Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

Sliced andouille sausage and red beans in a bowl with rice

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice makes a delicious dinner... and this recipe is SO simple! This well-loved Louisiana entree, which calls for dried red beans, Andouille sausage, green bell pepper, onion and spices, is the perfect meal year-round. This recipe, which is perfect for Mardi Gras festivities, football tailgates and while hosting a party, because it requires little hands-on time, cooks unassisted in the slow cooker and feeds a crowd.

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 9

Total Time 9 15

Servings servings

Calories 392kcal

Ingredients

1 lb. dried red beans
1 lb. Andouille sausage
4 cloves garlic minced
1 large yellow onion chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes or less, if feeding kids
1 teaspoon kosher salt
32 oz. unsalted chicken broth
Cooked white rice for serving

Instructions

Sort the beans. Remove any broken ones, as well as any plant bits or rocks. Give them a rinse.
Place the beans in the basin of the slow cooker.
Chop the onion and bell pepper. Mince the garlic. Sprinkle them on top of the red beans in the slow cooker.
Season with the red pepper flakes and kosher salt.
Slice the (smoked) Andouille sausage*, and place on top of the other ingredients in the slow cooker.
Give the ingredients a stir to combine them, then pour in the chicken stock.
Cover, and cook on HIGH for 5-6 hours (on LOW for 9-10 hours), or until the red beans are extremely soft.
Serve warm over rice!

Notes

Please do NOT use canned red beans for this recipe. They will become mush by the end of cooking time, and no one wants mushy red beans.

My original recipe calls for soaking the beans overnight. I updated it in June 2022 to omit this step, as I've found that the beans will cook for long enough to not require an overnight soak.

All andouille sausages are a little different. Some have more heat than others while others are more flavorful without the added punch of heat. You're going to have to do some legwork and discover the brands that work for you and yours because they are all so different.

Fresh pork andouille sausage at the Whole Foods meat counter here in Dallas has been both flavorful and a little heat. Central Market's fresh andouille sausage is also good, though we found it to have very little heat.
Silva Naturals Smoked Andouille Sausage* (affiliate link) is also delicious. It's less spicy, but it has a ton of flavor.

A note on ingredients and substitutions:

If you're sensitive to heat, omit the red pepper flakes. We normally leave it out if we're sharing this recipe with our kids. The andouille sausage will provide more than enough flavor without the added heat unless you want it.
Andouille sausage is a popular sausage in South Louisiana. It comes in both smoked and fresh varieties, and depending on where you live, you might not be able to find it or might only be able to find one variety. We prefer the smoked andouille sausage because it slices up easily before you cook the red beans and rice. However, you can use fresh andouille sausage. Add them to the slow cooker whole and slice after the cooking is done.
If you cannot find andouille sausage, you can use hot Italian sausage instead.
If you do not eat pork, some brands sell chicken andouille sausage, and that can be used in this recipe. We've found these to be spicier than the pork variety, for whatever reason.

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