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Red Beans and Rice in the Slow Cooker

Red Beans and Rice in the Slow Cooker - delicious and EASY recipe! Dinner practically prepares itself. | APinchOfHealthy.com

You are going to LOVE this red beans and rice in the slow cooker because it is so delicious and easy!

Red Beans and Rice in the Slow Cooker | APinchOfHealthy.com

You can make it by throwing all the ingredients in the slow cooker/ crock pot in the morning, and poof! Dinner practically prepares itself.

Red Beans and Rice in the Slow Cooker | APinchOfHealthy.com

It’s like kitchen magic! 🙂

And PS: You do not have to soak your dried beans ahead of time! Yes, you heard me right. This article from the LA Times explains why.

I did rinse mine, but I did NOT soak them, and this turned out perfect. I use this same method for my slow cooker black bean soup too, and it also is a gem of a recipe.

Note: Since they are not pre-soaked you will need to allow plenty of time to cook. I would suggest at least 10 hours on low, or at least 6 hours on high. This might vary a little if your slow cooker is different than mine.

Update Note: Please make sure your crock pot heats up hot enough to eliminate any potential toxins, as explained here. My crock pot gets very hot, so it works out fine for us to cook them this way. If you are in doubt, go ahead and soak your beans first just to be safe. I do not want anyone to get sick from this recipe!

Red Beans and Rice in the Slow Cooker | APinchOfHealthy.com

My slow cooker (<- Amazon affiliate link) is one of my most used kitchen appliances. It is SUCH a valuable tool for making really yummy food that is easy to set and forget. Perfect for busy folks! Which, aren’t we ALL?!

Enter: red beans and rice, which is known for cooking low and slow. And LONG. You could totally make this low and slow on the stovetop, but the slow cooker is my cooking method of choice here. It is just so easy!

Side note: If you want to make this dish quicker (like less than 2 hours, starting with dry beans), check out my Instant Pot red beans and rice recipe!

You can use any type of cajun sausage, but I am using Amylu’s chicken andouille sausage that I found at Costco. I had never used this in any recipe before, and I bought it on a whim…as I so often do at Costco! (<- anybody else?? I am a sucker for the sample pushers too.)

Usually, Costco doesn’t let me down. Nine times out of ten I absolutely LOVE everything that I ever try there. And they are good about letting you return stuff, too, which is awesome.

Anyway, I liked it!  The chicken andouille sausage has all the flavor, while being kinder to the waistline. Win!

More Cajun Recipes You May Enjoy

More Slow Cooker Recipes You May Enjoy

Tools Used to Make This Recipe

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Red Beans and Rice in the Slow Cooker Recipe

I hope you enjoy this recipe! Pin it if it looks good to you.

Red Beans and Rice in the Slow Cooker | APinchOfHealthy.com
4 from 8 votes
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Red Beans and Rice in the slow cooker

You are going to LOVE this red beans and rice in the slow cooker because it is so delicious and easy! Throw the ingredients into your slow cooker, and dinner practically prepares itself.

Course Main Course
Cuisine Cajun
Keyword crock pot red beans and rice, slow cooker red beans and rice
Prep Time 12 minutes
Cook Time 6 hours
Total Time 8 hours 45 minutes
Servings 10 servings
Calories 461 kcal
Author Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy

Ingredients

  • 1 medium onion diced
  • 1 bell pepper diced
  • 3 celery stalks chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 pounds ¼ chicken andouille sausage cut into thin slices, I used Amylu brand
  • 1 pound dry red kidney beans
  • 1 tsp salt or more to taste
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper optional
  • 1 tsp hot sauce I used Texas Pete
  • 1 tsp fresh thyme or ½ tsp dried thyme
  • 2 leaves bay
  • 7 cups water
  • 10 cups cooked rice

Instructions

  1. Rinse the kidney beans and drain.
  2. Add all the ingredients (except the rice) to the slow cooker.
  3. Set the slow cooker to low and cook for either 6 hours on high or 10 hours on low (total).
  4. Optional: When there is one hour remaining, use a potato masher to go in and mash up some of the beans, then let it cook the remaining hour.
  5. Cook the rice in a separate pot, according to package directions. I used white jasmine rice and cooked it in my rice cooker.
  6. Serve with 1 cup rice in each serving.

