Breaking Down My Red Beans and Rice

I wrote down this recipe a few years ago and it's pretty close to being spot on for Popeyes Red Beans and Rice.


1/2 - 3/4 pounds smoked ham hock
3 14-16 ounce cans red beans
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/4 cup lard + 1 tablespoon
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Pour 2 cans of beans in a 2 quart pan add smoked ham hock and water. Simmer on medium heat for an hour until the meat starts to loosen from the bone. Remove from heat and cool until the hock is cool enough so the meat may be removed from the bone. Place the meat, beans and liquid in a food processor. To the mixture add onion powder, garlic salt, red pepper, salt, and lard. Process for only 4 seconds. beans should be chopped and liquid thick. Now add the 3rd can of beans that have been drained of their liquid. Process just for a second or two you want these beans to remain almost whole. The secret, to me, is getting the food processor parts right.

Pour bean mixture back into to pan and cook slowly on low heat stirring often until ready to serve.

Add sliced sausage if you want. I love it how it is. Saves me sausage for gumbo.

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Mash some of the beans up against the side of the pot

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Been told this but I still can't ever seem to get it right.

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This is the secret. When the beans are soft but still hold their shape I scoop out two cups of the mixture and puree it with an immersion blender and then dump it back in the pot. Works every time.

If you cook the beans too long the entire pot turns to mush and you can't even recognize the beans.

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Hmmmm, this could be my problem. I seem to wait too late before I pull some beans out. I'll try pulling them out earlier.

So nobody adds any sort of thickening agent, it's just mushed beans? Do yal buy dry beans and soak them or does everyone use the canned beans?

Mr. Balls bringing the F&DB wisdom with a vengeance this morning.

If I used a canned bean or for that matter any other dried bean beside Camellia my family would have a shite hemmorage.

I do what Lester said. No need to pull out and blend. I suspect you are cooking them too high and too fast. Bring soaked beans to a boil then reduce to a low simmer and cover, stirring frequently and let them cook. As they soften mash a few with the back of the spoon on the side of the pot and stir in. Cook awhile and mash some more until you get the creaminess you like. Lower the heat as you go.

Im sorry, but food processor and red beans and rice should never be used in the same sentence.

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In general though, crockpot or not, people use too much water to cook their beans.

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this is true.

use a bag of beans, soak in water overnight to allow them to expand. it'l shorten the cook time. and as someone else said, cook them at a lower temperature. i've also used the method of taking out a cup or two of beans to blend. But, I just scooped up a cup or two of beans/sausage/onions/etc. and blended that. Then let that stuff incorporate back into it.

If you end up using too much stock/water, you can also take the top off of the pot and let it steam some of the water off. but, this isn't going to help if you use way too much water.

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Mash some of the beans up against the side of the pot

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This plus 1000.

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fat in the pot

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smoked ham hocks FTW