By John Willoughby
- Total Time
- 3 hours, plus soaking
- Rating
- 4(430)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This recipe came to The Times in a 2012 article about cooking in a bean hole, a classic method of outdoor cooking popular in Maine. Here’s how it works: Dig a hole big enough for the pot you’re planning to cook in, then build a fire of hardwood logs in it. Drop a dozen or so rocks into the fire once it’s started. When the wood has burned down to embers, remove the rocks using barbecue gloves, put your pot of presoaked beans into the embers, drop the rocks around and on top of the pot, cover everything with dirt and walk away. Come back in about eight hours, and your beans should be ready. Not in the mood to dig a hole in your backyard? No worries. These spicy New Orleans-style red beans with chicken and andouille sausage can just as easily be made in your oven. The slightly sweet creaminess of the beans and the richness of the chicken temper the sharp heat of the andouille sausage and red pepper flakes. Serve over a pile of snowy white rice alongside an ice-cold beer.
Featured in: Who Needs an Oven? Just Bury Your Beans
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Ingredients
Yield:6 servings
- 1pound red beans, soaked overnight or quick-soaked, then drained and rinsed
- 1tablespoon olive oil
- 6bone-in chicken thighs
- 1pound andouille sausage (or substitute linguiça), sliced ½ inch thick
- 1onion, sliced
- ½green bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
- 2stalks celery, roughly chopped
- 2tablespoons minced garlic
- 2tablespoons filé powder (optional)
- 2 to 3teaspoons red pepper flakes
- 2teaspoons kosher salt
- 1teaspoon black pepper
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
968 calories; 57 grams fat; 17 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 24 grams monounsaturated fat; 10 grams polyunsaturated fat; 54 grams carbohydrates; 21 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 60 grams protein; 923 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Drain and rinse the soaked beans and heat the oven to 350.
Step
2
Heat the oil in a 6-quart Dutch oven or other large, heavy pot over medium-high until hot but not smoking. Add the chicken thighs and brown well, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the thighs, add the sausage to pot and brown well, another 4 to 6 minutes. Remove the sausage. Add the onion, bell pepper and celery and sauté, stirring occasionally, until tender, 5 to 7 minutes.
Step
3
Add the garlic and sauté, stirring frequently, 1 minute. Add back the thighs and sausage along with the beans, filé powder if using, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and enough water to cover. Stir well and bring the mixture to a simmer.
Step
4
Cover and transfer the pot to the oven and bake until the beans are tender, 2½ to 3 hours, checking every half-hour or so after the first hour and adding water as needed if all the liquid has been absorbed.
Ratings
4
out of 5
430
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Cooking Notes
AHubby
A favorite of ours. Not at all pretty but fabulous and spicy. I wonder though if 350 for 2-1/2 to 3 hours is a mistake? After just 1 1/2 hours the beans are tender and the chicken falls off its bones.
Terry J
This was excellent. However, 3 tsp of red pepper makes it very picante. Would cut that in half the next time. Also, the beans cooked up in about 1 1/2 hours.
We had plenty of beans and sauce left afterwards. I pureed them in a blender and thinned with chicken broth, and the result was an excellent red bean soup that we loved.
Kofi
Delicious!!! loved it but didn't use much spice and used Canned Beans so my cooking time was just approx 40 mins until the the chicken was cooked.
Tom
I used a red jalapeño and a few twigs of fresh thyme - worked well. Canned beans cut the cooking time, but reduce the water. I'm making it again!
David
Modded this to work in the Instapot (cook beans with bay leaf, hold to side while sauting the rest in pot, add beans back in and bring back to temp). Success but still took some cooking. Need to work on balancing out the heat with other flavours.
Margaret
And we never cooked the andouille in the beans. It's already cooked. Slicing it and stewing it for hours takes all the texture and taste out of it. It should be added near the end, or served on the side.
Most families cook their beans with ham bones or ham hocks. Very economical.
As KC says, always dry beans. Camellia brand. Not kidneys. Camellias are a red runner bean that provide the distinctive creaminess of NOLA red beans.
KC
My family is from New Orleans & you ALWAYS used dry red beans, NEVER canned beans. Additionally, we didn't use chicken in the beans, just spices & sausage, maybe a ham hock.
Made it on Monday, since that was laundry day. You didn't have to hover over the pot.
Marie
Try with dry beans. I'm from New Orleans--we never use canned beans. It makes a big difference.
Dennis D.
I estimate five hours on low in a slow cooker, but that's just a guess.
Rick
Yes, and the traditional New Orleans brand is Camellia.
