Hello! I just got back from an extremely restful, yet indulgent, beach vacation. The sea was beautiful and the food and drinks were even better. I have to admit, my friends are far better cooks than I am, and they went all out on our vacation. After a week of eating and drinking with abandon, I was ready to cook some food that was simple and good. These Creole White Beans with Chicken were the perfect fix.
What’s in Creole White Beans with Chicken
I decided on beans and rice because they’re easy, filling, inexpensive, and I always just feel good after eating beans and grains. I added a classic mix of vegetables, onions, celery, and bell pepper, for flavor, color, and more nutrients. I added some chicken thighs for extra protein (because I’ve been killin’ it with my Daily Burn workouts), but you could actually skip the chicken and make this totally vegan if you wanted.
I kept the seasoning simple by using Zatarain’s Creole seasoning blend, plus a couple extra herbs and spices for more oomph. If you can’t find Zatarain’s where you’re at, look for other Cajun or Creole seasoning blends like Tony Chachere’s, or use a recipe like Emeril’s to make your own. If you make your own, just be aware that the store bought blends contain a decent amount of salt and you’ll need to add salt to your beans after cooking to compensate.
How to Serve The White Beans and Chicken
The recipe and price break down below is just for the Creole White Beans with Chicken. In Louisiana we put everything over rice, but this could actually just be eaten like a bowl of chili (sans rice) if you wanted. Think of it like a Creole White Bean Chicken Chili. Yeah!
Freeze the Leftovers
This recipe makes a huge batch, so you’ll probably want to freeze about half of it. To freeze this dish make sure to divide it into smaller portions after cooking so it cools quickly in the fridge. I usually let it cool completely in the refrigerator overnight. Once cooled, transfer as many portions as you’d like to the freezer, where they’ll stay good for about three months. I like to use blue-top Ziploc food storage containers, but zip top freezer bags also work great.
Try These Other White Bean Recipes:
- Slow Cooker White Bean Soup
- Tuna and White Bean Salad
- Easy Rosemary Garlic White Bean Soup
- Creamy White Bean and Spinach Quesadillas
Creole White Beans with Chicken
Servings 12 cupsIngredients
- 1 lb. navy beans (dry) ($1.79)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.37)
- 4 stalks celery ($0.79)
- 2 green bell peppers ($1.76)
- 1 red bell pepper ($1.79)
- 1/2 bunch fresh parsley ($0.39)
- 4 chicken thighs (bone-in or boneless, skin removed) ($3.48)
- 2 Tbsp Creole Seasoning ($0.60)
- 1 tsp dried oregano ($0.10)
- 1/2 Tbsp smoked paprika ($0.15)
- freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
- 6 cups water ($0.00)
Instructions
- Place the beans in a large pot and cover with water. Soak the beans overnight in the refrigerator OR, place the beans in a large pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil for one minute, turn the heat off and let the beans sit, covered, for one hour. Drain the beans in a colander.
- Mince the garlic and dice the onion, celery, and bell peppers. Pull the parsley leaves from the stems and give them a rough chop.
- Add the olive oil, garlic, and onion to a large pot and sauté over medium heat until the onions begin to turn transparent (3-5 minutes). Add the celery and bell peppers and sauté a few minutes more, or just until they begin to soften.
- Remove the skin from the chicken thighs (if they came with skin) and trim the excess fat if desired. Nestle the chicken thighs down into the sautéed vegetables.
- Add the soaked beans, a handful of the parsley (the rest will be used later), Creole seasoning, oregano, smoked paprika, some cracked pepper, and six cups of water. Stir gently to distribute the spices, but not to disturb the thighs.
- Cover the pot and bring it to a boil over high heat. Once it reaches a full boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for two hours. Make sure the pot is simmering the whole time, increasing the heat slightly if needed to help it maintain a simmer.
- After two hours, test the beans to make sure they are soft. Remove the chicken thighs and use two forks to shred the meat and remove the bones (if using bone-in thighs).
