Crocktober is the unofficial tradition of breaking out the slow cooker for the season’s first cool-weather meals. As the mornings turn crisp and the evenings get busy, the crockpot earns its keep, filling the house with something that smells like home before you’ve even thought about dinner.

Crocktober is one of our favorite times of year, and our beans are made for it. Low and slow is where they shine, simmering into something creamy, hearty, and full of flavor. Their premium quality means they hold their shape, soak up every bit of seasoning, and reward a little patience with a pot that tastes like home. From Louisiana classics to easy weeknight dinners and tailgate favorites, these six crockpot recipes have you covered.

From Louisiana classics to easy weeknight dinners and tailgate favorites, these six crockpot recipes have you covered.

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

The Monday tradition, made even easier. Our Red Kidney Beans simmer all day with the holy trinity, smoked sausage, and Creole seasonings, then get served over fluffy white rice with a few dashes of hot sauce. Pro tip: sauté the trinity and sausage first if you have time, but if you don’t, toss everything in raw and let the slow cooker do its thing.

Where Y’at? White Beans

A New Orleans take on slow-cooker comfort food from Lauren Malone Keller. Our Baby Lima Beans get cozy with andouille, cubed ham, and a hit of crab boil seasoning. It’s the kind of dish that tastes like Sunday at somebody’s grandmother’s house, no matter what day of the week you make it.

Slow Cooker Lima Beans and Ham

Old-school comfort with a Southern soul. Large Lima Beans slow-cook with ham (or bacon, dealer’s choice), tomato soup, dry mustard, and bell pepper for a stick-to-your-ribs supper. Five minutes of prep, eight hours later you’ve got dinner.

Slow Cooker Lentil & Black Bean Taco Soup

A vegetarian-friendly weeknight win. Our Lentils and Black Beans team up with green chiles, fire-roasted tomatoes, and a smoky blend of cumin, chili powder, and paprika. Set out the toppings (cilantro, sharp Cheddar, a dollop of Greek yogurt) and let everyone build their own bowl.

Slow Cooker White Bean & Chicken Chili

Creamy, perfectly seasoned, and built for a crowd. Our Great Northern Beans (or Cannellini Beans, if that’s what you prefer) simmer with chicken, smoky Hatch chiles, and just enough cayenne to keep things interesting. A swirl of cream and a spoonful of masa at the end pulls it all together.

Slow Cooker Cheesy Refried Bean Dip

Crocktober isn’t all about dinner. This one starts with our Pinto Beans, turns them into refried beans, then layers in cream cheese, sour cream, taco seasoning, and a melty blanket of sharp Cheddar and Monterey Jack. Set it out at a tailgate or a porch hang and watch it disappear.

What kind of beans are best for slow cooker recipes?

Dry beans are made for slow cooking. The long, low heat gives them time to soften without falling apart, and they soak up the flavor of whatever you cook them with. Camellia’s Red Kidney Beans, Great Northern Beans, Black Beans, Pinto Beans, and Lima Beans are all crockpot favorites, each one bringing its own personality to the pot.

However Crocktober finds you, whether it’s a busy weeknight, a slow Sunday, or somewhere in between, the slow cooker has a way of making dinner feel easy, cozy, and worth gathering around. Set it, forget it, and come back to a house that smells like fall.

Pantry Red Beans & Rice

This simplified recipe makes tasty red beans by relying solely on pantry staples and spices, and it comes together quickly in the Instant Pot.

Dump & Go: Slow Cooker Red Beans & Rice

This recipe lets your slow cooker do the work, with no hands-on attention required and no soaking. Just dump everything in, set it, and forget it.

Easy Instant Pot Red Beans & Rice

Yes, you can sauté the trinity in oil first before adding the rest of the ingredients, but you can also just dump everything in and cook on high pressure.

Instant Pot New Orleans-Style Red Beans & Rice

Fast, easy, and delicious in every way — this Instant Pot recipe deserves to be made year round.

