Red Beans and Rice is a staple in Louisiana. A hearty and healthy rice dish with some spice! With the beans and rice, this makes the recipe a budget-friendly option. Just thinking about this recipe gets my tummy rumbling.
Red Beans and Rice history
Red beans and rice traces its roots to 18th- and 19th-century Louisiana, where French, Spanish, African, and Caribbean influences blended into Creole cuisine. Traditionally prepared on Mondays—laundry day—the dish simmered slowly while households attended to chores. Dried red beans, readily available and inexpensive, were cooked with leftover pork bones or ham hocks, creating a hearty, flavorful meal served over rice, a staple crop of the region. Enslaved Africans and later Creole cooks shaped its seasoning profile, introducing spices, onions, celery, and bell peppers—the “holy trinity” of Louisiana cooking. Over time, red beans and rice became a symbol of New Orleans culture, comfort food, and community gatherings, evolving from a practical dish into a culinary icon enjoyed across the United States.
For this recipe I will use canned red or kidney beans. This is easier and much faster for preparing a meal. Andouille sausage adds a bit of flavor and spice to the dish. One can substitute Italian sausage for Andouille sausage.
Red Beans and Rice
Ingredients
Method
- Cut up the vegetables and place them in one bowl.
- Cut up the sausage and place it in a second bowl.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and sauté the sausage. Brown the sausage in the pan for 5–7 minutes. Remove the sausage from the frying pan and set aside.
- Deglaze the pan with the vegetables for about 5 minutes.
- Add the beans, chicken stock, garlic and cooked sausage to the pan, as well as the Cajun seasoning. Sauté over medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Add the tomato sauce and tomato. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve the mixture over the cooked rice (dirty or not).
Notes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to sauté pre-cooked sausage?No you don’t, however, I like to sauté them in order to brown the sausage. This caramelizes the meat and enhances the flavor. It also helps release the spices from the sausage into the dish. Why don’t I cook the vegetables with the Cajun seasoning?
Have you ever had one bite of a dish and thought it was pretty mild with regard to spices, and the next bite was very spicy? If you add the spices with the liquid of the chicken stock and beans, this will help move the spices around much more evenly.
Dirty Rice
Rinse the rice with water, then add the amount of water following the directions on the package. Add 1 teaspoon of dry chicken stock powder per cup of rice (if using liquid chicken stock, subtract 1/2 cup of water and replace it with 1/2 cup of chicken stock per cup of rice). Add 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper per cup of rice and 1 teaspoon of Herbes de Provence per cup of rice.Substitutions for Herbes de Provence
- ½ teaspoon Basil
- ½ teaspoon Oregano
- ½ teaspoon Thyme
Equipment Needed
- Teaspoon/Tablespoon measuring set
- Measuring cups
- Knife
- Cutting board
- Rice cooker or 1½ quart pot with lid
- 12-inch frypan with lid
- Spatula
- 2 bowls (one for chopped vegetables, one for chopped sausage)
- Can opener
