Pinto Beans and Rice Recipe with Sausage
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This delicious easy pinto beans recipe is made with simple ingredients. There is nothing more iconic than a big pot of beans to feed a large group. Each bowl of beans includes lots of rounds of spicy smoked sausage and a big helping of rice!
My mom is the queen of delicious frugal recipes, but we did eat a lot of beans and rice. As a child, I got sick of that meal quick. After I got married, I refused to cook beans for a long time because I thought I didn’t really like them. Now that I’ve been out of my parents’ house for a few years, I find myself wanting my mama’s cooking more and more. She makes the best pinto beans and rice recipe with sausage. I had to get the recipe from her and make some.
It’s a simple living recipe and can be made in the Crock Pot. Your house will smell amazing if you let this simmer all day! When my husband came home after I made this he was thrilled. He even made the comment, “I got to come home to some good cooking today!” Yes, folks, good country cooking is where it’s at! This is a great recipe for southern pinto beans you’ll want to make over and over again.
Pinto Beans and Rice with Sausage
The first thing you’re going to do for this recipe is fry up some bacon and onions. All good meals start with bacon and onions. You just can’t recreate that delicious smell with anything else! Mmmm! I always start out by frying the bacon over medium heat and then I will saute onion in the bacon grease. You also have the option to add some chopped bell pepper to the pan if you’d like.
Go ahead and wash and sort your dry pinto beans in a colander. Some people soak their beans. You can do an overnight soak if you want in some cold water. If you’re like me, you never remember to soak them. You can also try a quick soak method if you’d like to soak your beans.
Of course, there are lots of different types of beans. I really love red beans and rice, as well as black beans, but I use different recipes to create those. This recipe creates the best results for savory pinto beans.
This is where you throw all your yummy ingredients in the Crock Pot. You want to add ALL the bacon and onions WITH THE GREASE, your beans, and the seasonings. Mama uses garlic powder, onion powder, chicken bullion (this is my favorite), salt, and black pepper. If you have a ham bone, that would be great to add to your Crock Pot, too, as well as a chopped garlic clove or two.! You’ll also want to add in eight cups of water. If you aren’t using bullion you can use vegetable broth or chicken broth instead.
Pop a lid on your Crock Pot and let it go for about 6-8 hours.
About 30 minutes before you’re ready to serve your beans, cut some smoked sausage into little rounds and add it to the Crock Pot. If you want some extra heat, you could add a diced jalapeno or habanero pepper, too.
While the beans are cooking, you’ll need to prepare the rice on the stove top. I prefer to make white rice. You can use brown rice if you’d like. Serve your beans over the rice!
Don’t have a Crock Pot? That’s ok! You can cook this pinto beans recipe in Instant Pot or in a large pot of water on the stove. The cooking time for the beans on the stove will typically be 2-3 hours.
We also like to stir in a little cilantro if we have it. It’s just fine without, too. You could also top it with some green onions. I’m also a fan of hot sauce. You can put some sour cream on top of the beans, too, if that’s your thing, or pico de gallo. Whatever you prefer to top your delicious beans with will be perfect! The only thing missing from this picture is a side of cornbread. It’s the best side dish for all of your bean recipes. I cook it in the cast iron skillet. So good!
Pinto Beans and Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 onion, diced
- 6 slices bacon, chopped
- 1 lb. bag Pinto Beans
- 2 tsp. chicken bullion
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- Pinch of salt and pepper (more depending on taste)
- 8 cups water
- 1 lb. smoked sausage, sliced
- Optional: diced jalapeno, chopped cilantro
- For rice:
- 2 cups rice
- 4 cups water
Instructions
- Fry onion and bacon in skillet.
- Rinse beans.
- Add beans, seasonings, onion and bacon with the grease, and water to the Crock Pot.
- Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
- 30 minutes before serving add sliced sausage and optional diced hot pepper.
- Stir in cilantro just before serving if desired.
- While beans are cooking prepare rice on stove top according to package directions.
- Serve pinto beans over rice.
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This does sound wonderful! Do you think it would work with canned pinto beans for a super quick stovetop meal?
I definitely think you can try it with canned pinto beans, Erlene!
I’ve used cooked bacon in soup and it seems to become “soggy” and just unappetizing. Or is it something I am doing wrong?
Hi Rose. If you put bacon in soup while it is cooking, the texture will change. I would say it becomes a bit rubbery. If the texture bothers you, you could take it out before eating, that way the soup will still have the bacon flavor. If you want crispy bacon in the soup, add it at the end.
I am womdering, I ran out of bacon to fry up but I have bacon bits. Do you think that would be find to just add in after this is all cooked up?
You could try it, but it will not have the same flavor. The grease from the bacon really makes a difference.
wondering
And where do the 8 cups of water come into play? In the crockpot at the same time as the beans and bacon go in?
Thanks 🙂
Yes. Put it all in the crock pot. 🙂
Thanks for this recipe! I used a little less sausage (I had a prepackaged smokie type sausage that I sliced thin and added it in), and I didn’t use bacon because I was lazy haha- and I had bacongrease. It fed my family for 2 nights , and everyone loved it! The first night I served it with brown rice and some green beans , the 2nd night I made corn bread and we had tomatoes. This will be on the repeat list. Thank you!
I’m so glad your family liked it! All your sides sound delicious!
Sounds delicious! But I thought the reason for soaking beans overnight ( or at least following the quick soak instructions on the bag) was to get rid of toxins that occur naturally in dried beans? Wouldn’t putting them straight into the crock pot be a concern?
Hi Lisa,
Many people soak beans to help break down indigestible sugars, not toxins. This is said to cut down on gas. Our family doesn’t have an issue with this and our beans turn out just fine. If you’d rather soak, by all means do. 🙂
Yay!! I made these today and they are so good. I’m just learning to cook at home “from scratch”, and other bean recipes have left me disappointed. I was about to give up on beans and rice recipes all together when Pinterest led me here. I figured, if the beans were bland, at least the sausage would be good. But wow!! The beans are so flavorful! You’ve given me a recipe I can count on, so thank you for sharing this!
I unfortunately do not have a crockpot. Yikes! Is this recipe okay to use in large pot?
Yes! A regular pot is fine.
Joanie, this recipe was perfect. Is perfect!
My family loved this meal and we look forward to making it again.
Thank you for sharing.
I’m so glad y’all like it!
Made this tonight and man oh man was it a hit!!! The seasoning of the bean soup combined with the rice is a perfect match! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! It is a wonderful family meal!!
Dropping by to say thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. It is easy to make yet so yummy. We loved it.
I am planning on making this dish tomorrow. I was reading over the ingredients and notice you put in 8 cups of water. Is the addition 4 cups of water for the rice.
I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you! You put eight cups of water in the crockpot with the beans.
This was very good and flavorful. We omitted the grease and it still tasted great. Trying to cut down on fat and sodium and we precooked the beans in a crockpot before so all we had to do was cook the rice. We put the rice in the pot with all the other ingredients. Yummy!
I’m so glad you liked it!
This tasted really good even though we omitted the grease and put everything in the pot at the end.
I’m making this while we’re on lockdown these next couple of weeks. Stay safe everyone
My family and I really enjoy this delicious meal. I serve mine with cornbread and it’s the perfect comfort food! It’s even toddler approved!