Authentic Red Beans and Rice Recipe

Red Beans and Rice is a mouth-watering dish with a thick and creamy texture and a depth of flavor that is simply irresistible. Passed down through generations, this family recipe is sure to leave your guests asking for seconds.

This Red Beans and Rice Recipe is a recipe that I inherited from my mother-in-law. It’s a combination of recipes – my husband’s late Grandma from New Orleans, his late Maw from Bogalusa, and now I’ve tweaked it a little based on a trick I learned from the chef we had at our wedding in New Orleans.

Making authentic red beans and rice is a bit of a labor of love because it takes some time – I always make a double-batch and freeze some – but it is a fairly easy recipe. This particular recipe has the stamp of approval from my Cajun husband and his brother, and it is one of our family’s favorite meals. I always serve it to guests with instant pot white rice and homemade southern cornbread because it is the ultimate comfort food, and everyone loves it.

While mostly known for its flavor, red beans and rice also has some cultural significance. In Louisiana, red beans are traditionally served on Mondays, which used to be known as “wash day” or “laundry day,” and families would cook a huge pot of beans while doing their laundry. (A lot of families still do!)

It’s a staple in Louisiana cuisine and is loved by locals and visitors alike. And just like gumbo or etouffee, every family makes their own variation. Whether you try it at a family gathering or in a restaurant, this is a must-try dish.

Table of Contents

1. 🥘 Ingredients Needed
2. 🫘 Are Red Beans & Kidney Beans the Same Thing?
3. 🚰 How to Soak Dried Red Beans
4. 🍴Equipment Needed to Make Authentic Red Beans
5. 🥣 How to Make the Best Red Beans
6. ✏️ Tricks to Thicken Red Beans
7. 🍳 What to Serve with Louisiana Style Red Beans
8. 🥡 How to Store Leftover Red Beans
9. 🧊 How to Freeze Red Beans
10. 🍳 How to Reheat Leftovers
11. ✏️ Tips to Make the Best New Orleans Red Beans
12. 🙋‍♀️ Frequently Asked Questions
13. Louisiana Red Beans and Rice Recipe
14. 🌶️ More Delicious Creole Cuisine

🥘 Ingredients Needed

• Red Beans – I like to use Camellia Beans. These are dry beans that are large red kidney beans.
• Butter
• Bacon
• Seasoning Ham, Leftover Ham, or Ham Hocks – You can use leftover holiday ham, a ham bone, or smoked turkey necks – it’s really a matter of personal preference and a matter of what you happen to have on hand. Use what you have and what you need to use up. Pork bones and smoked meats will impart such an amazing flavor to a pot of red beans, but I don’t recommend using something that can splinter into little pieces, like leftover smoked chicken or turkey carcasses with little bones. (Save those for collard greens!)
• Filtered Water
• Chicken Broth or Chicken Stock
• The Cajun Holy Trinity – Onion, Celery, & Green Bell Pepper
• Garlic
• Bay Leaves
• Spices – Kosher Salt, Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning, Dried Parsley, & Black Pepper
• Cooked White Rice for serving
• Pepperoncini Peppers and Vinegar for serving

🫘 Are Red Beans & Kidney Beans the Same Thing?

Well, yes and no. The red beans traditionally used to make red beans and rice are red kidney beans. So yes, you want to use large red kidney beans. In the grocery store, you will also see small red beans. While delicious, small red beans will cook into a pile of mush before this recipe is done cooking.

There are generally different brands of red beans that you can buy, but whenever possible, I highly recommend purchasing them from the New Orleans-based company Camellia Beans. If you can’t find them, Blue Runner Red Beans are also good, and if not, use what you can find. (You’ll notice that the store brand or Goya brand will be more of a purple color than red, but they will work in a pinch.)

🚰 How to Soak Dried Red Beans

The first step to making tender red beans is to soak the dried beans. Below is how I do it; Camellia Beans also has a lot of suggestions.

• Cold Soak: Add the red beans to a large bowl with 8 cups of water. I usually soak them until most of the liquid is absorbed, which takes at least two hours. I usually soak them for 2-4 hours. (You can also soak them overnight to start cooking your red beans in the morning.) When the beans have absorbed most of the liquid, drain them and rinse them off.

• Hot Soak: If you are in a hurry, you can also do a “hot soak” or “fast soak,” which is how I make butter beans. Place your beans in a large pot with 8 cups of water and bring it to a boil. Once the water begins boiling, cover the pot and remove it from the heat. Let the beans sit in the hot water for 30 minutes to an hour, then rinse them and set them aside until you are ready to add them to the boiling stock.

🫘 Why Soak Beans?

It allows them to cook a lot faster and a lot more evenly. It also keeps you from getting poisoned by glycoproteins that we can’t digest, so that’s a plus.

🍴Equipment Needed to Make Authentic Red Beans

• A Large Heavy Pot – A good pot is really important when making red beans. As they start to get thick, the beans can burn on the bottom. Using a heavy-bottomed pot will make sure that heat is distributed evenly so you don’t get hot spots and scorched beans.
• A Large Bowl and Colander
• A Sturdy Wooden Spoon – Red Beans start to get THICK and hard to stir, so a spoon or spatula with some heft is essential.
• A Sharp Knife & a Cutting Board

🥣 How to Make the Best Red Beans

Once your beans have been soaked as directed above, dice up your bacon and seasoning ham into bite-size pieces. If you don’t have seasoning ham, you can use some leftover holiday ham or toss a ham hock or a smoked turkey neck into your broth once it starts simmering.

