Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
Red kidney beans slow cooked with the Creole trinity and smoked paprika, spooned over brown rice.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Red beans and rice was built around a smoked ham hock, and every meatless version I had tried before this one tasted like it was missing something. Two teaspoons of smoked paprika turned out to be the answer. It is smoke without the pork, and it goes into the pot at the start so it has four hours to work its way through the beans rather than sitting on top of them.
The trick that makes this taste like it simmered all day on a stove is mashing about a cup of the beans against the side of the crock at the end. Starch comes out, the liquid thickens on its own, and you get that creamy gravy without a spoonful of flour or a splash of cream anywhere in it. Mash more if you like it thicker, since the only thing that changes is how much of the pot stays whole.
This is Monday food in Louisiana for a practical reason. It was what got started early and looked after itself while the laundry got done, which is more or less the argument for a slow cooker in general. I make it on the days when I know I will not want to look at the kitchen again. It holds all week too, and the gravy tightens in the refrigerator into something closer to a spread than a stew.
Ingredients
- 2 cans (15 oz each) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/4 cups dry brown rice, cooked separately
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 3 celery stalks, diced
- 1 large red bell pepper, diced
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/3 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced, for serving
Instructions
- Prep the trinity: Dice the onion, celery, and red bell pepper to roughly the same size and mince the garlic. Even pieces matter here because the vegetables are meant to disappear into the beans rather than turn up as chunks.
- Load the crock: Put the drained beans, onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic into a 6-quart slow cooker and add the bay leaves. Rinse the beans before they go in, since rinsing carries off a good share of the canning liquid and its sodium with it.
- Mix the liquid: Whisk the vegetable broth, tomato paste, smoked paprika, oregano, cayenne, olive oil, salt, and black pepper together until the paste is fully worked in, then pour it over the beans and stir once.
- Cook it low, and cook the rice: Cover and cook on low for 4 hours. The beans come out of the can already cooked, so the time here is about softening the vegetables and letting the smoke and herbs settle through the pot. Cook the rice separately while that happens: 1 1/4 cups of dry brown rice simmered in 2 1/2 cups of water takes about 45 minutes.
- Mash and thicken: Press about a cup of the beans against the side of the crock with the back of a spoon and stir them back in, since the starch they let go of is what thickens the pot. Give it 20 minutes with the lid off and the liquid will settle into a gravy.
- Finish and serve: Pull out the bay leaves and stir in the thyme and the vinegar off the heat, because both lose their edge if you boil them. Spoon the beans over the cooked brown rice and scatter sliced scallions across the top.
Variations
- Instant Pot: Cook on high pressure for 8 minutes with a natural release of 10, then mash a cup of beans and simmer on saute for a few minutes to thicken.
- With smoked turkey: Add a smoked turkey wing at the start and pull the meat off before serving. This is the traditional non-pork route and it changes the nutrition on this page considerably.
- With andouille: Brown 8 oz of sliced andouille and add it in the last hour. It brings real heat and salt, so cut the cayenne and taste before adding any more salt.
- With greens: Stir in 4 cups of chopped collard greens for the last hour. They wilt into the gravy and turn this into a fuller plate without any more work.
- Over cauliflower rice: Serve it over cauliflower rice instead. You lose the classic pairing but keep the beans, and the carbs come down by about half.
Storage & Leftovers
Cooled leftovers keep in the refrigerator for 4 days and improve for at least the first two. Store the beans and the rice in separate containers, because rice sitting in bean liquid turns soft and loses the point of having two textures.
Reheat the beans gently in a covered pan over medium-low with a splash of broth or water, since they thicken considerably once cold. Rice reheats best with a teaspoon of water and a lid.
The beans freeze for up to 3 months. Freeze them without the rice in flat portions, thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat covered, then add the vinegar and scallions fresh so the finish is bright rather than flat.
Notes & Tips
- Rinse the beans: Draining and rinsing canned beans takes off a meaningful share of their sodium and the starchy liquid that makes a pot taste tinny.
- Smoked paprika, not sweet: Ordinary paprika brings color and almost nothing else. Smoked is the entire reason this works without pork in it, so check the jar.
- Mash a cup at the end: This is the whole thickening method. Beans mashed against the crock release starch and turn thin liquid into gravy without flour.
- Cook the rice separately: Rice added to the crock turns to paste under four hours of moisture. Cook it on the stove and spoon the beans over it.
- Vinegar off the heat: A tablespoon stirred in at the very end wakes up a pot that has been under a lid for hours. Added early it simply cooks away.
- Dice the trinity evenly: Onion, celery and pepper are meant to melt into the background. Uneven pieces leave you with crunchy celery in an otherwise soft bowl.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Beans and rice together are the oldest example of two plant foods covering each other. Beans are short on the amino acid methionine and long on lysine, rice is the reverse, and the pairing has fed people for centuries because of it.
- The fiber in one bowl covers a good share of a day's worth on its own. Most of it is coming from the beans, and it is the reason this stays with you far longer than a bowl this plain looks like it should.
- Red kidney beans carry more iron than most plants, and the tomato paste and vinegar in this pot are quietly helping, since vitamin C and acid both improve how much of that plant iron your body can take up.
- Draining and rinsing canned beans removes a real share of their sodium, which is why the added salt here is only a third of a teaspoon across six servings and the pot still tastes seasoned.
- The fat in this bowl is a single tablespoon of olive oil across six servings, so almost everything on the plate is coming from beans, rice, and vegetables. That is unusual for something this filling.
- As you eat, notice how the beans thicken around the rice rather than sit beside it, and let that slower, heavier spoonful set your pace.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use dried beans instead of canned?
Yes, and the texture is better. Soak a pound of dried red kidney beans overnight, drain them, and cook on low for 8 hours with an extra cup of broth. Dried kidney beans must reach a full boil at some point, so bring them to a boil on the stove for 10 minutes first.
Does it taste like it needs meat?
It did before the smoked paprika. Two teaspoons across six servings is enough to read as smoke rather than as paprika, and it is doing the job a ham hock used to do.
How spicy is it?
A quarter teaspoon of cayenne across six servings is warm rather than hot. Louisiana cooks would go further, so add up to a half teaspoon if you want it closer to the original.
Can I use white rice?
Of course, and it is what most people serve it with. Brown rice adds fiber and holds its shape better under a wet bean gravy, which is the only reason I chose it here.