Easy Slow Cooker Red Beans & Rice
Prep Time:
10 minutes
Cook Time:
5 hours
Total Time:
5 hours 10 minutes
Super easy southern meal with simple ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 lb dried red kidney beans (can use small or regular size) SOAKED OVER NIGHT
- 1/2 diced yellow onion
- approx. 2-3 celery stalks, diced
- 1 diced green bell pepper (optional)
- 1 tbsp minced garlic (fresh or jarred)
- 1/2 tbsp cajun seasoning (I use Tony Chachere's Original- this has plenty of salt. Use low sodium formula if watching sodium intake)
- 3 bay leafs (dried or fresh)
- 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning
- Hot sauce to taste (everyone prefers different levels of spice, I use approx. 2-3 tsp)
- 32 oz box of chicken broth (can also use water with some chicken bouillon)
- 12 oz beef sausage cut into small medallions (can use whatever type of sausage meat you prefer- pork, chicken, turkey, etc.)
- 2 tbsp of corn starch mixed well with 2 tbsp cold water to make corn starch slurry
For serving
- cooked Jasmine rice (I use a rice cooker to make things easy!)
Instructions
- The night before cooking, in a large bowl soak red beans generously in salted water, enough to cover the beans and at least 1-2 inches above, the beans will grow and expand)
- Cut beef sausage in small medallions, about 3/4 inch thick
- Pop beef medallions into the air fryer, just until they get a good browning on them (I usually put mine on 180° F for 5 min, then toss and repeat one more time)
- In the meantime, add in other ingredients to the crock pot (onion, celery, bellpepper, garlic, and all seasonings)
- When the sausage is browned, toss into the crockpot (try to include the grease for flavor)
- Add chicken broth or stock (add a little water if it does not cover all the ingredients, should have at least half an inch above ingredients)
- Stir
- Set crockpot to high for 4 hours (my crockpot cooks fast, some crockpots may need an additional hour or two)
- Check pot at 2 hr mark, if the liquid has evaporated too much, add enough water to cover the ingredients
- At the 4 hour mark, my beans are usually done. You will know they are done when the beans are tender and easy to mush
- Take a large serving spoon full of beans out of the pot and mush into bowl till it becomes a pasty consistency
- Add back to pot
- Then mix the corn starch slurry slowly and stir while pot is still hot
- Let sit for 10-15 min to thicken
- Serve over rice that's cooked separately and some butter bread!
Notes
Can also set slow cooker to LOW setting, but this will add an additional 2-3 hours
A New Orleans classic!!
