This is my new go-to meal, especially when I need something quick, easy, filling and delicious!! My bestie friend Stewy made this for me when I was visiting him in Georgia, and his friend made it for him when he was visting him down in New Orleans (cheering for Auburn in the 2004 season Sugar Bowl!). This is authentic, Nawlins Style Red Beans & Rice. It’s so simple and man pleasin’. Stewy & Kevin approved. And tonight, I’m gonna make it for you.
First, make sure your husband is watching football in the background. This is a must.
Ingredients
1 cup long grain white rice
2 cups hot water
1 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pkg (14 oz) smoked sausage
1 can red beans
Zatarains Creole Seasoning
Now. A word. See that “Ragin’ Cajun” smoked sausage in the picture up there? Yeah. Kevin thought it’d be fun to try that this time. Well let me tell you. It was HOT! HOT HOT HOT. Way too hot for me. I prefer just the regular, Eckrich smoked sausage, especially for this. Now Kevin liked it, mind you, but wow. My mouth was on fire for like a week. You’d been warned.
Directions
Onto the good stuff. Start by adding 1 cup of long grain, white rice to a sauce pan with a lid.
Add 2 cups hot water and 1 tsp salt. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. As soon as it starts to boil, turn heat to LOW, cover with lid and simmer for exactly 15 mins.
Meanwhile, thinly slice the sausage.
Drain the juice from the red beans into the sink.
Add 2-3 tbsp olive oil to to a large skillet and begin heating over medium heat.
Add the sausage, and I usually give a healthy sprinkling of creole seasoning at this point. Stir occasionally for about 7 mins until the sausages start to get sizzly on both sides. Yes, that’s the official term for it. ;)
Add the red beans and stir until warmed through.
About this time, your rice should be done too, so serve it up! :)
I put the creole seasoning on the table- cause everyone likes to add their own amount. At this point, I like to stir mine up real good until my rice gets all brown from the sausage, beans and seasoning. Yummy. Makes about 2-3 servings.
Red Beans & Rice
1 cup long grain white rice
2 cups hot water
1 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pkg (14 oz) smoked sausage
1 can red beans
Zatarains Creole Seasoning
Add the rice, water and salt to a sauce pan with a lid. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low, then cover & simmer for 15 mins. Meanwhile, thinly slice the sausage and drain the juice from the red beans into the sink. Add 2-3 tbsp olive oil to to a large skillet and begin heating over medium heat. Add the sausage, give a sprinkling of creole seasoning and stir occasionally for about 7 mins until the sausages start to get sizzly on both sides. Add the red beans and stir until warmed through. About this time, your rice should be done too. Serve the beans and sausage over the rice. Add extra creole seasoning as desired at the table. Serves 2-3.
Make for: Dinner / Main Dish
Tags: 30 Minutes or Less, ham & pork, Quick and Easy, sausage
Follow Amanda on 
43 Comments
Hi Amanda;
I just love your site and your recipes are so awesome and simple. Have you ever thought about doing some tuts on scrapbooking, tuts on blogging etc I just can’t say enough about your site it’s so pretty and the way you put things together is just wonderful – blessings, Joann
The sausage you use really makes this recipe, and over the years I’ve tried many different kinds. For my two cents, Eckrich Farms Smoked Sausage is the winner.
your blog looks great, pam
Thanks for the recipe! We lived in Louisiana for several years and loooove Red Beans and Rice but ours is a slow cooker recipe and takes hours to cook so I was so excited to see your recipe for a quick easy dinner… yuummmy… my mouth is watering!!!
Love your blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love the recipe… thank you… My sweetie will love it. I love the photography you did with the meal also. Thank you so much for sharing.
As someone who cooks with rice and beans often (much to my kiddos chagrin), this has a fun twist. Love the photos. :)
YUMMMMM! I made this and loved it! I doubled the recipie and didn’t have 2 cans of red beans so I used a can of black beans and it was super! Thanks sooooo much! :D
Yum! I made this last week and we loved it, not that it was a surprise. Thanks for all of the awesome recipes. My hubby and I love them, even if our waists don’t. LOL.
this is such a good recipe. many times i look for food that is healthy and easy enough to cook.
beans+meat+rice. ideal combination for a full tummy. thanks!
This was good and really EASY! I sizzled my sausage a little too long, but it was still good. Even Mr. Picky (Randy) said it was good!
I happened to surf to your site today…omg I have been surfing around it for hours. I thought that I was weird cuz I love fonts too. I didn’t know that there are others out there. I want to add pretty ones to my blog… http://groovygirlthoughts.blogspot.com/
maybe tomorrow I can learn how! I will now be perusing you regularly! thks for such a fun site to share.
I made this for dinner tonight and it turned out great. Very simple and quick to make. We all loved it! Thanks for the great recipes.
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I had “skinless” smoked sausage and could only find a can of pinto beans instead of red beans, but, I added Creole Seasoning, ground cumin, paprika, cayenne, and some chili powder. It turned out very, very good, and was totally quick and easy. Thanks for the great recipe!
Any idea what the sodium content of this recipe is? A box of Zataran’s reduced sodium Red Beans and Rice is around 720mg per cup which is very high and not too healthy. I’m trying to reduce sodium intake but I love this kind of food. Thanks.
great recipe i am defiantly going to make it,just one question where can i get creole seasoning? Or is it something i can put together at home?
@chandani
Any mega mart will have creole seasoning- Zatarains is one brand, Tony Chachere’s is another I can think of right off the top of my head.
thank you so much.