Rick
Jalapeno makes it MEXICAN. DO NOT USE. Canned beans are to be avoided. Make it on Saturday or Sunday to do it correctly with dried beans
Judy
Delicious! sausage and chicken and beans - a great combo. good flavor. Used canned small red beans - 2 cans and just 1 tsp chai flakes. Baked in oven 1 hour then checked chicken.
Sherry
I used much less red pepper and about 2 Tbsp of a home-mixed cajun spice and 3 thyme sprigs; also sauteed a jalepeno and a red bell pepper with the other veggies. Very tasty and done in an hour.
Colette
Made it exactly like the recipe said. Few notables: it does not look like the article pic when done. Not bad, just not the same. As others have said, beans were ready to serve in 1.5 hours and chicken had nearly distinegrated in the pot. Felt it was missing some body so made a simple roux with butter and cornstarch and added it, gave it exactly what it needed. I would add bay leaf next time and keep the chicken thighs separate after cooking if you want this dish to look like the photo ;)
Dan
According to the Camellia website they use kidney beans for their red beans and rice.
Leslie R.
This is now going into the rotation. I used boneless skinless thighs and chicken andouille sausage. I didn't cook the sausage in the pot as it was already cooked. I added it at the end instead. I used cranberry/christmas beans and they turned out really creamy. I only needed to cook it about 1.5 - 2 hours to get the consistency I wanted. I served it with Cajun Instant Pot rice and cornbread.
deborah o, Sacramento
Made this yesterday and it turned out good but 1 lb of red beans too much. Next time I will use 1/2 lb. Also -- couldn't find "file spice" but purchased a packet of Gumbo seasoning. Ingredients didn't include sassafras but it was good anyway. Agree with another poster - 2 hours works just fine. Had two servings and froze individual servings for later.
Betty Porter
Easy and delicious, great weekday dinner.
ray
cook 1.5 hrs instead of 3
Peter
Really enjoyed this version. Quick-soaked the beans and they needed the full 2 1/2 hours to get tender, at this elevation (8,000') I made a special trip to the grocery store to find File powder, and it was worth it. Also, I added a red bell pepper in addition to the green bell pepper. I had a package of boneless/skinless thighs and used them and they came out flavorful and very tender, and the andouille sausage was very flavorful. I'll make this again.
Deezbaa
I made the recipe in a instant pot. I followed steps 1-3 and added chicken stock and cooked for 40 minutes.
Rachel
I used Rancho Gordo ayocote morado beans, because that's what I had on hand. I'm glad I had file powder. I used the 2T of red pepper flakes and am happy with the spice level. Following suggestions from others in the thread, I pan-fried my (chicken) andouille and then removed it from the pot to add back toward the end so it wouldn't fall apart in long cooking. I'm making some smothered cabbage with creole spice to accompany this (and white rice, of course.)
Margo Rogers
This was great. I concur regarding oven time - 90 minutes seems right. i was careful with the crushed red pepper. You can add it in but can’t take it out. I questioned the optional notation for the File. I went to 4 stores to find it and was glad I did. The flavor made a difference when combined with the sausage. The only change I made was subbing chicken stock for water. I think it was richer that way. Consider making a half recipe for smaller groups. As published, this recipe makes a lot!
Alanna
Followed some comments suggesting removing the chicken after the first hour. Accidently used boneless thighs, but I think it still worked great. I also halved the recipe for our family of 4, 2 being small children, and it made a ton. My kids even seemed to really enjoy it, despite the spiciness. Will definitely make again.
Joanne
I didn’t have time to soak the beans so I just used a couple cans of ted beans & it worked great!!
Joeomar
This was delicious and I'll definitely make it again. Only had a few minor changes: 1) The recipe says "red beans" - there are no beans simply labeled "red beans" at my supermarket so I used dried red kidney beans. Seemed to work fine. 2) I happened to have a lot of chicken stock left over from another meal so I substituted that for most of the liquid. 3) Supermarket didn't have filé powder, left it out. 4) Baked for two hours and beans were done perfectly.
Chuck G.
This is great however, I use two bell peppers and six celery stalks. Also add two tsp dry ground mustard. Like everyone else has said, 2.5 hours is overkill.
gayle
Organic chicken thighs cooked in 30 minutes. Family loved it.
Sara
Made this the other night, using Goya small red beans, chicken thighs and Al Fresco chicken andouille sausage, garnished with chopped scallions. It was delicious, and even better the 2nd time. Will definitely keep it in the rotation!
David
Cut cooking time to 1.5 hrs. Cut red pepper in half.
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