Red beans and rice is a staple dish in Louisiana. The “rule” is simple. Soak the beans on Sunday, and cook them on Monday. That’s the tradition I learned while attending college in New Orleans, and the bean recipe I developed since then can work with any type of bean!
For this recipe I used pinto beans. They’re delicious, plump, and soak up tertiary flavors easily. So, in lieu of writing dozens of paragraphs about the deep meaning of beans, and then finally revealing an obvious recipe, let’s just get right to it.
Overnight Soaking
Pretty straight-forward. Dump a bag of beans in a bowl and soak them overnight. By morning they’ll be plump enough!
Ingredients
- Soaked Pinto Beans
- Water
- 4 Peeled Carrots
- 1 Chopped Red Onion
- 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
- Old Bay (eyeball it to taste)
- 3 Plump Old Bay Sausages
- 1/4 Cup Irish Butter
- 3 Bay Leaves
Prep & Cook
Put your olive oil, carrots, and onions in your pot and cook until the onions develop a translucent layer. Squeeze sausage meat from the casing and divide into smaller morsels. Add sausage and butter to the pot and begin stirring the ingredients together. Add your Old Bay seasoning and stir thoroughly.
Slowly add 2 cups of water while stirring. Add 1 cup of your soaked pinto beans and repeat process — 2 cups of water per 1 cup of beans — until the pot is full or at the desired level. Add bay leaves and any other spice or ingredient you have.
Bring to boil and allow the water and ingredients to roll for about 5 minutes. Bring heat down to a covered simmer for about 6 hours.
Make sure to pop open the lid and give it a stir every so often. Serve with rice — ala red beans and rice style — or with whatever you like eating with your beans.
Oh, one last thing. Make this recipe on whichever day you want. JUST BE SURE TO SOAK THE BEANS OVERNIGHT!
