This slow cooker red beans and rice recipe brings you creamy, New Orleans style beans the easy way!
I grew up eating two different kinds of red beans and rice. My mom made her own slow cooker version with canned large red kidney beans and tomatoes, which had whole beans and a thin broth. At Southern restaurants and the good ol’ Mississippi State cafeteria (loved that place), I had the thick, creamy version with mostly mashed beans. Both versions were delicious, but I only knew how to make my mom’s kind until I tried Emeril’s recipe for New Orleans Red Beans and Rice. That recipe is spot on for the cafeteria-style dish I remember, but I wondered if I could make creamy red beans in the slow cooker.
As it turns out, you can cook dry beans in the slow cooker without even soaking them, which you can read all about at The Kitchn. In an effort to make this recipe as simple as possible, I decided to go for it without soaking the beans, which actually worked!
I opted to use small red beans, and as wrong as it seemed, I poured the unsoaked guys right into the slow cooker with all the other ingredients. The Kitchn said unsoaked beans would be ready in 5-6 hours on low, but when I checked mine after three hours, they still had a ways to go. I turned the heat up to high for three more hours, and next time I’ll go with eight hours on high or ten hours on low, as is written here. I think the shorter cooking time might be good if you want your beans to be just tender, but I was looking for soft, mashable beans for these slow cooker red beans and rice.
Once the beans were soft, I got busy with my potato masher, mashing about half or more. Yes, you will mash some of the sausage while you’re at it, but that’s OK. Let it cook another hour or two, and you will have creamy, wonderful red beans to ladle over your rice!
Did my kids like this? Will you like the recipe more if I say yes? Then “YES!” Except they actually didn’t because they don’t eat mashed, soupy foods, but I have hope that they will come around as they get older. (Until then, I can make them as spicy as I like!) I hope your whole family enjoys this slow cooker red beans and rice recipe!
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Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
These creamy New Orleans style red beans and rice are almost effortless thanks to your crockpot!
© The Weary Chef 2013-2016
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| Servings | Prep Time |
| 6 | 5 minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 480 minutes |
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| Servings: | Units: |
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- 1 pound dried small red beans, rinsed and sorted
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 4 ribs celery, chopped
- 7 oz. smoked boneless pork chops, diced into ½-inch cubes
- 12 ounces andouille sausage, cut in half lengthwise and sliced into ½” thick slices, I use chicken sausage
- 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
- 4 c. cooked rice
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Adapted from Emeril's New Orleans Red Beans and Rice.
This is the slow cooker I use for all my recipes (affiliate link):
Hamilton Beach Set ‘n Forget Programmable Slow Cooker With Temperature Probe, 6-Quart
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Share your thoughts!
69 Comments on "Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice"
Is the pork supposed to be cooked before it goes in the crockpot?
Hi! Nope, it’s pre-cooked if you get the smoked pork chops. If you can’t find those, you could use a thick ham steak instead.
You can use a stick of butter in the crock pot to make it creamy as well without having to smash the beans . They will come out creamy also I like to cook the sausage in a skillet to get that cooked flavor and then I add them to the pot
Hi Andi- Quick question about the smoked boneless pork chops. Is this the name of the ingredient, or do the pork chops need to be smoked prior to adding them into the slow cooker? I’m not familiar with this type of pork, and noticed some other comments saying they couldn’t find it in the grocery store. If the smoked pork chop isn’t available, do you have any other suggestions for a comparable substitution? Looking forward to making this later. Thanks!
Hi! It is the name of the ingredient. They are packaged and sold near the ham and sausages at the grocery store. If you can’t find them, you could use a diced ham steak instead 🙂
I’m from Starkville! I know the exact dish you are talking about. Love it!!
Oh what a small world! It’s nice to hear from you 🙂
Making the Sausage and Red Beans and Rice today and I am looking forward to it. I am from Mississippi and I grew up eating this.
I’ve made this recipe several times now and my family loves it. The hubby wanted andouille sausage instead. We also use 2lbs of sausage, he’s a meat eater.
Thank you so much, Mesha! I’m a meat lover too 🙂 Your way sounds delicious!
I made this dish yesterday and let me tell you… it was absolutely PHENOMENAL. I grew up going to Louisiana for the holidays and eating all of the Cajun dishes you can think of. This red beans and rice recipe is some of the best I’ve ever had. I left out the smoked pork chops because I couldn’t find them in my local grocery store and it was still amazing. I left the veggies in bigger chunks so they wouldn’t totally disintegrate during the long cooking time. So creamy. So delicious. So full of flavor!
This makes my day, Audrey. Thank you!!