- Use a large wooden spoon to smash the beans against the side of the pot to help the liquid thicken. Taste the beans and adjust the salt or Creole seasoning if desired. Return the shredded chicken to the pot and top with fresh parsley. Serve alone or over a bed of rice.
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Nutrition
Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Creole White Beans – Step by Step Photos
Presoak one pound of navy beans overnight, or use the quick soak method. To do a “quick soak”, place the beans in a large pot and cover it with water. Bring the beans to a full boil over high heat. Boil for one minute, then turn the heat off and let them sit, covered, for one hour.
After they’ve soaked, drain the beans in a colander.
During the last 15 minutes or so of the “quick soak”, start chopping the vegetables. Mince four cloves of garlic and dice one onion, two green bell peppers, one red bell pepper, and four stalks of celery. Pull the leaves from 1/2 a bunch of flat leaf parsley and give them a rough chop.
Sauté the garlic and onions in a large pot with 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, or until the onions begin to look transparent. I used the same pot that I used for the “quick soak”, so I wouldn’t dirty any more dishes.
Add the celery and bell peppers to the pot and continue to sauté for a few minutes more, or just until they begin to soften.
Add four skinless chicken thighs to the pot. They can be bone-in or boneless. Bones will provide a bit more flavor, but the bones will need to be removed later. You can take the time to remove the excess fat if desired, but I left mine on. I’m lazy and I kind of like the flavor of chicken fat.
Add the soaked beans and a handful of the chopped parsley (the rest will be added after cooking). Also add 2 Tbsp Creole seasoning, 1/2 Tbsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp oregano, and some freshly cracked pepper.
This is the Creole Seasoning that I used. Zatarain’s has a pretty good national distribution, but if you can’t find it look for Tony Cachere’s or another Creole seasoning blend. Or, you can make your own if you have a well stocked spice cabinet. Here is Emeril’s recipe for Creole seasoning. These tend to contain quite a bit of salt, so I didn’t need to add any extra. If yours does not contain salt, you’ll need to add salt after cooking to really amp up the flavor.
Add six cups of water and give it a gentle stir to distribute the spices. You can use a low sodium chicken broth here for more flavor, but I wouldn’t suggest using a regular broth because the Creole seasoning contains quite a bit of salt on its own and you could quickly cross that threshold of too much salt.
Cover the pot and bring it to a boil over high heat. Once it reaches a full boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for two hours. Make sure it’s simmering the whole time, adjusting the heat if needed. After two hours, test the beans to make sure they’re soft enough to mash (people living in areas with hard water may find it takes longer). This is what my pot looked like after two hours of simmering.
Use tongs to pull the chicken out of the pot and pull the meat off the bone (two forks works well). Toss the bones and gristle. While the meat is out of the pot, use a large wooden spoon to mash the beans against the side of the pot. This will thicken the liquid. If you still find it too thin, you can continue to let it simmer without a lid to help it thicken a bit. Taste the beans and adjust the salt or Creole seasoning if needed.
Add the pulled chicken back to the pot and top with some of the leftover fresh parsley.
You can serve the Creole White Beans over rice (because beans n’ rice are made for each other) or just eat it like a bowl of chili. Mmm, maybe with some crushed up crackers! This made about 12 cups, so depending on how it’s served, up to 12 servings. And yes, it freezes quite well! :)
Is there any way to make this in a crock pot? What do you think cooking time would be?
Yep! You can do it on high for four hours or low for eight. :)
If you cook it in a crock pot would you still need to presoak the beans?
You can, yes. If you don’t, it might be a little more thick than my pictures. I often don’t presoak beans when cooking them in the slow cooker, but I used presoaked for this recipe, so they’ll absorb more of the water if you don’t presoak.
Always wondered what the prepacked spice mixes are. Here is a quick blurb from a site –
In a medium bowl combine paprika, dried oregano, ground black pepper, dried basil, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, granulated onion, dried thyme, and granulated garlic. Stir to combine. Store in an airtight container for up to three months.
