Is It Ever Okay To Use Canned Beans For Red Beans And Rice?

Red beans and rice is one of the most classic examples of New Orleans cuisine. A combination of red kidney beans, rice, sausage, and flavorful aromatics, this dish began as a simple, satisfying meal to get a family through good times and bad. Since then, it has become a favorite for people across the country, with every chef having their own way to make the recipe unique. Traditionally, red beans and rice is made with dry beans, which can be a problem if you're trying to make a quick meal at home since the beans need to be soaked overnight before cooking. Luckily for those of us in a hurry, chef Darren Chabert told Chowhound that it's totally fine to use canned kidney beans to make red beans and rice.

Chabert is the chef de cuisine at Saint John, a haute Creole restaurant located in the Crescent City. According to him, canned beans are a perfectly suitable way to get the dish on the table sooner. "I use dried Camellia brand red beans because it's the only logical choice as a decent New Orleanian. But, not gonna lie, my family always had some Blue Runners in the pantry for the quick and easy get out batch for weekday dinners," he said. Just be sure to thoroughly drain the beans before you start cooking, and take a few extra minutes to "doctor them up."

While it's hard to compare a bowl of red beans and rice cooked over a day to one made in an hour, taking a few shortcuts through the recipe will still end with a mouth watering dish with a bit of finesse. Rice is already easy enough to cook on the stove, but you can streamline the process even more with a handy appliance like the Aroma Housewares One-Touch Rice Cooker. The rice will take half an hour to cook anyway, so in the meantime it's worth broiling your beans to give them extra flavor. As the rice and beans do their thing, cook up some sliced or ground sausage in a frying pan. Once the other ingredients are ready, mix everything together in the pan along with some proper seasonings like cayenne pepper, parsley, thyme, and Cajun seasoning.

If you take care to improve the canned beans by broiling, simmering, or generously seasoning them beforehand, there's no problem with using them for your red beans and rice. After all, everyone has a personalized version of this recipe, and as long as you avoid the most common canned bean mistakes, the end dish should be scrumptious no matter what.