If you don’t live in Louisiana, you might not know that we’ve got a big carnival going on right now. Parades, marching bands, crazy costumes, and (of course) beads are daily sightings for the two weeks preceding Mardi Gras. It’s all gotten me in the mood for some classic New Orleans food—Red Beans and Rice!
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
I made a classic version of Red Beans and Rice way back when this was just a baby blog, so I thought it was time to revisit this deliciously filling and inexpensive dish. While I absolutely looove pork products, I thought it would be fun to try a vegan version. To make up for the loss of andouille sausage’s smoky flavor, I added a heaping dose of smoked paprika (that stuff is magic!). Making sure there was a healthy amount of herbs and spices also helped keep the batch flavorful. A sprinkle of fresh green onions on top adds a final oomph of flavor and then I’m in red bean heaven. It’s so filling, so flavorful, and so real. The recipe is simple and requires only good, simple ingredients. That’s the way I like to eat.
Keep in mind that this is not a fast dish. The longer you cook it the better it gets. I cooked mine for 3 hours, but you don’t want to go any less than 2 hours, or else your beans won’t be soft. Also, I soaked my beans over night, so you’ll want to plan this at least a day ahead. It’s worth it. Promise.
As an afterthought, I stirred a spoonful of coconut oil into one of my bowls and it added that lovely, velvety, rich flavor that you can only get from saturated fat (usually provided by the pork). So, if you still feel like you’re missing that pork derived richness, try adding a lil’ coconut oil.
Vegan Red Beans and Rice
Servings 6 to 8 servings (about 10 cups total)Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1 medium yellow onion ($0.52)
- 1 medium bell pepper ($0.97)
- 4 stalks celery ($0.50)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 1 lb dry red beans ($1.59)
- 6 cups vegetable broth* ($0.78)
- 1 tsp thyme ($0.10)
- 1 tsp oregano ($0.10)
- 1 whole bay leaf ($0.15)
- 1/2 Tbsp smoked paprika ($0.15)
- Freshly cracked pepper (about 10-15 cranks of a pepper mill) ($0.05)
- pinch cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- 6 cups cooked rice ($1.04)
- 1 bunch green onions, sliced ($0.79)
Instructions
- The night before, Place your beans in a large pot and fill with enough cool water to cover the beans by a few inches. Place the beans in the refrigerator to soak over night.
- When you’re ready to cook, finely dice the celery, bell pepper, and onion, and mince the garlic. Cook the celery, bell pepper, onion, and garlic in a large pot with the olive oil over medium heat until softened (5-7 minutes).
- Drain the soaked beans in a colander and rinse with fresh, cool water. Add the rinsed beans to the pot with the vegetables. Also add the vegetable broth, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, smoked paprika, some freshly cracked pepper, and a pinch of cayenne pepper.
- Place a lid on the pot and bring it up to a full boil over high heat. After it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and allow the pot to simmer for at least two hours. Make sure the pot is simmering the entire time, increasing the heat if needed. Stir the pot occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom. Keep the lid in place the entire time to keep the beans from drying out.
- After two hours (or longer if desired) the beans should be soft and tender. Mash some of the beans against the side of the pot with the back of a spoon. This will thicken the pot and make the classic, creamy texture of the dish. Remove the bay leaf and allow the pot to simmer for about 30 minutes more (after smashing) to help it thicken.
- To serve, add a scoop of red beans to a bowl and top with a scoop warm, cooked rice. Sprinkle sliced green onions over top and add a dash of hot sauce if desired.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Vegan Red Beans and Rice – Step by Step Photos
The night before, soak one pound of red beans in the refrigerator. Add the beans to a large pot and then add enough cool water to cover the beans by about a few inches (they’ll absorb water as they soak, so make sure to enough water to keep them covered as they expand). If you didn’t presoak your beans, you can use the “quick soak” method, but that still takes at least an hour.
When you’re ready to begin, finely dice four stalks of celery, one bell pepper, one onion, and mince four cloves of garlic.
Sauté the vegetables in a large pot with olive oil over medium heat until they are soft (about 5-7 minutes).
Drain the soaked beans in a colander and rinse with fresh water. Add the rinsed beans to the pot with the vegetables.
Also add 6 cups of vegetable broth, 1 tsp thyme, 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 Tbsp smoked paprika, 1 whole bay leaf, some freshly cracked pepper (about 10-15 cranks of a mill), and a pinch of cayenne (I like it a little more spicy, so I added 1/4 tsp). Give the pot a good stir, then place a lid on top and bring it up to a full boil over high heat. Once it reaches a full boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for at least two hours (with lid), stirring occasionally. Make sure it’s simmering the whole time, turning the heat up slightly if necessary.
