Easy Red Beans and Rice Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, quartered
• 3 cloves garlic
• ½ green bell pepper, quartered
• 2 stalks celery, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons water
• 3 (15 ounce) cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons hot sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (Optional)
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Step 1

Warm a large nonstick pot over medium-high heat. While it’s warming up, toss the onion and garlic into a food processor and pulse a few times until they’re finely minced. Add them to the pot, then do the same with the bell pepper and celery—just chop them finely in the processor and add them in. Give the veggies a good stir, add a couple of tablespoons of water, and let everything cook gently until the vegetables are nice and soft, about 6 to 10 minutes.

Step 2

Take half of the beans and the tomatoes and pulse them in the food processor until the beans are roughly chopped but not pureed. Add this mixture back into the pot along with the remaining whole beans and tomatoes. Stir in the hot sauce, thyme, oregano, smoked paprika, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Cover the pot, turn the heat down to low, and let it simmer so the flavors can meld together—at least 30 minutes is great. Be sure to give it a stir every so often, about every 5 to 10 minutes, to keep everything from sticking.