Louisiana 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 Louisiana 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.

A bowl of red beans and rice with seared andouille sausage, a pink napkin, and a small bowl of diced pepperoncini peppers.

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.

A bowl of red beans and rice with sliced andouille sausage, a slice of cornbread on the side, and a pink napkin on the side.

Table of Contents

🥘 Ingredients in this Louisiana Style Red Beans and Rice Recipe

The ingredients needed to make red beans and rice, laid out in small bowls and labeled.
  • Red Beans – I like to use Camellia Beans. These are dry beans that are large red kidney beans. Do NOT use canned beans. You want to use dry beans for this recipe so that the beans can soak up all of the delicious flavors of the broth. If you use canned beans, they will get really mushy.
  • 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, and Green Bell Pepper
  • Garlic
  • Bay Leaves
  • Spices – Kosher Salt, Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning, Dried Parsley, and Black Pepper
  • Cooked White Rice for serving – I use my Instant Pot to make long grain white rice, but you can use your favorite kind of rice.
  • Pepperoncini Peppers and their Vinegar for serving

🫘 Are Red Beans and 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.)

A bowl of dry red beans next to a small bowl of uncooked white rice.

🚰 How to Soak Dry Red Kidney Beans

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

  • Cold Soak: Add the red beans to a large bowl with 8 cups of water. I usually soak the beans 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.
A metal strainer of soaked red beans draining in a sink.

🫘 Why Soak Beans?

Soaking allows the beans 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. (Please soak your beans!)

🍴Equipment Needed

  • 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 Red Beans and Rice

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.

Diced seasoning ham on a white cutting board.

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.

A collage of images showing how to make red beans and rice, steps 1-5.

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

Does your dog stare at you while you cook?

A black dog staring at a pot of the holy trinity cooking with ham to make red beans and rice.

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 or Homemade Creole Seasoning.)

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

A collage of images showing how to make red beans and rice, steps 6-10.

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.

Let the beans simmer over 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.

A collage of images showing how to make red beans and rice, steps 11-15.

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

Recipe Tip

Some people like their red beans to be a little more brothy. We like ours thick, as you can see from the pictures. If you want yours to stay brothy, you can stop cooking it earlier; just taste the beans and make sure that they are not crunchy.

A pot of red beans up close that is starting 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 and Rice

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 scoop out a portion of cooked beans and then smash the beans. Stir back into the pot and let the mashed beans thicken the broth.

🍳 What to Serve with New Orleans Red Beans and Rice

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:

Here are some more ideas of what to serve with red beans and rice.

A bowl of red beans, rice, and sausage with pepperoncini peppers and a New Orleans dish towel.

🥡 How to Store Leftover Red Beans and Rice

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

🧊 How to Freeze Cajun 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 fresh 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.

A plastic container of red beans, cooling on a stovetop.
Cooked red beans and rice in plastic containers, cooling on a stovetop.

🍳 How to Reheat Cooked Beans

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. (You can also add a little chicken broth to the bottom of the pot to loosen up the beans as they warm back up if they get really thick.)

If you are heating red beans for a large group or need to keep them warm for a long time, you can use a crock pot or slow cooker on keep warm mode – just make sure everything is thoroughly heated first and keep the cover on so that the beans don’t dry out.

Reheat any leftover rice covered with a damp paper towel to remove the crunchiness in the rice.

✏️ Tips to Make the Best Red Beans and Rice

  • 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

Can you make vegan red beans?

You can, but you will lose a lot of the meaty flavor that is a big part of making red beans. You will need to leave out the bacon, ham, chicken stock, butter, and sausage, but you can use vegetable broth, olive oil, and make your own andouille sausage. You can also follow this recipe to make vegan red beans and rice – it might be easier than trying to change this recipe!

Is red beans and rice spicy?

This recipe is not spicy, but you can make it spicy by adding more Creole or Cajun seasoning or a little cayenne pepper.

A bowl of red beans and rice with sliced andouille, a small bowl of pepperoncini peppers, a slice of cornbread, and a pan of cornbread.

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A bowl of Louisiana red beans and rice with seared andouille sausage.

