One-Pot Red Beans and Rice
New Orleans' Monday classic made for a weeknight: smoked sausage, the onion, pepper and celery "trinity," canned red beans and long-grain rice all simmered together in one Dutch oven, ready in an hour.
Edited by JP Lambiase
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Swaps change the price only: cook any meat to its own safe temperature. Where these numbers come from
In New Orleans, red beans and rice is the Monday dish. The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities' 64 Parishes encyclopedia says culinary writers and many home cooks name Monday as the traditional day; cooks saved slivers of ham and the ham bone from Sunday's midday dinner to season the beans, and used bacon drippings or other seasoning meat when there was no ham (Susan Tucker, updated January 16, 2024:). Wikipedia gives the usual reason: Monday was wash day, and a pot of beans could simmer on the stove while the laundry was scrubbed. The roots go back further. 64 Parishes links the dish to refugees from the revolution in Saint-Domingue (today's Haiti), who arrived in New Orleans between 1791 and 1810 with *diri kolé ak pwa*, rice and beans; the Louis Armstrong House Museum says beans and rice were commonly eaten by enslaved people in the city (May 15, 2020:). The dish took time to reach print: 64 Parishes notes that the 1885 Creole cookbooks have no red beans and rice, and the 1901 second edition of *The Picayune's Creole Cook Book* does. Louis Armstrong loved it so much he signed letters "Red beans and ricely yours" (64 Parishes; Armstrong House). The classic pot simmers dried beans for hours and is spooned over rice from a second pot. This weeknight version, the Americanized shortcut, uses canned beans and cooks the rice right in the pot.
🇺🇸 This one is American
New Orleans' Monday classic made for a weeknight: smoked sausage, the onion, pepper and celery "trinity," canned red beans and long-grain rice all simmered together in one Dutch oven, ready in an hour.
🇭🇺 The original
Hungary's gulyás is a paprika beef and potato soup cooked in a kettle, the dish American goulash is named after. See the Hungarian Gulyás (Goulash Soup) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Rice in the bean pot
The broth that would be poured off in a separate rice pot is soaked up by the rice, so every grain tastes of sausage, trinity and smoked paprika.
Toasting the rice
A minute in the oil and sausage fat coats the rinsed grains so they stay separate instead of turning to porridge among the beans.
🧰 You'll need 4 items
Everything the steps call for. Tick off what you have before you start.
Pans and pots
Tools
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oil in a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and celery and cook, stirring now and then, 5 minutes, until softened.
- Step 2
Add the garlic, thyme, basil, smoked paprika, salt, sage, black pepper and cayenne and stir 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Step 3
Add the sausage and cook 5 minutes, stirring, until the rounds are lightly browned.
- Step 4
Rinse the rice in a fine-mesh strainer under cold water until the water runs mostly clear, shake it dry and stir it into the pot; cook 1 minute to coat every grain.
- Step 5
Stir in the beans and broth, scraping the bottom, and bring to a simmer over high heat, about 5 minutes. Cover, turn the heat to low and simmer 18 minutes without lifting the lid.
- Step 6
Turn off the heat and let the pot stand, covered, 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork, scraping gently from the bottom, and serve topped with scallions and hot sauce.
One-Pot Red Beans and Rice
Serves 6 · about 10 cups · 1 hr total
Pot
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced (1 cup, 150 g)
- 1 green bell pepper, diced (1 cup, 150 g)
- 2 ribs celery, thinly sliced (1 cup, 100 g)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried basil or oregano
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp rubbed sage
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne, or to taste
- 1 smoked sausage or andouille rope (12 to 14 oz, about 369 g), sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
- 1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice (278 g)
- 2 cans (15.5 oz each) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
To serve
- 3 scallions, thinly sliced
- Louisiana-style hot sauce
- Pickled jalapeño slices and chopped parsley (optional)
Equipment: 6-quart Dutch oven, Chef's knife and cutting board, Measuring cups and spoons, Fine-mesh strainer
Method
- Heat the oil in a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and celery and cook, stirring now and then, 5 minutes, until softened.
