These Red Beans over rice are the pefect Cajun recipe! Made with veggies, spices, red beans and sausage, they’re great any night of the week and are the perfect fix if you love Creole cuisine.
If you love Cajun food like our Cajun Alfredo Pasta and Cajun Chicken and Rice, then you’ll love this bean and rice recipe. Full of flavor, this recipe is also simple being made in the Instant Pot!
What are Red Beans and Rice?
Have you ever had Red Beans and Rice? If you haven’t, you’re missing out!
It’s an emblematic dish of Louisiana Creole cuisine typically made on Mondays with leftovers from Sunday. It consists of red beans, veggies, spices and pork and is served over rice. Other meats that are used include ham and sausage.
If you love cajun food, you’ll love this dish. We used the McCormick Gourmet Cajun Seasoning blend (but you can choose one based on personal preference). The andoullie we used was on the hotter side, so it was perfect.
How to Make It
Because this is typically made with leftover sausage, you’re already a step ahead in making it. We wanted to make it even more simple by finishing the recipe in the INSTANT POT.
If you aren’t super familiar with the Instant Pot, don’t fret. It’s very easy. Just turn it to SAUTE mode. Once hot, add 3 tbsp. of butter. Cook sausage until lightly browned, then add the onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, salt, cajun seasoning, black pepper, dried basil, dried parsley, dried sage, and dried thyme.
Saute for 5 minutes, then add the bay leaves and pour in the chicken broth, water, and beans (if you don’t have dried red beans on hand you can use 2 cans of Kidney beans). Place lid on and lock. Turn Instant Pot on MANUAL mode with high pressure selected for 42 minutes.
Open the Instant Pot and stir in the remaining butter. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with green onions if desired. Serve over white rice (or brown rice).
TIP: If you want the “sauce” to be THICKER, you can use a potato masher to mash some of them up, or you can puree some of the beans and liquid and combine the two.
SLOW COOKER VERSION: Add all the ingredients to your slow cooker and cook on HIGH until the beans are tender (about 6-8 hours).
Freezing + Reheating
This recipe is already so simple! If you want to make it even easier, MAKE IT AHEAD OF TIME and store in an air-tight container for up to 3 days in the fridge. You can REHEAT it in the slow cooker or on the stove.
You can also FREEZE this recipe. Just let cool and place in freezer safe bags. When ready to eat it, let it thaw overnight and reheat.
Trust me, guys – you’ll want to try this easy red bean and rice recipe. It’s so good! We love serving it with biscuits, french bread, corn (or corn casserole).
For more Cajun recipes, check out:
Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice with Sausage Recipe
Recommended Products
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter - divided
- 1 lb andouille sausage - cut into 1/4-inch slices
- 1 yellow onion - diced
- 1 green bell pepper - diced
- 2 stalks celery - thinly sliced
- 6 cloves garlic - minced
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp Cajun seasoning*
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/4 tsp dried sage
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cup water
- 1 lb dried small red beans - OR dried kidney beans
- green onions - (green parts only), thinly sliced for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Turn the Instant Pot on SAUTE mode. Once hot, add 3 tablespoons of butter. Cook the sausage until lightly browned. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, salt, Cajun seasoning, black pepper, dried basil, dried parsley, dried sage, and dried thyme. Sauté for 5 minutes. Add the bay leaves and pour in the chicken broth, water, and beans.
- Place the lid on and lock. Turn the Instant Pot on MANUAL mode with high pressure selected for 42 minutes.
- Once cooked, allow the pressure to release naturally. This usually takes about 25–30 minutes.
- Open the Instant Pot and stir in the remaining butter. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
- Garnish with green onions if desired. Serve over white rice.
NOTES
Nutrition
Seasonings were awesome. I followed recipe and my beans were still hard after the cooking and natural release time, so I had to add 20 more minutes. I would prefer more Cajun next time or maybe mine wasn’t hot enough. But it was perfect for the kids.
So glad the kids liked it. Go crazy and add more heat for the grown ups next time.
Red Beans & Rice is one of my fave comfort foods and this was so spot on to what I grew up with! Thanks! I’m almost out of the leftovers and can’t wait to make it again.