Recipe Notes

*Nutrition information includes 1 cup cooked rice.

Nutritional information is approximate and was calculated using a recipe nutrition label generator.

Adapted from The Weary Chef.

Update Note: Please make sure your crock pot heats up hot enough to eliminate any potential toxins, as explained here. My crock pot gets very hot, so it works out fine for us to cook them this way. If you are in doubt, go ahead and soak your beans first just to be safe. I do not want anyone to get sick from this recipe!

Nutrition Facts
Red Beans and Rice in the slow cooker
Amount Per Serving
Calories 461 Calories from Fat 63
% Daily Value*
Fat 7g11%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Cholesterol 32mg11%
Sodium 735mg32%
Potassium 747mg21%
Carbohydrates 77g26%
Fiber 8g33%
Sugar 2g2%
Protein 21g42%
Vitamin A 600IU12%
Vitamin C 19.9mg24%
Calcium 69mg7%
Iron 3.9mg22%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

 

 

 

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  4. Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Diedra says

    10 cups of cooked rice? I can’t even fit that much rice is my big crock pot. Just how much does this delicious looking recipe make?

    Reply

    • Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says

      Hi Diedra! I cook the rice in a separate pot. I estimate 1 cooked cup per serving. And the bean mixture makes 10 servings as well, which is where I got 10 cups cooked rice (about 3.5 cups dry, if using jasmine). If you are cooking for fewer people, you can freeze some of the bean mixture. Instead of making 10 cups, just make the amount of rice you will need to eat. Freeze the bean mixture, and make a new batch of rice at the time you plan to eat it. Make sense?

      Reply

  2. Fae says

    I made this today and I really enjoyed it. Based on the reviews I used chicken stock instead of water. I always soak my beans first if they are dry I do not cook them. I added cajun seasoning and cooked until the liquid reduced.

    Reply

  3. Tamara says


    I cooked the dry red kidney beans 10-15 minutes before putting in Crock-Pot and at 5 1/2 hrs of cooking on high, they are DEFINITELY done…..taste great…..only problem is I still put 7 cups of water in Crock-Pot like original recipe called for, and it’s too soupy!!!! It still taste great but way too liquidy. Also, the recipe makes for 8 people….a TON OF food. Very good though. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply

    • Cole says

      When using so much water you have to use a good bit of seasoning! Although you added cajun it just might not have been enough. I’ve made this recipe several times & have never run into a problem flavor wise. Also next time maybe throw a few bouillon cubes (flavor depends on your sausage choice) in your water.

      Reply

  5. Karen says


    Waste of time. Rinsed beans like recipe said but after 14 hours on low, beans still on harder side and sitting in so much liquid. Threw out. Never will I try this again!

    Reply

    • Cole says

      It must be depending upon your crockpot. I’ve used this recipe as a GUIDELINE serveral times & have always enjoyed the outcome. It never took longer than 8hrs too cook & everything turned out great.

      Reply

  6. Fritmama says


    Hi, Marjorie!
    I made this recipe as meal prep lunches for my boyfriend and I. I played it safe and pre-boiled the beans for 10 minutes. I was silly, however, and did not adjust the amount of water (since the beans were boiled I needed less). after 4.5 hours, the mixture was still quite liquidy.

    to fix this, I decided to mix in rice with the other ingredients in the slow cooker, so it would absorb the liquid and some flavor! I did about 1.5 cups of dry rice. this worked perfectly for me, and I think I like it better as a whole mixture, rather than the beans on top of the rice.

    thanks for this recipe! I will be making it again.

    Reply

    • Bree says


      I wish I hadn’t read this comment before making this! With adding in the rice from the beginning, the rice turned into something like a pourage …..and the beans weren’t done yet. I do NOT suggest cooking the rice with the beans. However, i just added more water and continued to cook it until the beans were done. It tasted delicious, but the texture was mushy. I’ll try it again with the rice seperate. The flavor was great. I also added some old bay seasoning.

