This authentic New Orleans-Style Red Beans and Rice uses the beloved Camellia Brand beans, simmered low and slow with the Creole "Holy Trinity" of celery, onion, and bell pepper, plus Andouille sausage and Cajun seasoning.
It's a New Orleans tradition once cooked every Monday — even Louis Armstrong signed his letters "Red Beans and Ricely Yours."
Budget-friendly, soulful, and on the 1,000 Foods to Eat Before You Die list!
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Louisiana Creole Cuisine
Creole cuisine is world famous and rightly so! This amazing cuisine combines French, Spanish, African, and Haitian influences.
Louisiana Creole has produced some of the most well known and delicious foods to include jambalaya, gumbo, shrimp creole, and this recipe, Red Beans and Rice.
Red Beans and Rice
Red beans and rice is known as a simple and humble peasant food. The red beans arrived via white French creoles who settled in New Orleans after fleeing a slave uprising in Haiti. The flavors are complex considering the few ingredients needed to prepare this dish.
In New Orleans, it was an old tradition to cook red beans and rice on Mondays, which was also a traditional laundry day. I can surmise that the simple preparation, combined with hands off time on the stove, freed up time for people to tackle this chore. So this is where Red Beans Monday comes from!
Louis Armstrong, jazz musician and native of New Orleans, loved red beans and rice! It was his favorite meal, and he would sign letters: "Red Beans and Ricely Yours, Louis Armstrong."
And of course, the best Mardi Gras parades will always have plenty of Red Beans and Rice for the delight of parade goers!
Why You Will Love This Easy Red Beans Recipe!
The recipe I followed (tweaked slightly) comes from the back of a packet of Camellia Red Kidneys. Camellia brand has been around since 1923, and is a New Orleans favorite.
You will love this Southern red beans recipe because:
- It's simple and delicious. The ingredients you will need can easily be found at most grocery stores. This easy recipe will guide you step by step to make sure your red beans turn out perfect every time, like you would enjoy at your favorite red beans restaurant!
- This budget friendly recipe will feed your family for a just a few dollars. A 1 pound bag of dried Camellia Brand red kidney beans equals about 5-6 cups of beans after cooking. You could also double the recipe and make enough to bring to a street party!
- It features the BEST red beans...Camellia Brand! They are superb quality beans that are creamy and delicious! Camellia just celebrated their 100th anniversary in 2023, so you know they KNOW their beans!
🥘 Ingredients
This dish contains "the Holy Trinity" of Creole cuisine which is green bell pepper, onion, and celery. Other than that you will need only a few more ingredients to make this delicious dish.
So here is the entire list of simple ingredients you will need to make one of the best bean recipes of all time:
- Camellia red kidney beans
- Smoked sausage
- Celery
- Green bell pepper
- Onion
- Fresh garlic
- Butter
- Water
- Bay leaves
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Cajun or Creole seasoning
- Green onion
- White Rice, cooked (you can find an easy rice recipe here)
Now, I used red kidney beans. However, you could also use Camellia small red beans. Yes, they are different!
The recipe also calls for addition of smoked sausage. I used Andouille sausage, which is a smoked pork sausage closely associated with Creole cuisine.
I added Slap Ya Mama Cajun Seasoning to taste to give some extra Creole/Cajun spice to this dish. You can order this great Cajun seasoning here on Amazon.
You could also use Camellia's Creole Red Bean Seasoning Mix dinner mix, which is a true blend of authentic Creole spices, or try Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning.
I hope you are excited to make this delicious Creole red beans recipe with me! So let's get started!
🔪 Instructions
You will need a large heavy pot with a cover for this recipe. A Dutch oven would be ideal!
Rinse and sort beans. In your heavy and large pot, cook sausage on medium heat for 6-7 minutes until browned.
Add vegetables and garlic to sausage, along with butter, and continue to sauté onions for around 5 minutes until onions turn soft and clear.
Add beans and bay leaf. Cover beans with water and bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Reduce heat, add the salt, pepper, and Creole seasoning. Cover and simmer for around 2.5 hrs, stirring occasionally until beans are desired tenderness.
