This canned bean dinner gets knockout flavor from andouille sausage

Jessica Rudolph Senior Editor, Cook’s Country

Red beans and rice—a dish of creamy stewed beans flavored with the trinity (onion, celery, and green bell pepper), spices, and cured pork and served with rice—is quintessential New Orleanian fare, common in home kitchens and restaurants alike. To make a speedy version suited for weeknight cooking, we relied on the unbeatable convenience of canned beans. Specifically, light red kidney beans have creamy flesh and thin skins reminiscent of the Camellia brand beans popular in New Orleans; we used two whole cans, including their canning liquid, its starchy body mimicking the viscosity of long-cooked beans.

To replicate the complex flavor of cooked-all-day versions, we had to pull out all the stops with the remaining ingredients. Specifically, andouille sausage, a piquant, garlicky smoked-and-cured sausage, added signature spicy, porky flavor to the beans. Our very favorite andouille, Jacob’s World Famous Andouille, comes straight from NOLA, although a mail-order product might now be your speed for midweek meals. If so, select the best quality product you can find near you (our second favorite product, Wellshire Andouille Sausage, is more widely available).