Creole Seasoning Recipe | Epicurious.com
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/…/creole-seasoning-104679
I really like this recipe! However, next time I make this recipe I will add the peppers (I omitted the celery) after the first hour. After the two hours of simmering they were coked into oblivion.
This looked like a great recipe, so I gave it a try a few nights ago. I’m vegetarian and my partner is a meat-eater, so we made some changes to make it suitable for us both.
First off, I omitted the chicken from the cooking process. I also didn’t have dried navy beans in my cupboard, so I used 4 different cans of pre-cooked beans (drained of course):
1 x navy beans,
1 x dark red kidney beans,
1 x chick peas,
1 x lima beans.
I used roughly 2.5 cups of water and simmered for just under 2 hours. Smashing the beans really helped thicken it up, so do be aware of that if you are concerned that it’s still too watery. The modified recipe came out great – like a tomato-free chili (perfect for me, since tomato activates my acid reflux).
While this dish was cooking on the stove, Hubby baked some plain chicken breasts in the oven. Once cooked, he cut the chicken into small pieces and added it to his half of the finished dish, then let it sit over night in the fridge.
We had this recipe as lunch the next day over rice and it was a big hit. We’ll definitely make this one again.
Thanks again Beth!
This recipe was great! I was nervous about using dried beans as I had never used them before, but it worked like a charm. I had this over basmati rice with red quinoa. So tasty! I would love to put the mixture inside a stuffed pepper. Thanks for another keeper!
This may be a dumb question, but simmer with lid on or off? Thanks!
Not a dumb question. :) Simmer with the lid on. After you mash the beans, if you want it thicker, you can let it simmer a little longer *without* the lid.
Can I use chicken breast instead?
Yes, you can. :)
So probably a stupid question, but did you just eat this with regular white rice?
Yep. And it’s not a stupid question. :) You can eat it with any type of rice that you like, though. Or, just eat it on its own, like chili.
Could I substitute Great Northern beans for the navy beans?
Yes. :)
I have all ingredients for this in my freezer right now! I buy chicken on sale, cook it chop and freeze in meal size packages. I buy green and red peppers when on sale, chop and freeze. Same thing with onions and celery. I cook large batches of all types dry beans and freeze in 2 cup batches. I have started to do the same with rice! Since most ingredients were purchased when on sale, I think I can make this recipe less expensively.
Do you have any recommended do-it-yourself recipes for a Creole spice blend? I always have a devil of a time locating any mixes here where I am up in the northeast.
Yep, there are several recipes out there on the web, and I’ve included a link to Emeril’s recipe in the second paragraph. :)
Is there anything you’d suggest to replace the celery? It’s one of the few vegetables I just can’t stand – otherwise this looks like it would be really tasty!
I’d probably just add another bell pepper. Or maybe a few green onions.
I did your ingredients with this technique. Substited canned beans at the end but cooked the rice in the chicken juice
http://www.hippressurecooking.com/pressure-cooker-chicken-and-rice-one-pot-meal/
Since this was listed in the Gluten-Free section, you may not want to use Tony Chachere’s creole seasoning if you have celiac disease. On the label, it states it may contain wheat. Can’t speak to Zatarain’s. Just saying . . .
Thanks for the heads up!
I accidentally grabbed a bunch of cilantro instead of parsley at the store, ugh. I have a small parsley plant but it won’t be nearly enough for the recipe. Do you think supplementing with dried parsley will have a noticeable effect on the recipe? I’m willing to go back to the store to correct my mistake but would love it if I didn’t have to. :)
Yeah, if I were you I’d use the dried parsley that is already on hand instead of going back to the store. ;) The parsley is more of a background flavor in this, so it’s not totally worth it to make another trip. I’d try a tablespoon of dried parsley.
Thank you for responding so quickly! I read it right as I was leaving work, which was perfect timing. The recipe turned out great and I have leftovers for days!