History

Red beans and rice is the Monday dish in New Orleans, dating to the early 1800s when Monday was wash day and a long-simmering bean pot could cook unattended while the laundry was done. Louis Armstrong signed his letters Red Beans and Ricely Yours. The beans are Louisiana red kidney beans (a specific cultivar, different from Northern red kidneys), the andouille is real andouille (smoke-cured pork, not the milder Cajun andouille). Mother's Restaurant has run red beans and rice on the Monday lunch counter since 1938. Camellia Brand red beans, sold in red mesh bags at New Orleans grocery stores, is the brand the home cooks trust.

Make it at home

Yield Serves 6Hands-on 20 minTotal 3 hr 30 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 450g dried red kidney beans (Camellia Brand if you can find it)
  • 1 ham bone or 200g pickled pork
  • 300g andouille sausage, sliced
  • 1 large yellow onion, diced
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 1 green bell pepper, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1.8 litres water or chicken stock
  • Cooked long-grain white rice, to serve

Method

  1. Soak the beans overnight in cold water, or boil them for 2 minutes and rest 1 hour.
  2. Drain the beans. In a heavy Dutch oven, brown the andouille 4 minutes. Add onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic. Cook 8 minutes until soft.
  3. Add beans, ham bone or pickled pork, bay leaves, thyme, salt, peppers, paprika. Pour in water or stock.
  4. Simmer uncovered, 2.5 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. The beans should be creamy and starting to break down. Smash some beans against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon to thicken.
  5. Remove the ham bone (shred the meat back into the pot if any). Taste, adjust salt.
  6. Serve over hot rice.

Tip from the editors. Smash some beans against the pot near the end of cooking; that's how you get the creamy texture without flour. Don't add salt until the last hour or the beans toughen.

This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.

Where to eat red beans and rice

Red beans and rice in New Orleans

Mother's Restaurant ★ 4.2

Mother's in New Orleans is the 1938 CBD cafeteria-line lunch counter at Poydras and Tchoupitoulas, with $12 red beans and rice plates and the Ferdi Special po-boy from the menu.

Try: Red beans and rice

Tip: Lines run long; arrive 11:00 or after 14:00 for the shortest wait, the cafeteria runs fast at the counter.

401 Poydras St, New Orleans, LA 70130

Coop's Place ★ 4.3

Until Kitchen until 02:00

Coop's Place in New Orleans is the Decatur Street Cajun dive open since 1983, with the kitchen running until 02:00 nightly and rabbit-and-sausage jambalaya as the late-night anchor.

Try: Rabbit and sausage jambalaya

Tip: Dive bar atmosphere through to closing; the bar runs Abita and well drinks until kitchen close.

1109 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 70116

Liuzza's by the Track ★ 4.5

Liuzza's by the Track in New Orleans is the Bayou St John lunch counter near the Fair Grounds that invented the BBQ shrimp po-boy, $15 with butter-pepper sauce on Leidenheimer bread.

Try: BBQ shrimp po-boy

Tip: Cash only at peak; check the Jazz Fest schedule, the room turns into a circus on festival weekends.

1518 N Lopez St, New Orleans, LA 70119

Willie Mae's Scotch House ★ 4.6

Why locals love it: The 1957 Treme fried chicken counter on St Ann Street that the world knows in name but most visitors skip because it sits in a residential block off the Quarter food map.

Tip: Lines are real; arrive 11:00 open. The three-piece plate with red beans is the canonical order.

2401 St Ann St, New Orleans, LA 70119

More cities are in research. Want red beans and rice covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.

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