Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

As kids are going back to school (or may even be back!) and the “busy season” of work creeps closer, it’s necessary to find recipes that can be prepared ahead of time so that weeknight meals can be on the table as quickly as possible. My favorite tool for really yummy dishes that I can just reheat is my lovely slow cooker.

Cooking Light had a recipe for Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice that is perfect for weekend prep and weeknight meals. This particular recipe has a good amount of prep time before putting everything in the slow cooker so I’d suggest making it on a weekend versus a weeknight morning. (If you want to make this before work, set aside 30-45 minutes to get everything ready to put in the slow cooker.)

A couple of notes before I dive into the recipe. You actually soak the dried red beans in water overnight, so don’t forget to do that that night before you plan on making this recipe. Also, dried kidney beans apparently contain a toxin that is not killed at low temperatures (like in a slow cooker) so you have to boil them for 10 minutes before slow cooking. (Who knew?! Definitely don’t skip that step!) This recipe makes 8 servings so you can also freeze the red bean mixture for future meals if you won’t finish it during the week. Ok! Let’s cook!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound dried red kidney beans
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 12 oz andouille sausage, quartered lengthwise and cut crosswise
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped poblano chile (~2 chiles)
• 1 cup diced celery
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 10 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 (12-ounce) can lager-style beer
• 4 cups unsalted chicken stock
• 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne pepper)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions, divided
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 4 cups hot cooked long-grain rice

Sort and wash the beans and place in a large bowl. Cover with water to 2 inches above the beans. Let stand for 8 hours (or overnight).

Drain beans and add to a large saute pan or pot. Cover with water two 2 inches above the beans and bring to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes, drain, and set aside.

While waiting for the beans to boil, add a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil to the pan and swirl to coat. Add the sausage and cook for 6 minutes or until browned.   While waiting for sausage to brown, prepare your next 6 ingredients and add to a bowl.

When the sausage is browned, add the bowl of prepared ingredients (onion, poblano, celery, thyme, salt, and garlic cloves) and cook for 8 minutes.

Stir in the beer and bring to a boil. (Note: I’m from Philadelphia, PA and when someone says “lager” in PA, that means one and only beer — Yuengling!) Cook the mixture for 2 minutes, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.

Add the sausage mixture to your slow cooker. Add the beans, chicken stock, red pepper, black pepper, and bay leaves.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Discard the bay leaves and stir in 1/4 cup green onions and vinegar.

Serve over rice (I prefer coconut rice); sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup green onions.

Red beans and rice is comfort food at its finest. There is some nice spiciness to this recipe, so I like to serve it over coconut rice to counteract some of that heat.

If you’re preparing this for the week ahead, keep the red beans mixture separate from the rice so your rice doesn’t get too soggy. You can also hold off and just make the rice on the day you plan on enjoying the meal!