- Add the garlic, thyme, basil, smoked paprika, salt, sage, black pepper and cayenne and stir 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Add the sausage and cook 5 minutes, stirring, until the rounds are lightly browned.
- Rinse the rice in a fine-mesh strainer under cold water until the water runs mostly clear, shake it dry and stir it into the pot; cook 1 minute to coat every grain.
- Stir in the beans and broth, scraping the bottom, and bring to a simmer over high heat, about 5 minutes. Cover, turn the heat to low and simmer 18 minutes without lifting the lid.
- Turn off the heat and let the pot stand, covered, 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork, scraping gently from the bottom, and serve topped with scallions and hot sauce.
Adapted from Julie Kinnaird, "One-Pot Red Beans and Rice," Chowhound (January 1, 2026; serves 6). Changes: long-grain white rice instead of jasmine (Kinnaird's own note says the dish was historically made with long-grain rice), 13 oz of smoked sausage instead of 1 lb of andouille, vegetable oil instead of olive oil, an 18-minute covered simmer and 10-minute rest instead of 15 and 5 (long-grain rice takes a little longer than jasmine), and pickled jalapeños made optional. Estimated cost: about $13 for the pot, about $2.17 a serving (prices.json; andouille instead of plain smoked sausage costs more). chowhound.com. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- Estimated cost: about $2.17 a serving, about $13 for the pot.
- Want the creamy Monday texture? Mash a cup of the beans against the side of the pot before adding the broth.
- Smoked sausage is usually sold fully cooked, but check the label: an uncooked one must reach 160°F (FSIS).
- Rice leftovers: cool in shallow containers and refrigerate within an hour; reheat to 165°F (see the baseline).
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Red beans are a Monday dish because Monday was wash day. Folklore, though widely repeated: 64 Parishes, Wikipedia and the Armstrong House all give it, but none cites a period source; the leftover Sunday ham bone is part of the same story.
- The dish came to New Orleans with refugees from Saint-Domingue. Disputed: 64 Parishes says the refugees brought *diri kolé ak pwa* in 1791 to 1810; the Armstrong House says scholars believe it came into common use through enslaved people in the city. Both can be true; neither is proven to be the single origin.
- The rice must be cooked separately. Folklore as a rule: the classic pot is served over separately cooked rice, and 64 Parishes says only that the rice "can be made at the last minute or earlier"; this one-pot version is a modern weeknight shortcut, and we say so.
- Louis Armstrong signed letters "Red beans and ricely yours." Documented (64 Parishes; Louis Armstrong House Museum).
Every other one-pot meal
Creole Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya
New Orleans' "red" jambalaya: browned chicken thighs, smoked sausage, the trinity and crushed tomatoes simmered with long-grain rice in one Dutch oven, then finished in the oven so the bottom never scorches.
Nigerian Jollof Rice with Chicken
West Africa's famous party rice: parboiled rice simmered in a fried pepper and tomato base with curry powder, thyme and bay, sealed under foil, with browned chicken drumsticks steaming on top in the same pot.
Hoppin' John (Lowcountry Peas and Rice)
The South's New Year's Day pot, made the old Charleston way: dried peas simmered with smoky bacon, then raw rice cooked right in the bean broth and steamed until every grain is seasoned. Three ingredients, about a dollar a serving.
American Goulash (One-Pot Macaroni and Beef)
The school-cafeteria favorite made at home in one pot: ground beef, peppers and onion in a tomato sauce with a little paprika, uncooked elbow macaroni simmered right in it, and cheddar melted over the top. Forty minutes.
Hungarian Gulyás (Goulash Soup)
The real goulash, the herdsmen's soup: beef chuck sweated with onions in lard, seasoned with Hungarian paprika, garlic and caraway, simmered in water with peppers, tomato, carrots and potatoes until tender. No pasta, no flour.
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