Chef John's Red Beans and Rice

My first time EVER making red beans and rice, and this was the recipe I chose. I served it with homemade corn bread (also in AR - search for Grandma's Cornbread) How mine differed: 1. Used a ham shank instead of a hock. 2. I forgot bay leaves. 3. Skipped the hot sauce. 4. Used pasillo peppers. 5. Used 14oz of regular old Johnsonville sausage w/pork, beef, turkey, and whatever else is in it. THE VERDICT! Pros: 1. I hate spicy food (and also have a toddler) so my milder version was perfect for us. 2. My house smelled like Louisiana all day. 3. Extremely filling! 4. Huge amount of food and very cheap ingredients! 5. Leftovers! This recipe will feed my family of 2 and a toddler for days! Cons: 1. It took about 4 hours total, so my gas stove was on most of the day and someone had to stay home to man the kitchen. Would have preferred to use a slow cooker, but it gave me a solid excuse to watch football all day. (Also, the toddler can reach those knobs. Luckily, she's an obedient one with no early signs of pyromania.) 2. Can't give the cooked ham bone to my dog, so she was disappointed about that. Overall, it's absolutely delicious. If you have several hours to spare and don't want to cook again for a week (or if you need to feed 10 lumberjacks), this is the recipe for you!

This is outstanding. Takes time, but it's mostly hands off. A good meal to cook on a weekend. You can adapt this to a pressure cooker if you don't want to wait as long (see my last note). Ham hock isn't carried at my local grocery stores, so when I don't feel like visiting a butcher, an easy sub is any kind of bone in pork shoulder, like pork blade or country style ribs. Bone in country style ribs is my go to. I have also subbed jalapenos for the poblanos for more heat. I have also cooked this in a pressure cooker with great results. Use the same ingredients here except for the broth. Look up another recipe to get the liquid to bean ratio right and cook time. I think I ended up using 3 cups broth, 3 cups water, cook on high for 60 mins, 15 minute natural release, but confirm with another recipe. There are tons of them online. However I like Chef John's flavors the best, hence the merging of recipes.

I made this last night! I was not able to use the ham hocks I bought, unfortunately. I used just regular smoked sausage and I used canned dark red kidney beans and simmered everything for an hour and a half. Everyone raved about it! The flavors were just so good. Even my almost 2 year old grandson could not get enough! He ate the sausage and the rice in the gravy and went to town. I cooked my rice in my instant pot, but instead of using water, I used chicken broth, I added extra powdered broth to give it a stronger flavor and it was just great! I hate that I needed to alter this recipe for our need, but we loved it anyway. Thank you, Chef John, for this great recipe!!

Chef John is great as always but y’all should know you can do this in the Instant Pot from dry beans in an hour and it’s just as good as soaking and simmering for hours. Follow everything else he does, but just transfer that sausage & mirepoix to the instant pot after sauteeing and add the dry beans, ham hock, liquid up to the bean line and set the instant pot to the beans button for like an hour. It’s so much faster and less work, and you end with the creamy texture. I also prefer small red beans to red kidney beans in mine.

Two pieces of constructive criticism: 1. I have found that when you use raw dry beans you must soak them, (pref overnight in the fridge), in brine. If I don't, then the skins are VERY tough and no amount of cooking will tenderize that. I use 1.5 tablespoons of salt to 2 quarts of water for one pound of dry beans. 8 hour soak is best but you can go to 12. Then before you start your bean recipe drain the beans in a sieve, rinse and soak in fresh water. Then start your recipe (saute-ing the onions, the sausage, celery etc....) The beans will be ready to go in the pot and simmer by then. 2. You didn't mention what to do with the ham hock. I'm assume just put it in with the bean mixture at the beginning of the simmer process? Otherwise this is a great recipe.!! (AND BRINE THOSE BEANS!!! Try it if you don't believe me. Beans are cheap)

Used chicken andouille sausage (10oz package) & 1.5 lbs smoked turkey necks instead of ham hocks because husband won’t eat pork. Because that meant much less fat than the original ingredients, and fat is flavor, added several tablespoons of duck fat. Also used 1/3 more of the trinity because my onion came to a full cup when chopped (so needed more celery & poblano to balance). Used dried small red beans (NOT the same as kidney beans) and quick-soaked in salted water for one hour. (Quick-soak = cover beans in cold salted water - enough to reach about an inch above dry beans. Bring to boil. Turn off heat, cover, & let soak 1 to 2 hours. Drain and use as you would slow-soaked beans.)