Louisiana Red Beans and Rice

4.93 from 14 votes
This Louisiana Red Beans and Rice Recipe makes thick, creamy, delicious New Orleans Red Beans. This easy recipe will have everyone clearing their plates.
Author: Kari
Servings: 8 servings
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 2 hours 15 minutes
Soaking Time: 2 hours
Total: 4 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients  

Soaking Red Beans

To Cook the Red Beans and Rice

  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 4 strips bacon diced
  • 1 pound seasoning ham cubed
  • 2 – 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 medium onion diced
  • 3 – 4 stalks celery diced
  • 1 green bell pepper diced
  • 2 -3 dried bay leaves
  • 2 tablespoon dried parsley
  • 2 – 3 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
  • 6 cups water
  • 4 cups chicken broth

Serving and Garnish

  • pepperoncini peppers diced
  • 2 cups white or long grain rice use around ½ cup per serving
  • 1 andouille or hot smoked sausage sliced and cooked

Instructions 

Soaking Dry Red Beans

  • Before you begin cooking, soak the dry red beans in 8 cups of water.
    4 cups Camellia Red Kidney Beans, 8 cups water
  • After two hours, rinse and strain the beans. (You can also soak them overnight to start cooking your red beans in the morning.)
  • While the beans are soaking, dice up the celery, onion, garlic, bacon, and ham into bite-size pieces.

Cooking Red Beans

  • After the beans are rinsed, heat a stock pot over medium/low heat and melt a tablespoon of butter.
    1 tablespoon butter
  • When the butter is melted, add the bacon and cook it until it is a little crispy.
    4 strips bacon
  • Add the diced ham and cook just to get a sear on it. When the bacon is crispy and the ham is seared, add your celery, onion, green bell pepper, and garlic to the bacon grease and cook until the onions are translucent.
    1 pound seasoning ham, 2 – 3 cloves garlic, 1 medium onion, 3 – 4 stalks celery, 1 green bell pepper
  • When the onions are soft, add parsley, salt, pepper, and Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning. (If you do not have Tony's, you can use my Cajun Seasoning recipe.)
    2 tablespoon dried parsley, 2 – 3 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper, ½ teaspoon Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
  • Then add your chicken broth, water, and bay leaves, and bring it all to a boil.
    6 cups water, 4 cups chicken broth, 2 -3 dried bay leaves
  • Once the water is boiling, add the soaked and drained red beans and wait for it to return to a boil.
    4 cups Camellia Red Kidney Beans
  • Reduce the heat and simmer over low/medium heat (this is a 2-3 out of 9 on the stove knob for me) for 1 ½ to 2 hours, checking on the beans and giving them a stir every 30 minutes. Make sure to stir all the way down to the bottom of the pot, checking to make sure that the bottom is not burning.
  • When you have about 20 minutes left of cooking time, slice up the smoked sausage and saute it in a frying pan and cook white rice.
    1 andouille or hot smoked sausage
  • When the beans are cooked to your liking, remove the beans from the heat and serve over white rice. Garnish with diced pepperoncini peppers, your cooked sausage, and a splash of the vinegar from the jar of peppers.
    2 cups white or long grain rice, pepperoncini peppers

Notes

Sausage: we like to use smoked sausage or andouille sausage- try both and figure out what you like best!

Red Beans and Rice Tips

  • The longer the 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 even better 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.

How to Store Leftovers

Refrigerate leftovers for up to a week or freeze leftovers for up to 6 months.

Special Equipment Needeed

Nutrition

Serving: 1cupCalories: 692kcalCarbohydrates: 96gProtein: 39gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 3104mgPotassium: 1696mgFiber: 15gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 105IUVitamin C: 22mgCalcium: 126mgIron: 8mg

Nutrition information is approximate and is automatically calculated, so should only be used as a guide.

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Cajun, Southern
Keyword: louisiana red beans and rice, new orleans red beans and rice, red beans and rice, red beans and rice recipe
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Hi, I'm Kari!

I am a newlywed, food blogger, health coach, and mama to a hot mess of a border collie. I love to put a new spin on old family recipes and I try to make as many meals as possible with an Instant Pot.

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Comments

  2. I have a question, the recipe says it calls for 4 cups of broth but it says to use broth for soaking and for boiling. Is it a total of 8 cups or broth and water? 4 for soaking and 4 for boiling?

    Reply

    1. I use 4 cups of broth + 4 cups of water for soaking, then 4 cups + 6 cups of water for cooking. You can also just use all water – that’s how my in-laws make it, but I like the extra flavor from the broth.

      Reply

  6. 5 stars
    We’re well stocked on beans so this recipe is perfect! Takes me back to our New Orleans trip from last year!

    Reply