You may need to add extra water as necessary during this time, ensuring that the beans are always covered with a little water while they are cooking.
Taste and add more salt, pepper, and Creole seasoning to taste. To get a creamier consistency, the best way is to press some beans into the side of the pot with a spoon and mash them.
Suggestions For Serving
This delicious dish is best served with hot rice. Many people enjoy a side of cornbread or even French bread with red beans and rice as well.
Include a lovely green salad to make this a complete and wholesome meal.
I hope this New Orleans classic will become one of your favorite family recipes!
FAQ
You can definitely cook New Orleans Style Red Beans in your instant pot if you want fast red beans! Find the recipe for Instant Pot red beans at CamelliaBrand.com. Cooking your beans under high pressure in an Instant Pot will reduce your cooking time to somewhere between 1-2 hours.
Toward the end of your cooking time, take a spoon and mash some of the beans against the pot to make your beans dish creamier.
Simply omit the smoked sausage from this recipe in order to make it vegetarian. You could sub your favorite plant-based protein, then enjoy it for a delicious Meatless Monday dinner!
Some Other Louisiana Recipes You May Enjoy!
Here are some other Louisiana recipes you may enjoy:
1,000 Foods to Eat Project
Red Beans and Rice is also one of the 1,000 Foods to Eat listed in the book 1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die, by Mimi Sheraton. It is #8 on my quest to prepare and eat each of the foods listed in the book 1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die.
For a list of the foods tried so far, please visit my 1,000 Foods to Eat Project page.
I hope you will take the time to prepare and enjoy this dish soon, and bring a taste of New Orleans to your dinner table!
Join Me On A Fun Food Journey!
Finally, I invite you to come along on this food journey with me! Please sign up to get the latest recipes and inspiration for you to expand your food comfort zone! It's an incredible journey, please join me by signing up here.
You can also follow me on social media on Instagram @explore_cook_eat.
Cheers!
Grace
Camellia's Famous New Orleans-Style Red Beans
Equipment
- large heavy pot a Dutch oven is ideal for this recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 lb Camellia Red Kidney Beans
- 12 oz smoked sausage, sliced I used Andouille sausage
- 2 celery stalk chopped
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 1 med onion chopped
- 8 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoon butter optional
- 8 cups water use chicken broth for extra flavor
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 ts salt plus additional to taste
- 1 ts pepper plus additional to taste
- 1 tablespoon Cajun or Creole seasoning plus additional to taste
- 3 green onions optional, sliced for garnish
- rice cooked
Instructions
- Rinse and sort beans. In a large heavy pot, cook sausage on medium heat for 6-7 minutes until browned.
- Add vegetables and garlic to sausage, along with butter, and continue to cook for around 5 minutes until onions turn soft and clear.
- Add beans, water, and bay leaf, and bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Reduce heat, add the salt, pepper, and Creole seasoning. Cover and simmer for around 2.5 hrs, stirring occasionally until beans are desired tenderness. Add extra water as necessary during this time.
- Taste and add more salt, pepper, and Creole seasoning to taste. For creamier consistency, press some beans into the side of the pot with a spoon and stir.
sheenam | thetwincookingproject
Looks really easy to make. YUM
Grace
It's super easy ...a little prep and then mostly hands off. I hope you might try it and thank you so very much for your commenting!! 🙂
Jim
Red beans are not kidney beans
Grace
Hi Jim, thanks so much for your comment! I appreciate you pointing this out and will revise my post to make that clear to the reader. Thanks again and I wish you a very Happy New Year! Grace
Errol James
I love this recipe and will be cooking it sometime tomorrow because I have some of the recipe but not all of it but the recipe is a sure winner to the soul when you are hungry and to make it complete with a pan of zatarain’s honey cornbread. Can you dig it
Grace
Hey Errol! Thanks for your comments! I MUST try this with Zatarain's honey cornbread...I've never had it! Definitely this is food for the soul! Enjoy it Errol!!