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RecipesWhipped Up

Southern

Red Beans and Rice

Canned red beans simmered with onion, pepper, smoked sausage, and a short spice list, served over rice. The stovetop pot is about 50 minutes. The slow cooker is 6 hours on low or 3 hours on high.

Prep
15 min
Cook
35 min
Total
50 min
Servings
6
Difficulty
Easy

Cook time above is the stovetop. Slow cooker: 6 hr on low / 3 hr on high.

Jump to recipe
A bowl of red beans and rice with sliced smoked sausage and green onion.

Why you’ll love it

  • Canned beans make this a weeknight pot. Dried beans are the substitution if you have the time.
  • A little sausage flavors a lot of beans.
  • You can use the stove or a slow cooker.
  • Rice cooked beside it makes a complete plate.

Ingredients

Servings6

Ingredient amounts scale. Oven temperature and cook time do not. Salt, spices, and leaveners are a starting point after you scale. Taste and adjust.

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Instructions

  1. 1

    Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium. Brown the sausage, about 4 minutes. Remove it.

  2. 2

    Cook the onion, pepper, and celery until soft, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, paprika, thyme, and cayenne for 30 seconds.

  3. 3

    Add the beans, broth, bay leaf, and salt. Return the sausage.

  4. 4

    Stovetop: simmer 25 minutes, mashing some beans against the side so the pot thickens. Slow cooker: combine the sautéed base, beans, broth, sausage, and bay in the cooker and cook on low 6 hours or high 3 hours.

  5. 5

    Remove the bay leaf. Taste for salt.

  6. 6

    Serve over rice with green onions.

Pro tips

  • Cayenne is a half teaspoon for a warm pot, not a dare. Add less if you want it mild.
  • Mashing a few beans is what makes the broth creamy.
  • Cook the rice in a separate pot so it does not drink all the bean liquid.

Easy substitutions

Canned beans
1 pound dried red beans, soaked overnight, simmered until tender before the 25-minute finish. This is no longer a 50-minute dinner.
Smoked sausage
A smoked turkey sausage, same amount.

Storage and reheating

Storage

Refrigerate beans up to 4 days. Store rice separately if you can.

Reheating

Warm the beans with a splash of water until hot. Reheat rice with a damp towel over it.

Nutrition

Estimates per serving, using standard ingredient averages and rounded to the nearest gram. This is not a lab analysis, and it shifts if you change brands or add sides.

Calories
460
Protein
20 g
Carbs
58 g
Fat
16 g
Fiber
10 g

Budget friendly · Stovetop, Slow Cooker

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From the kitchen

Kitchen tools we love

Practical tools these recipes actually use. This is not a review roundup, and these are not paid placements. If affiliate links are added later, they will be labeled and disclosed.

  • A heavy 12-inch skillet

    Most of the chicken and steak recipes are written for one pan that holds heat. Stainless or cast iron both work.

  • An air fryer with a real basket

    The air-fryer recipes expect a single layer. A crowded basket steams instead of browning.

  • A half-sheet pan

    Drumsticks, potatoes, sausage, and carrots all use one. A dark pan browns faster than a very shiny one.

  • A sharp chef’s knife

    These recipes do not need a specialty blade. A sharp 8-inch knife is faster and safer than a dull one.

  • A large cutting board

    Big enough that the onion and the raw chicken are not sharing the same puddle.

  • Dry cups and a liquid cup

    Desserts in particular expect level dry measures and a separate cup for milk.

  • An instant-read thermometer

    Use it for poultry, pork chops, and meatloaf. Color is a weak guide.

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Ingredients