Heat a large pot over medium heat and add a tablespoon of butter. Once the butter is melted, add the diced bacon. Cook until it starts to get a little crispy. (Pictures 1-3)

Add the seasoning ham and cook until the ham is lightly seared and the bacon is crispy on the edges. (Pictures 4-5) While the ham and bacon are cooking, you can dice up the holy trinity – the onion, green pepper, and celery – and don’t forget the pope, the garlic. If desired, you can remove the ham and bacon from the pot with a slotted spoon and leave the bacon grease and butter behind, but for convenience, you can also just leave it all in the pot.

Now, add the holy trinity – onions, celery, green peppers, and then garlic and saute it all until the onions are translucent. (Pictures 6-7)

Does your dog stare at you while you cook?

When the onions are nice and soft, add salt, pepper, parsley, and Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning. (Pictures 8-9) Mix well. (If you do not have access to Tony’s Seasoning, you can make your own homemade Bayou Blast Cajun Seasoning Mix.)

Next, add water, chicken broth, then bay leaves. (Pictures 10-11) Stir well, then bring this to a boil.

Now, add the soaked beans to the boiling broth. (Picture 12-13) Bring everything back up to a boil, then reduce the heat to keep it at a simmer. On my stove, this is usually the 2 or 3 out of 9 on the stove’s knob.

Simmer the red beans on low heat for about 1 ½ – 2 hours at a minimum. (Picture 14-15) Check on the beans and give them a stir every 30 minutes or so, making sure to stir all the way down to the bottom of the pot, checking to make sure that the bottom is not burning. If it seems like the beans are bubbling a little too aggressively, you can turn the heat down even more.

The beans will be pretty thick after two hours, but once they are taken off the heat, they will continue to thicken up.

Toward the end of the cooking time, slice up some smoky andouille sausage or smoked sausage (my husband likes the brand DD’s) and cook it in a frying pan.

Get a nice sear on all of the pieces of sausage, and add some to your bowl of red beans when serving. You can add the sausage directly to the pot of red beans, but we prefer to add it to the bowl when serving so that the sausage stays crispy, and everyone can add as much as they want.

✏️ Tricks to Thicken Red Beans

To be honest, I don’t do anything special to thicken my beans; I just cook them for a long time. They thicken as they cook. The longer they cook, the thicker they get.

If you don’t want to wait as long for them to cook, you can mash some of the beans against the side of the pot with the back of your spoon and let the mashed beans thicken the broth.

🍳 What to Serve with Louisiana Style Red Beans

Serve red beans over fluffy white rice and top with diced pepperoncini peppers and andouille or smoked sausage. (My husband also likes to pour a little of the juice from the peppers into his beans.) Some people also like to top their red beans with hot sauce, green onions, or fresh parsley.

On the side, you can serve:

• Southern Cornbread
• Collard Greens
• Fried Catfish or Fried Chicken Tenders

🥡 How to Store Leftover Red Beans

Once cooled, store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Store sausage, red beans, and rice in separate containers. Red beans are even better the next day.

🧊 How to Freeze Red Beans

Leftover red beans freeze really well, so you can also freeze portions to break out on a busy evening when you just don’t have time to cook a full meal. Just cook some rice in the Instant Pot, and dinner will be ready in a few minutes!

I like to either use Souper Cubes to freeze portions of two cups at a time, or I just freeze giant blocks in a plastic container. It is so dense that it basically becomes a giant ice cube in the freezer, so I often freeze giant blocks of red beans to bring on vacations, and it keeps our cooler cold as we travel.

🍳 How to Reheat Leftovers

When reheating red beans, heat them slowly over very low heat with a cover on, stirring frequently so that they don’t burn, or heat them covered in the microwave. (I will also add a little chicken broth to the bottom of the pot to loosen up the beans as they warm back up.)

Reheat leftover rice covered with a damp paper towel to remove the “crunchiness.”

✏️ Tips to Make the Best New Orleans Red Beans

• The longer your beans cook, the thicker the broth will get. Our family likes them thick, so we cook them until they are no longer brothy. If you want them to have more of a soupy consistency, you can add more broth or stop cooking them sooner. They are always even more amazing the day after you cook them – they will develop such a creamy texture.
• Soak beans in cold water so that they don’t instantly “cook” – they just slowly soak and soften.
• Add sausage to red beans when serving them; that way, everyone can get the amount that they want, and it also keeps the sausage from getting soggy.
• Do NOT try to cook red beans faster by increasing the heat. This can cause a few issues –
  • The broth can cook off too quickly, so there won’t be enough for the beans, and they will actually end up undercooked in the middle.
  • The beans can actually burn onto the bottom of the pot.
  • And the biggest problem – you won’t get that amazing depth of flavor from slow cooking.
• When reheating red beans, heat them slowly over very low heat so that they don’t burn, or heat them covered in the microwave. You can also reheat large quantities in a crockpot or slow cooker if you are heating red beans for a large group.

🙋‍♀️ Frequently Asked Questions

Have You Tried This Recipe?
Please rate it and leave a comment below. I would love to hear what you think!

🌶️ More Delicious Creole Cuisine

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