Sweet. Just stumbled upon your blog while looking for a simple red beans and rice recipe. Sending the hubby to the store this afternoon to get the ingredients. Excited to try. Thanks.
Hi Kevin and Amanda! I’m new to your site and want to tell you that I love it! The recipes are quick & easy and look very tasty. Going to try the Red Beans & Rice soon. I’m also loving the FREE fonts you guys make available to download. Thanks!
I made this for dinner tonight. My boyfriend and I loved it! Thanks for sharing the recipe and I am loving your website! I plan on trying many more of your recipes!
Amy
Hi you two! What a great recipe! I stumbled across this while looking online for a great quick red beans & rice recipe and I loved it. My one minor mod was that since they were out of smoked sausage, I grabbed a package of Chorizo. Kevin would love it cause it made the dish nice & spicy. I’ll definitely be coming back to try other recipes.
Amanda – I made this recipe tonight for my boyfriend and he LOVED it! Which makes this the perfect recipe – because he loved it AND it took no time at all to put together! Perfect weeknight meal! Thank you – your recipes are amazing!
I applaude you very well done. My family is from New Orleans so I cook this meal often. Your recipe is much easier and faster than mine. Thanks for sharing.
i am 8 months pregnant and having a VERY strong urge to add brown sugar to this…i will try to resist.
Hello, I discovered your recipes blog, when I peeked on your scrapbooking site. Absolutely love the Red Rice and Beans. Made it yesterday for Fat Tuesday, hope you don’t mind that I linked your recipe blog on my post! Thank so much. I actually have been making your other recipes too! Karen
hi amanda,
i really love this recipe, because i really like red beans and i also a sausage lover.. :)
but, in my country i cannot found Zatarains Creole Seasoning..
would you tell me about another choices for changing Zatarains Creole Seasoning?
thank you! :)
Liana,
You can make your own Creole seasoning instead of using Zatarains. I made this recipe using Emeril Lagasse’s recipe for seasoning. It’s easy to make and I usually always have all the required ingredients.
2-1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
I usually only make half a batch of seasoning at a time since it makes almost 2/3 of a cup and I rarely use creole seasoning.
I was using Stumble Upon, came across this recipe, and suddenly had a major hankering for red beans and rice! This happened maybe a little over an hour ago. Now I’m sitting here enjoying an amazing dinner! Thank you so much for sharing! I’m sure I’ll make this pretty often. =)
<3 Leigh
I have these same dishes!
My husband would love this recipe.
I just made this for my daughter because I’m going out for dinner tonight. I think I’ll stay home and eat this with her instead! Thank you!
This has become a weekly meal at our house! You just can’t beat a delicious meal thats done in 15 minutes!
Thank you for sharing!
Making this right now for the hubs and it smells so delicious!!! Thank you for sharing :)
Aloha yall, just gotta share this quick red beans rice recipe I just accidentally made tonight. Awesome part, it’s vegan!!!
I AM HE-MAN, meat eating, bone licking…but hot yam!!! This some good eats…I was stuck with some dried beans, rice & some spice, then the light above my head went bam!
It really was BAM! from Emeril’s Essence, 1/2 bottle to be exact, & 2 bay leaves, funny how things workout.
I must confess I’m born & raised in New Orleans, so I’ve got red beans & rice in my blood from all those years of school lunch.
My best pot of beans came from Cook’s Illustrated, before that it was Paul Prudhomme recipe tweaked with fried bacon(Wellshire black forest bacon), key ingredients for good beans=paprika, thyme & bay leaf, of course standard garlic & onions, no need for holy trinity or anything fresh for that matter, dried onions & garlic actually taste better than fresh.
The paprika should be majority of the spices, usually it would come from the tasso…but Emeril’s Essence works out fine because major spice is paprika…finally on to the recipe.
1 pound dried beans
1/2 bottle Emeril’s Essence
2 bay leaves
some cooked rice
Bring to boil beans & water 4 inches above beans, 2 tablespoons of salt, turn off heat, cover 1 hour to soak.
Drain beans, replace with fresh water 4 inches above beans, bring to boil & BAM!BAM!BAM! 1/2 bottle Emeril’s Essence & 2 bay leaves, let simmer uncovered for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes to bust up beans for thick gravy. Add more water if necessary, you can always add but hard to take out, but with water in this recipe you could cook it longer to evaporate & soften beans even further, even to gravy stage(better than loose watery stage), hey, it’s all gravy, no worries. Enjoy yall.
My sister turned me into obsession mode with your site! Making the Red Beans and Rice for a concert weekend with The Temptations!
I love this recipe i found it on your site over a year ago and we’ve been making once a week since then it is so good and a total comfort food! We use Eckrich skinless smoked sausage (easier and less hot for the kids) and one can of light red and one can of dark red kidney beans (i think these taste better than red beans for some reason lol) and then top it off with Tony Chachere’s seasonings. Thanks so much for the recipe!
I just made this except I used vegetarian Italian sausage (Tofurky) sautéed onions and garlic before adding the sausage. After putting it on the rice, I gave it a good splash of hot sauce – it is TASTY! I didn’t have any vegetarian smoked sausage (Lightlife) in the house but am going to try it next time!
I just had a friend from Texas visit last weekend and she made this from which she got the recipe when she lived in new orleans. A couple differences, she used dry kidney beans and soaked them in sugar water over night, sauteed green peppers and onions and threw it all together in the crock pot among a few similar seasons/spices and andoullie sausage. I am from Portland, and this was the perfect meal for our rainy fall evening. I am going to try it with canned beans next time. Thanks for the recommendation!