      Reply

      • JESS says

        You may notice the previous poster mentioned they added the rice at the end of the cooking time not the start.
        Many slow cooker meals have rice added but it’s almost always in the last 30min – 1hr, never for the whole cook.

        Reply

  8. Carolyn says

    The toxic compound phytohaemagglutinin, a lectin, is present in many common bean varieties, but is especially concentrated in red kidney beans. White kidney beans contain about a third as much toxin as the red variety; broad beans (Vicia faba) contain 5 to 10% as much as red kidney beans.

    Phytohaemagglutinin can be deactivated by boiling beans for ten minutes; the ten minutes at boiling point (100 °C (212 °F)) are sufficient to degrade the toxin, but not to cook the beans. For dry beans, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also recommends an initial soak of at least 5 hours in water, which should then be discarded.

    Reply

  9. Janet Smith Patterson says


    This was so delicious. I’ve made it twice. I used red beans in place of the kidney beans, just a personal preference and added one 15 oz. can of refried beans to thicken it. I did not mash up any of the good red beans!

    Reply

  12. Nate says


    Now my go to red beans and rice recipe. They only change I did was add extra liquid smoke, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce at the beginning. Followed by more to taste at the end.

    Reply

    • Marjorie@APinchOfHealthy says

      I am sorry I am just now seeing this, and you probably already made it. Hope it turned out okay! Soaking would mean you would need to reduce the cook time and the liquids. I am not sure by how much, but I would say at least a cup less liquid, maybe reduce even more than that.

      Reply

  14. Deebi27 says

    This looks amazing…that’s why I already pinned this earlier this week! Showed pictures and told the hubby the ingredients and he said, “Yes, I just got a new bottle of salsa!” So, it’s obvious you like hot flavored foods…looking through a few recipes! Just how spicy hot is the chicken andouille sausage? I know this is going to be a winner for the hubby and I…not to mention mostly healthy!

    Reply

    • Marjorie@APinchOfHealthy says

      Ha ha. 🙂 Yes, the spiciness probably depends on the brand. I’ve used Amylu’s, Aidele’s and Trader Joe’s and none of those were too spicy for us. I always add extra hot sauce on mine as well. 😆👌🏻 I hope you enjoy it!

      Reply

    • Marjorie@APinchOfHealthy says

      Hi Elizabeth! Thanks for your question. 🙂 I would not recommend that. The chicken andouille sausage provides a lot of flavoring that seasons the whole dish. Any other kind of cajun sausage should work, but not plain chicken thighs, since it tends to be pretty bland on its own.

      Reply

  17. Stacey says

    I only used half the amount of beans and I chose to soak and boil them ahead of time. What I’m wondering is about the amount of water I should use in the crock pot. The recipe calls for 7 but I’m going to try 4 1/2 and see how that works out…Fingers crossed!

    Reply

  19. Allison Hardy says


    I made this today and it was AMAZING!! My Husband is from Louisiana and he can cook, he said this was great and reminds him of back home 🙂 Thank you for sharing, this is going in our recipe book.

    Reply

    • Marjorie@APinchOfHealthy says

      Thanks for your question! 🙂 I would not recommend using canned beans for this recipe. I am not sure that would taste too good or work very well. What makes this taste so good is that it cooks low and slow all day. Plus, using canned beans would decrease the cooking time significantly, reduce liquids significantly, and the other veggies wouldn’t get as tender.

      Reply

    • Marjorie@APinchOfHealthy says

      Good question! That is hard to answer with too much precision, since the veggies (onion, bell pepper, celery) can vary in size. I estimate between a cup and a third to a cup and a half of the bean/sausage mixture. Hope this helps!

      Reply

  24. Marjorie@APinchOfHealthy says

    Thanks for the heads up Tara! I did not know about this. My crock pot gets pretty hot, so I am guessing that’s why none of us have ever had problems. I am going to update the post with a note to warn of this, though.

    Reply

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