Fine tune the seasonings in the last 15 minutes, and add the salt at this time.
- You'll know when the beans are done when they are a consistent, creamy texture and they have broken up. If they are still hard after soaking and cooking, it could be due to age, hard water, or high altitude.
- Don't eat pork? Use smoked turkey neck or smoked turkey drumstick instead.
- If you want to add Andouille sausage, brown it first until it's crispy and the fat has been rendered out before you saute the trinity. (It's not traditional to add Andouille to red beans and rice; ham hocks, and leftover ham bone are.)
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Recipe
Creole Red Beans and Rice
Ingredients
For the Red Beans
- 2 pounds dried red beans, soaked, drained, and rinsed (Camellia brand)
- 4 tablespoons fat, like bacon grease, lard, or vegetable oil
- 3 cups yellow onion, diced (2 large onions)
- 1 ½ cup red bell pepper, chopped (1 large pepper)
- 1 cup green bell pepper, chopped (1 medium pepper)
- 1 cup celery, diced (5 celery stalks)
- 4 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
- 4 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ¾ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 smoked meaty ham hocks
- 2 cups chopped meat from the ham hocks
- 4 cups reduced sodium chicken stock
- 4 cups filtered water
- 1 large carrot, peeled (optional)
- 6 bay leaves
- 4 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
For the Rice
- 1 tablespoon fat, like bacon grease, lard, or vegetable oil
- ½ small onion, diced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups long-grain white rice
- 3 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
For the Garnish
- bunch of spring onions, green part only, sliced diagonally
- handful of flat leaf parsley, rinsed with stems removed
- pickled pearl onions
- white vinegar, for each guest
- vinegar based hot sauce, Crystal's, Frank's, Tabasco, Texas Pete's
- a fresh grind of black pepper
Instructions
Preparing the Dried Red Beans
- In a large Dutch oven, cover the legumes with water and bring it to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Shut the heat off, but keep the pot on the element with the lid on tightly. Let them soak for a minimum of one hour to a maximum of overnight, then drain and rinse the legumes in a colander.
Making the Red Beans
- Heat the fat in a large soup pot over medium-high heat for 2 minutes.
- Once the fat has heated up, add the holy trinity (onions, celery, bell peppers) and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the dried spices and cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in the soaked red beans, chicken stock, water, and bay leaves, then add the carrot and nestle in the two ham hocks and cover. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to medium low and simmer for 3 hours. Stir occasionally so they don't stick to the bottom of the pot.
- After two hours, remove the 2 ham hocks and place them on a large plate. Wait for them to cool, roughly 45 minutes, before cutting the meat off the bones and adding it back into the pot. Stir until well combined.
- During the last 15 minutes, remove 3 cups and mash with a potato masher, then return back to the pot. This gives the mixture a more creamy texture. Mix in the salt and sugar and adjust seasonings to taste. If necessary, add some water to get the desired consistency. Serve hot.
Making the Rice
- In a medium saucepan, heat the fat over medium-high heat, then saute the diced onion. Add a bay leaf and the salt, then cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Stir in the 2 cups of rice and pour in the chicken broth. Cover and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes, then remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve warm.
Serving
- Keep the red beans and rice separate so each guest can serve themselves. In a bowl, place the desired amount of rice (roughly ½ cup), then ladle the red beans on top (roughly 1 cup). The basic ratio is double the red beans to rice.
- Sprinkle with green onions and parsley, and have the hot sauce and vinegar available for guests to add to their bowls. Add the vinegar 1 teaspoon at a time to your bowl. Also, add pickled pearl onions. Enjoy!
Notes
- Want a creamy texture? 15 minutes before serving, mash some of the beans with a fork, wooden spoon, or potato masher.
- Want to adjust the spices? Fine tune the seasonings in the last 15 minutes, and add the salt at this time.
- You'll know when they're done when they are a consistent, creamy texture and they have broken up. If your they are still hard after soaking and cooking it could be due to age, hard water, or altitude.
- Don't eat pork? Use smoked turkey neck or smoked turkey drumstick instead.
- If you want to add Andouille sausage, brown it first until it's crispy and the fat has been rendered out before you saute the trinity. (It's not traditional to add Andouille to red beans and rice, ham hocks and leftover ham bone are.)
Nutrition
Serving sizes and nutritional information are only an estimate and may vary from your results.
This post was originally published on April 11, 2018 and republished on February 18, 2019 with updated photos and content. It was republished on January 21, 2022 with resized photos and updated content.
Rachelle
Made this today, and it was delicious! Used meaty ham bone instead of hocks and added cooked bacon. Will definitely make again!!!
Emma
Rachelle, Yes, red beans and rice would taste amazing with a meaty ham bone and cooked bacon. Thanks for letting us know that you will definitely be making this again.
Lauren
This was DELICIOUS! I did ham hocks and andouille...it tasted amazing.
Do you know why my beans split so much after soaking in cold water overnight? Do you sometimes find the beans take longer than 4 hours to cook?
Thanks for the recipe.
Emma
Beans can split when not properly soaked or properly salted, or the beans could be too old and too dry. Beans burst when the inside becomes overcooked. Stir the beans to promote even cooking, as cooking times vary depending on soaking time and the age of the beans. Keep the cooking water a a gentle simmer, then add water periodically during the cooking process to keep the beans covered. Some beans will split; it's just the way it goes.
Nunya Bidnez
Mistake found under "Making the Red Beans" (need the noun and adjective be upper-cased?) step #3:
'Once the fat has heated up, add the holy trinity (onions, celery, carrots)'
Bell pepper and not carrot is a "Holy Trinity" element (and here, upper-casing is required).
Emma
Hi Nunya! The capitalization of "Making the Red Beans" is grammatically correct. In French cooking, a mirepoix of onion, carrot, and celery is added to soups and other dishes to add flavor. In Cajun/Creole cooking, they use a "holy trinity" of onion, celery, and bell peppers instead. Holy trinity does not need to be capitalized here, because we aren't speaking about the Lord.
We did have an error there; carrot is added later and isn't part of the holy trinity. Thanks for letting us know!
Beth
Red beans and rice is so good, I could eat it every month. The vinegar is awesome with the rice and the soft beans; it's the taste of perfection.
Emma
Red beans and rice definitely is the perfect comfort food dinner!