After a minimum of two hours, the beans should be soft enough to smash with the back of a large spoon. Smash a good portion of the beans until they begin to take on a thick, creamy consistency. You could use an immersion blender instead, but just make sure not to purée the entire pot. You want some whole beans in there. Let the pot simmer for another 30 minutes or so after smashing the beans to let it thicken a little more.
Serve the beans with a scoop of warm, cooked rice over top and a sprinkle of fresh, sliced green onion. A splash of hot sauce is also a nice touch – the vinegar in the hot sauce helps bright everything up and gives a kick of flavor.
Add a capful of liquid smoke for a “meatier” taste.
Oh great tip Maggie!
Really good addition of paprika for smoke. I’m from New Orleans and decided not to smash the beans but, instead use my grandma’s hack of making a roux. When sauteing the veggies, add flour, veggie stock and either vegan butter or coconut oil. I used the latter. These were really good, extra Crystal hotsauce really set it off! Thanks!
Good to know Sandi. I LOVE Crystal hot sauce!
I made this and it was great! I added a little more smoked paprika when I smashed the beans because I wanted it to be a little smokier. Topped it with some Crystal and YUM.
Heya Beth! Is it possible to make this in an Instant Pot?
Yes, I bet this would convert nicely to the IP. Unfortunately I haven’t tried it myself, so I can’t offer exact instructions, but I would probably do the first step with the onion, celery, and garlic using the sauté function, then add everything else and use the bean function. You may need to add a little extra time, since you want the beans really, really soft so they break down and get creamy.
Can we used canned beans instead?
Unfortunately, since canned beans are already cooked, this recipe would need to be altered quite a bit to work with canned beans and I can’t advise without doing some testing.
Can I cook the beans over night in a slow cooker instead of on the stove top? Maybe on a low setting?
It’s not advised to cook beans that are in the kidney bean family in a slow cooker because they have a natural toxin that can only be broken down by boiling heavily for at least ten minutes. The slow cooker never gets it up to a strong enough boil for that to happen. :(
Wonderful! Even my meat and potatoes husband loved it.
I actually used a bean masher we got in New Mexico & it works perfectly. Also I used the coconut oil a commenter suggested a little more cayenne. Making this for the third time in as many weeks. Delicious!
I’m not sure if we need to use a certain kind of broth but this was awful. I wasted all of those vegetables. I’m sure it was good and great for some, but I really wish it would’ve worked for me.
I made this for my vegan friends last night. All of us had tried smoked paprika before and weren’t a huge fan but I took a chance and used it anyways. This was amazing! The smoked paprika gave it that classically smoked flavor. The only think I think it missed was some sort of acid to cut the creaminess of the beans. I tried a dash of red wine vinegar but I am wondering what else could be used and still taste great. Thanks for all of your hard work and dedication to affordable recipes!
I always squeeze some fresh lime juice in mine.
Can’t go wrong with a little citrus twist!
This was GREAT! Really flavorful. The idea of using smoked paprika is brilliant. I’ve had it sitting around forever and now I have a great use for it. Also the idea to use coconut oil for richness – it worked. It’s tough to get something vegan to taste as rich as a meat-flavored dish but this was. I used twice as much paprika, and added about 2TB of Marash pepper as well. Let’s be real though, it does need salt! Anyway thanks for an addition to my repertoire.
Can I use this same recipe and seasonings for most beans? Some including Pinto and Kidney?
Yes, absolutely. :) It’s great with white beans, too.
The store didn’t have red beans today :( I’ve made this recipe before and absolutely love it. I bought kidney beans to try and sub. Do you think that is an ok sub that will be pretty similar?
Yes, that will still work. :)
Following up on the coconut oil: would you suggest cooking that into the pot or adding in before serving?
It’s probably easier to just stir it into the whole pot so that each serving is consistent, but you could certainly just add it to each bowl (a smaller amount, of course) if you prefer. :)
I made this recipe today and it came out great! I will say that I added some spicy Tony’s cajun seasoning to the final product because I thought it needed a little bit of more salt and I didn’t have hot sauce on me. I also cooked your homemade cornbread recipe to go with the red beans and rice and it was a match made in heaven. :)
Hooray!
Made this in the IP… delicious! Did not soak the beans so I did it on manual 50 minutes with a natural release.
Thanks for this! I’ve made it before and it’s wonderful, but was going to be –lazy– efficient and make it in the IP tonight and wanted to make sure it wouldn’t ruin anything. Thanks so much for the confirmation!
I just wanted to throw it out there that I have made a slow cooker version of this recently, and it was great! I followed steps 1-3 exactly, but at step 4 I transferred everything to the crock pot after the beans were at a rolling boil for about 15 minutes. I used about 12 oz of dried beans instead of one pound, but kept the same amount of liquid so that the beans wouldn’t dry out in the crock pot. They stayed in the crock pot all day for about 10 hours, and they were perfect for our Monday night red beans get together. I sauteed some andouille sausage on the side for the carnivores as well.