Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
This Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice recipe gives you all the deep, delicious flavor you love about this classic dish with none of the work. Beans, peppers, onions, andouille sausage, and bold seasonings are cooked low and slow in the crock pot for a delicious dinner everyone loves.
We love red beans and rice, but we don’t love having to soak the beans for hours just so we can then cook them on the stove for several more hours before even getting to the actual recipe. That’s why we decided to make this slow cooker version. The slow cooker gets the beans nice and tender, and we don’t have to do all that waiting!
Table of contents
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Basic Ingredients: This recipe uses simple kitchen staples.
- Easy: Using the slow cooker eliminates so much time and hassle!
- Classic Flavor: This recipe is loaded with all the flavor you love in traditional red beans and rice.
- A Perfect Weeknight Dinner: Because it’s made in the slow cooker, you can just set and forget this recipe until you’re ready to eat!
🛒Ingredients
Everything you need to make this recipe is either in your kitchen or just a quick trip to the grocery store away. That’s the beauty of a recipe like this one.
We’ve listed all the ingredients here, but you can find their exact amounts in the recipe card at the end of the post.
- Andouille sausage
- Dried small red beans
- Celery – chopped
- Bell pepper – chopped
- Onion – chopped
- Garlic – minced
- Tomato sauce
- Chicken stock
- Cajun seasoning
- Cooked white rice for serving
🔪 How to Make Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
This slow cooker version of red beans and rice is the easiest you’ll ever make. Just add everything to the slow cooker and let it go!
Step 1: Prep
Slice the sausage, chop the celery, peppers, and onions, and mince the garlic.
Step 2: Brown
Brown the sausage over medium-high heat.
Step 3: Combine
Add the sausage and the remaining ingredients except the cooked rice to the slow cooker.
Step 4: Cook
Cook the mixture on low for 8 hours or high for 6 hours. Serve over rice, and enjoy!
📝Variations
- Spicy: Add red pepper flakes for a spicy kick.
- Sausage: If you prefer, you can use any kind of smoked sausage you like.
- Red Beans: Kidney beans will work in this recipe, but you have to boil them for 10 minutes before adding them to the slow cooker.
If you think this recipe sounds good, we think you’ll enjoy our slow cooker BBQ baked beans with kielbasa.
🥄 Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Medium skillet
- Slow cooker
🥫 Storage
Refrigerate this slow cooker red beans and rice for up to 4 days in an air-tight container. For longer storage, freeze it for up to 3 months in an air-tight, freezer-safe container.
To reheat, defrost the red beans and rice overnight in the refrigerator if frozen. Then, microwave individual portions at 30-second intervals until heated through.
What to Serve with Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
This recipe is a complete meal on its own, so we recommend keeping sides simple. Serve it with a simple salad or your favorite bread.
💭 Tips
- Medium-high heat is the perfect temperature for getting good color on your sliced sausage before adding it to the slow cooker.
- Use tongs to transfer your cooked sausage to the slow cooker. Raking it in with a spoon will also rake in the fat that it releases when it cooks, creating a greasy dish.
- If you opt to use dried kidney beans, you’ll need to boil them for 10 minutes before adding them to the slow cooker to ensure they get nice and soft.
⁉️ FAQ
Do you have questions about this recipe? Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
Red beans and rice is a traditional Creole dish made with kidney or other red beans, vegetables, spices, and spicy Andouille pork sausage. It’s traditionally made on Mondays in Louisiana.
Traditional red beans and rice can also include ham or tasso ham.
It absolutely is! This dish freezes very well, making it perfect for meal-prepping.
🍽 More Recipes
Do you enjoy slow cooker recipes? Then try these delicious recipes.
🧾Recipe Card
Want to make this recipe? Print the recipe card below, or pin this recipe, so you can find it later.
Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
Equipment
- medium skillet
- slow cooker
Ingredients
- 1 pound andouille sausage
- 1 pound dried small red beans
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 15 ounces tomato sauce
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons cajun seasoning
- Cooked white rice for serving
Instructions
- Slice your sausage.
- In a medium skillet over medium high heat brown the sausage.
- Place the browned sausage into your slow cooker.
- To your slow cooker add the beans, celery, bell pepper, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, chicken stock and cajun seasoning.
- Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 6 hours.
- You can thicken this up by taking a spoon and pressing some of the beans against the side of the slow cooker and mashing them. These mashed up beans will help thicken the sauce.
- Serve over white rice.
Notes
Disclaimer
Any nutritional data I provide is an approximation and actual dietary information can vary based on ingredients and proportion sizes.
