[I]t’s taken me entirely too long to get to soak my red beans. ย A year! ย I’ve lived in New Orleans a year and I’ve never soaked my red beans to make a pot of Red Beans and Rice. ย Some nerve, really.
Red Beans and Rice is a Monday night New Orleans tradition. ย I thought Monday nights were reserved for red wine, salty popcorn, and M&M dinner… turns out I was totally mistaken. ย All the way wrong.
Red Beans and Rice is a Monday tradition because Monday was considered the “wash-day”…. laundry. ย Red Beans could cook on the stove, mostly unattended, all day while the laundry was done. ย Also, Red Beans could be made with the precious ham hock reserved from Sunday supper. ย In other words, everything makes sense. ย Ham, red beans, Monday laundry. ย New Orleans is doing it right and I need to get my act (and my laundry) together.
Let’s get this pot on the stove!
Classic Camellia Red Beans, dried but soaked.
Major soup flavors like onion, garlic, celery, pepper, and pancetta.
Parsley and thyme for fresh herb notes. ย Bay leaf for base flavors. Good chicken stock for roundness.
Lastly, smoked sausage, sliced, for that perfect layer of salty smoky pork.
Rice too! ย And it’s almost dinner!
Onions, peppers, and celery are added to a pot of crisp and cooking pancetta. ย We’re layering flavors. ย Pork meets classic stew vegetables. ย Very little can go wrong here.
It’s riiiiight about now, as the smell of cooking onions and peppers fill my kitchen that I’m like… CRAP I FORGOT TO SOAK MY BEANS!
How to Quick Soak Beans. ย The Kitchn saves the day. ย Like always.
Vegetables are really cooked down well. ย There are no half measures here. ย Red beans and rice are about almost burning everything. ย Almost. ย Taking vegetables and pork and beans to the edge of done.
That’s where all the flavor hides.
Fresh parsley, lots of minced garlic, and cooked smoked sausage are added to the well-browned vegetables. ย It’s already so good!
The sausage is cooked down until it’s crisped and almost gnarly. ย Everything gets extra done.
You’ll also note in the left corner, I’ve soaked my beans. ย Crisis averted.
Softened beans are added to the pancetta, vegetable, sausage, garlic goodness.
This is where some of you might yell at me for not adding a ham hock to my rice and beans. ย I know. ย What the heck is rice and beans without a dang ham hock!?!? ย Well… it’s still rice and beans. ย My version. ย It’s cool. ย Life goes on.
(I don’t know where the ham hock aisle is at the grocery store. ย Probably the butcher. ย Still tho. ย Still.)
Simmered until softened, fatty, smokey, spicy, and utterly irresistible. ย Serve with plenty of fluffy white rice, lots of fresh sliced green onions, and definitely invite at least two friends over for Monday gossip and good times.
Ps. ย Every single time I made rice I have to look it up: ย How To Cook Basmati Rice. ย Judge not.
Print New Orleans Red Beans and Rice
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: about 2 hours
- Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: Serves 8
- Category: dinner
Description
The coziest pot of beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried red beans, rinsed and picked through for stones
- 1/3 cup diced pancetta (or 2 slices of bacon)
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 green or red bell pepper, deseeded and diced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- pinch cayenne or a few dashes of Tony Chachere Seasoning
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, coarsely chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme, roughly chopped
- 1/2 pound cooked smoked sausage cut into 1-inch pieces
- about 10 cups chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 cups cooked white rice
- chopped green onions, garnish
Instructions
- Place clean dried beans in a medium pot and cover with room temperature water. Allow to soak overnight before making the beans.
- If you don’t have time to soak the beans overnight, don’t fret. Place the clean dried beans in a medium pot and cover with room temperature water. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil. As soon as the beans boil, cover, remove from heat, and allow to soak for 1 hour. Carry on with the recipe.
- In a large soup pot over medium heat, cook pancetta until very well crisp, about 6 minutes.
- Add the onions, celery, and bell pepper and cook until vegetables are very well done, about 8 minutes.
- Add salt, pepper, and cayenne or Tony Chachere Seasoning and stir to combine.
- Stir in the garlic, parsley, thyme, and sliced sausage. Increase heat to medium-high and cook until the sausage is well browned, about 5 minutes. Stir frequently.
- Add the softened beans to the pot, the stock, and bay leaves. Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for about 2 hours, uncovered, until the beans are well softened.
- Taste and season with more salt or pepper.
- For a slightly smoother consistency, blend about 1/3 of bean and sausage mixture in a blender or food processor and return to the pot. This way, some of the beans will be ground smooth and some will be kept whole, creating a really lovely consistency. You can also smooth out some of the beans by mashing them against the side of the pan once they’re softened, but I like the bender method best.
- Serve beans with white rice and a hearty garish of green onions.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6
100 Responses
If, on the off chance you made this for one person and have a year’s worth of leftovers, it makes an EXCELLENT brunch food with a couple of fried eggs laid on top!
Joy’s Red Beans & Rice Nachos are another delicious option! I’ve also successfully frozen the leftover beans! (sans rice) for future.
Thanks! Iโve used your recipe several times now. Love it! I tried ham hock before but there was a smell I wasnโt too fond of. So glad to see that you didnโt use it and it still tastes great. Btw, I was born and raised in New Orleans.
Made this(ish) last night! It was so good! I had bacon instead of pancetta and I had 45 minutes rather than two hours. Worked out & the leftovers for lunch were delicious.
These are THE BEST red beans and rice I’ve ever had… even reheated!!!
This recipe is amazing! I was transported back to my childhood growing up in E. Texas! I made it with chicken thighs in my slow cooker because my husband hates sausage (he’s from California, ’nuff said. It tasted just like I remember it…will be adding this to my meal rotation.
These beans were so good, deeply savory and aromatic. I loved it!
This was delicious! In lieu of the green bell peppers, I used several (10 or so) small sweet heat peppers from my garden. They are a bit like jalepenos, but less spicy. Similiar perhaps to poblano, but the spice level really added a great element. Also used closer to 12 oz. smoked German style pork sausage. Will definitely make again!
I made this using pancetta instead of my usual salt pork (couldn’t find it anywhere in stores) and it turned out to be the best pot of red beans and rice I’ve ever made! Mother and grandmother both born and raised in New Orleans. This tastes just like what my mother used to make when I was growing up. I cook my beans down so they’re nice and creamy which takes slightly longer, but you can’t go wrong using the ‘low and slow’ method. Yum, Yum, Yum, Yum Yum!
I have been making this for years.ย It’s amazing! I skip the pancetta because it’s impossible to find in rural America and I don’t use bacon because pancetta isn’t smoked (use a bit of olive oil). I use turkey/chicken andouille (both Jennie-O and Amylu’s are very good), I only use 5 cups of stock for a full recipe so that it’s not so watery. Everything else I keep the same – it’s so savory and delicious. Serve with coleslaw and cornbread!