Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice with Chicken Sausage
by Melanie Gunnell
This might be the best
slow cooker recipe you’ll make all year. Beware, though, if you
are like me, it will be easy to dismiss the homey, simple idea of
cooking red beans and sausage in the slow cooker, but don’t be
like that; I don’t want you to miss out on all the gloriousness
that is this slow cooker meal.
Brian, who gets teased
by friends for being really, really spoiled in the dinner department
(little do the hecklers know that sometimes it’s not all it’s
cracked up to be around here at dinnertime), could not stop talking
about this meal even though it’s probably one of the simplest
meals we’ve eaten lately.
After a while, I was a
little bit like “ok, ok, I get it, you like it, thank you,
that’s nice, can we stop talking about beans and rice now?”
He fought us all for
the leftovers (and won, blame it on his wrestling background and
savvy fridge hiding skills) and has already requested it for his
birthday dinner in December. Apparently it’s the closest he’s
ever gotten stateside to what he ate for meals on end when he lived
in Brazil many moons ago.
I love how easy this
meal is. No precooking, no fussy ingredients. Toss almost everything
into the slow cooker and let it go to town. I like to add the chicken
sausage (since it’s already cooked) at the end just to warm
through — to avoid the boiled-texture meat thing.
But if that doesn’t
bother you, go ahead and add it with the other ingredients and it
will be even easier (if that’s possible). Surprisingly, the
short list of seasonings provides the perfect amount of flavor to the
warm, simmering ingredients. It really is amazingly delicious.
Don’t call me out
on authenticity (I know there are many who are very particular
about their red beans and rice) but if you want simple, tasty,
homestyle comfort food, this is it. And it’s pretty healthy and
inexpensive to boot so there is that. I think we’ll be eating
this all fall and winter.
Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice with Chicken Sausage Yield: Serves 8
For the
kielbasa/sausage, you're looking for precooked sausage that you slice
into rounds. I like using the chicken sausage (Aidell's brand).
Something similar, pork or beef or turkey, would work for this
recipe.
Ingredients
1 cup diced yellow or white onion
1 medium green pepper, diced
4 (15-ounces each) cans kidney beans, undrained
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
2 teaspoons coarse or freshly cracked black pepper
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 1/2 pounds kielbasa or chicken sausage, sliced (see note above)
Hot, cooked brown rice, white rice or quinoa for serving
Directions
Combine all the ingredients except
the kielbasa/sausage in a medium slow cooker and give it a good
stir. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 7-8 hours. Add the
sausage and cook until warmed through (anywhere from 20 minutes to
another hour).
Add additional salt to taste
before serving. Serve over hot, cooked rice (white or brown) or
quinoa.
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Jessica K., an awesome MKC reader who sent it
to me (a favorite family recipe of hers!)
Melanie Gunnell is a food-loving, chocolate-obsessed mom who has a desperate need to share
her favorite tried-and-true recipes with the world. In a past life she graduated from Brigham
Young University with a degree in public health, but for the past ten years, stay-at-home
motherhood has been her job along with blogging-from-home for the past five.
She resides in the brilliantly cold tundra of Northern Minnesota with her husband and their brood
of five children: four boys and one tiny, bossy girl. Dark chocolate (particularly the act of
shoving chocolate chips in her mouth whilst hiding in the pantry) is her coping skill of choice for
both the never-ending winters and the never-ending wrestling matches in her front room.