These Jamaican red beans and rice are so delicious. Buttery red kidney beans and creamy coconut rice will always be a favorite in my house! The traditional preparation is to cook beans from dry beans and make coconut milk from scratch, but with two simple and friendly substitutes you have a recipe that is equally as enjoyable with little effort.
Red beans and rice is a wonderful pot and hands from flour, cool and comforting to the max. You can eat it as a meal by itself, but it is also a great side dish. At least I like to cook some greens (like these smoked collard greens) or some veggie to go on the side. It’s also great served with some grilled tofu or Jamaican jerk tempeh.
There are many variations of beans and rice, and it’s really hard to go wrong with this classic Caribbean combo!
I love this recipe because you throw a bunch of ingredients in a pot, let it cook a little, then add the rice and cook until the rice is tender. While it is cooking I can make a side dish and cook all the dishes. Among them there are very few!
Ingredients for Jamaican red beans and rice:
Traditionally you use a variety of red beans that are smaller than kidney beans, however these can be difficult to find at your average grocery store and are often sold dry.
Kidney beans are a bit different but still the best choice for this dish and are often used. I use canned kidney beans because they are convenient and I always have a can in the pantry (in part because this is an Afghan lubya recipe).
You can also substitute pinto beans or even black beans in this recipe. However if you want the classic pink hue to the rice you need to use a different type of red bean!
The beans are cooked with lots of spices—onions, scallions, garlic, scotch bonnet pepper, thyme, allspice, jerk seasoning, and coconut milk. Oh and salt and pepper of course!
Sometimes, if I make my own Jamaican jerk sauce and have some extra in the fridge, I throw in a tablespoon of that instead of the dry jerk seasoning.
Finally, you really need rice! I like long grain rice or jasmine rice for this recipe. While you can make red beans with rice and brown rice, the cooking time is longer and the beans can be undercooked and start to lose their texture as a result.
The scotch bonnet pepper, or to control the spice level of this recipe:
The peppers are cooked whole in this dish, which allows them to lend their fruity flavor but less heat. Cutting a pepper in half, or poking holes in it with a knife will release some of the spices.
A classic choice for Jamaican red beans and rice is the scotch bonnet pepper. However, they can be fake out of the Caribbean or Caribbean grocery stores. Habaneros have the same level of heat and are a good substitute, I always use them instead.
I used Trinidadian scorpion peppers this time because I grew the plant in my garden this year! These are orders of magnitude spicier than scotch bonnet or habanero pepper, but since the pepper is cooked whole the dish remains mild. By my standards anyway!
You can always reduce the heat by using less spicy peppers like jalapeño or serrano chiles. Remember as they are left enough a little of the fragrance will come out!
That being said, if you can find them I highly recommend using Caribbean peppers (eg, scotch bonnet or chinyavada) for this recipe! They have such delicious drinks under their heat and they add something special to the dish.
If you use very hot pepper, make sure you remove it before blowing the rice and eating!
Getting ready:
We went over how to make this recipe and I promise it’s easy!
First we cook the beans with a little oil. This step helps develop the flavor of the onion, garlic, and spices and gives more time for the flavor to soak into the beans.
Then you add the rice, bring the mixture back to a low simmer (just like cooking rice normally!), and cover the pot. White rice cooks in 15 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it steam untouched for 10 minutes. Then cover the rice, removing all the pepper and sprigs of thyme. And enjoy! Very easy 🙂
And if that’s too much writing about rice and beans for you (“why did you write a story about the family history of your mother’s cousin’s best friend’s husband, I just want the recipe!”), I want to let you know my original plan for this article was just to write:
beansssss
beaaaaaanssssss
I think it speaks for itself, don’t you!
Other bean recipes:
I just assumed you love beans as much as I do, so here are some delicious recipes to try!
If you make these homemade vegan biscuits, leave a comment below and rate the recipe on the recipe card. And please share your photos with me on Instagram, tag @thecuriouschickpea and #thecuriouschickpea. I want to see your relaxation!
WANT MORE VEGAN RECIPES?
SIGN UP FOR MY EMAIL NEWSLETTER & FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, AND PINTEREST!
Ingredients
-
2 15oz cans kidney beans (3 cups cooked), drained and rinsed
-
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
-
2 scallions, finely chopped
-
2-4 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced
-
3-4 thyme leaves (or 1 tsp dried thyme)
-
1 scotch bonnet, habanero, Trinidadian scorpion, or other chili pepper, whole
-
1/2 tsp ground allspice
-
1 1/2 tsp Jamaican jerk seasoning (mild), or 1 tbsp jerk sauce
-
2 tsp salt
-
black pepper, to taste
-
15oz can full fat coconut milk
-
2 1/2 cups of water
-
2 cups long grain rice, washed
-
Scallion greens, for garnish
Instructions
- Add everything except the rice to a large bottom pan – kidney beans, onion, scallion, garlic, thyme, scotch bonnet or other pepper, allspice, jerk seasoning, salt, pepper, coconut milk and water.
- Bring to a low simmer over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Let it rise for 15 minutes.
- Add the cleaned and drained rice to the beans. Turn the heat down to medium and bring it back to boil. Reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Leave to stand for about 15 minutes, then turn off the heat without lifting the lid!
- Let the steam and heat go away for 10 minutes, then open the pot, remove all the pepper and thyme stalks and fluff the rice with a fork.
- Serve garnished with scallion greens and enjoy!
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from eligible purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8
Serving Size: 1
Fees per Service:
Calories: 301Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 0 mgSodium: 607mgCarbohydrates: 39 gFiber: 7gSugar: 1gProteins: 12g
Nutrient values are calculated automatically so should be used as an estimate.