I have made this recipe many, many times. It's a favorite and often requested in our house! The first time I followed the instructions and ingredients to the letter. It was a smash hit!! Since then, I have only ever made two consistent changes and one other change due to unavailability of an ingredient. Changes are as follows: 1. We don't care much for kidney beans or the hassle of using dry beans, so substituted 5 cans of red beans (NOT kidney beans) - there is a difference. I rinse them before adding to the pot. This works out perfect and much easier/quicker than using dried beans. 2. I substitute hatch peppers for the poblanos. We always have hatch peppers on hand as we buy them fresh every September, roast them and freeze to use throughout the year. Hatch peppers come in mild, medium and hot. Roasted peppers add an extra level of flavor. 3. I can't always get smoked ham hocks so have also used smoked ham shanks. There is absolutely no difference in taste or texture. The one thing I noticed is that the recipe instructions don't mention pulling the meat off the hock/shank after it's done cooking. You'll want to do that, cut up the bigger pieces and return the meat to the pot. Chef John's recipe is wonderful. I always suggest making the recipe exactly as written the first time. Then tweak to your own tastes and preferences. This recipe has huge flavor and great texture! Very filling and enough for multiple meals!!

I love Chef John's recipes, but this recipe makes bean soup, not red beans and rice. This recipe calls for 2 quarts or 8 cups of broth for pre-soaked beans, which results in a soupy, watery bowl, but most other RBR recipes call for 6 cups of liquid for pre-soaked beans, which is the perfect amount. Use 8 c of broth for dry beans right out of the bag. Spices and technique here are great though.

Followed all ingredients but I used the crockpot instead. I soaked beans overnight and sauteed the sausage and veggies a little bit in the morning but then combined with everything in crock pot for 8 hrs on low. Every few hours I took a potato masher and would mash a few beans to thicken it up. It was soooo good!!! I even made homemade cornbread from another site to go with it. I'm already looking forward to leftovers this weekend!!!! IMPORTANT NOTE: It uses less broth when you do it this way - I used enough broth to cover everything in the pot, which was less than 2 quarts.

I made this exactly as specified with a few exceptions. Instead of using only kidney beans, I used a 50-50 mixture of kidney beans and small red beans. I used a green bell pepper instead of a poblano pepper. I used a ham shank rather than a hock but the next time I make this I'll probably use 1 or 2 smoked pork neckbones. I skipped the green onions because I didn't have them. The recipe on Chef John's blog tells you to use water or chicken broth and 2 teaspoons of kosher salt. Because I used 8 cups of chicken stock, I cut the kosher salt to 1 teaspoon. Finally, instead of using 12 ounces of andouille sausage I used 14 ounces because that was the amount in the package. They were Johnsonville brand. I ate it with rice that was flavored with Knorr chicken bouillon granules (powder). I topped it off with Crystal hot sauce. I was very pleased with this recipe and I would recommend it. I'm going to try several recipes which purport to be authentic so I can compare them and see which ones are keepers. This was a simple dish and I enjoyed it.

I cheated the recipe and it still had great flavor and perfect balance of spice for my husband and I. Unfortunately, it packed a little too much heat for the kiddos. Because time is always a factor, I cheated and used canned kidney beans instead of soaking over night. I know it is always better doing it the "right" way, but this still came out great! It was a bit "soupier" than expected so I added an extra 15.5oz can of beans. Paired perfect with some New Orleans Jazz music :)

Second time making this. A huge hit with the family. This time though I added some ground beef that was on hand . Also shrimp I need to use. All I can say is WoW! I like a creamier bean so it took a little longer but well worth it. I have made Chef John's recipes before and have not bee disapointed .

This was great....I used the slow cooker overnight for the beans...I used ground beef instead of sausage because that's all I had......Very little prep time...did not have to soak the beans overnight....Chef John uses plenty seasonings, his recipes are full of flavor

This was excellent. My kids loved it, especially my son. We are Texans, but he is going away to college in the Northeast in the fall, and he asked me if I thought he would be able to make this himself. I generally followed the recipe, although I did a couple of time-saving things: 1) I used canned (drained and rinsed) small red beans, not kidney (2x 29.5oz cans), and 2) I used pre-chopped trinity so it was green bell pepper, not poblano. I used sodium free chicken broth, and I leached the ham hock in a couple of rounds of cool water to lower the salt content. I know some say this detracts from flavor, but it was still plenty 'hammy' enough and if it had been any saltier it would have been kind of disastrous. I did not add any salt at that last step. I feel like I could have used a little more liquid, but the kids liked it very thick, more like a stew. I use basmati rice because I prefer the grains to be less sticky. . This is absolutely something to make again.

The husband loved this. I unfortunately hate making it because I can never get my beans softs. So I replaced it with 3 cans of RED beans, not kidney which gives a totally different flavor. I did forget the bay leaf...next time. I've been told there will be a next time!

Tastes like it took hours but it was quick.

My husband has made this before and it was so good. We definitely have made again

“Worth the effort”? It’s nearly effortless! There’s a little bit of prep at the start (soaking beans, chopping trinity, garlic, sausage), but the vast majority of the cook time and technique is “dump and stir and wait.” Easy. This is definitely a repeater!

I have made this recipe twice. Both times it was fantastic. A true taste of NO and the South. I grew up eating this dish, so it is a sentimental favorite. Cook it just as the recipe directs. Delicious!

So easy, and so good. Love the idea of substituting poblano for green peppers. Stores well in the fridge. I add a splash of chicken broth when I heat up the leftovers.