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Red Beans and Rice make the perfect comfort food meal or even a special occasion. It’s southern food at its best.

The only way to make Red Beans and Rice even better is to make it in the slow cooker so the flavors have plenty of time to marinate while simmering.

Make this easy slow cooker recipe for a weeknight meal, to celebrate Mardi Gras, or anytime you want some New Orleans food.

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Ingredients

Simple ingredients you can find at the grocery store. Chances are good that you may have almost all of the seasonings in your kitchen right now.

• 1 pound dry red kidney beans, sorted and rinsed
• 1 (28 oz.) can of diced tomatoes
• 1 pound ham pieces
• 1 pound andouille sausage, sliced into bite-size pieces
• 1 cup fresh celery, chopped
• 1 cup medium onion, chopped
• 1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground red (cayenne) pepper
• 7 cups chicken stock or water
• Cooked white or brown rice. About 1/4 cup uncooked rice per person

Directions

One of the great things about this recipe is that its sort of a dump recipe. You get to put everything in the crock pot at one time and go on about your day while dinner cooks.

This is the 6 Qt. Crockpot I am using it for this meal and I love it.

Step 1

Sort through the dried red beans to remove any debris that can make its way into the dried beans. Rinse them under cool running water in a colander and drain. Cut and chop the celery, onion, and green pepper.

Step 2

Combine beans, vegetables, sausage, and seasonings, except Bay, leaves in the slow cooker, and then pour the chicken stock over and stir to combine. Lay the Bay leaves on top and place the lid onto the Crockpot.

If you happen to have a leftover pork bone or ham hock, you can toss that in the pot for even more flavor.

See my list of 15 Cooking Herbs You Can Grow at Home. I grow herbs on my front porch.

Step 3

Cook on low setting for 6 to 8 hours or until the beans are nice and tender. Your home will smell delicious while this meal the cooking.

Step 4

Taste and adjust the salt to your desired preference. Go ahead and cook your rice according to the package directions. We prefer white rice with this meal but you can serve brown rice if you like.

See my list of 7 Tasty Meals Served with Rice

Step 5

Remove the bay leaves. Serve over cooked rice. Top with chopped green onions if you like.

Ingredient Substitutions

Instead of Andouille sausage, you can use chicken sausage, smoked sausage, or beef sausage.

If you want to add some extra kick to this easy slow cooker meal, toss in a few red pepper flakes.

This is a favorite meal the whole family enjoys. How great is it that such a delicious meal is used to celebrate Mardi Gras? With that in mind, you can add creole seasoning next time you make it if you like.

Cooking with dry beans is a great way to stretch the grocery budget. Scroll to the bottom of the post for more frugal and delicious recipe ideas using dried beans.

More Recipes Using Dried Beans

15 Recipes Using Dried Beans

3 Days of Meals From One Pot of Beans

Country Style 15 Bean Soup Made From Scratch, seasoned with country-style ribs for an amazing flavor combo.

Old Fashioned Southern Hoppin John In The Crockpot, not just for New Year’s food

Easy White Beans And Ham Soup, Instant Pot and Stovetop recipes included

Easy Beef and Bean Burritos recipe

updated 1/17/23