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

With this versatile recipe, some steps can be made ahead or skipped altogether. It’s a great slow cooker recipe to keep in your back pocket.

Stovetop Creole Red Beans

Our Red Bean Flavor Infusion is a tried-and-true blend of authentic Creole spices and vegetables, and it’s a great way to quickly and easily season a pot red beans to perfection.

Lima Beans with Shrimp & Andouille

Three southern staples star in this often-asked-for, easy-to-make dish. Cooked low and slow on the stovetop, it’ll make the whole house smell amazing.

Red Beans and Rice with Smoked Ham Hock and Sausage

An easy Instant Pot recipe perfect for a hectic Monday, this dish offers up delicious red beans in about an hour.

Slow Cooker Vegetarian Red Beans

Like to throw everything in the slow cooker and let it do its magic? Next time you need to feed a crowd, this vegetarian recipe’s for you.

Bourbon-Bacon Field Peas with Collards

Creamy and decadent, these field peas cooked with bourbon and bacon are excellent alongside your favorite fried chicken.

Instant Pot Lima Beans & Greens Soup

Versatile and customizable, this homey beans & greens soup will make you feel all warm and cozy.

Slow Cooker Cheesy Refried Bean Dip

A gameday essential, this refried bean dip delivers a win every time.

Pinto Beans & Ham Hocks

A cookbook favorite from our friend Chef Jennifer Hill Booker, this recipe guarantees a thick, rich pot of pintos.

Slow Cooker White Bean & Chicken Chili

An extra step in this slow cooker recipe makes all the creamy difference. Try it, and you’ll agree.

Jalapeño Pepper Jelly Baked Beans

Mmm. Bacon, barbecue sauce, and a whole jar jalapeño pepper jelly make this one of the most flavorful baked bean dishes we’ve ever tasted.

Cowboy Caviar with Blackeye Peas

A perfect side dish or party dip, Cowboy Caviar is beloved by all.

Old-Fashioned Chili

A traditional chili that will soon be on your most-requested list. Featuring ground beef, fire-roasted tomatoes, our signature Red Kidney Beans, and an array of spices and seasonings, it’s got all the makings of a family favorite.

Red Beans and Rice with Smoked Ham Hock and Sausage

An easy Instant Pot recipe with so much meaty goodness, this dish is perfect for Mondays, Gamedays and more.

Southern-Style Vegetarian Blackeye Peas

Cooked with white wine, vegetable stock, and fresh herbs, these vegetarian blackeye peas will win rave reviews. Topped off with apple cider vinegar and served with collard greens, they’ve got great downhome flavor.

Pinto Bean and Kale Enchiladas with Spicy Tomatillo Salsa

These savory, cheesy enchiladas are worth every bit of effort that goes into making them. You can make the spicy tomatillo sauce and the pinto bean filling ahead of time, then assemble all and bake the enchiladas the day you want to enjoy them.

Jalapeño Pepper Jelly Baked Beans

BBQ baked beans like these are always welcome alongside your best burgers, hot dogs, and chicken. The addition of a jar of jalapeño peppery jelly is both ingenious and delicious.

Slow Cooker Black Bean and Pumpkin Chili

The perfect post-Thanksgiving chili, this slow cooker favorite features Black Beans, cubed, cooked turkey, and pumpkin puree (which adds surprisingly creamy, savory flavor). It’s a cinch to throw together, too.

Kid-Friendly Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli

Great for chilly nights, this stick-to-your-ribs staple includes great northern beans, red kidneys, and Dagostino Fleur de Lis Shaped Pasta. Just add a salad and your favorite crusty bread for a complete meal.

Check out these favorite gameday chili recipes:

Instant Pot Pinto Bean Chili

This recipe’s easy to customize using ground beef, turkey or chicken. Pro tip: Quick soaking the pinto beans means your chili will cook faster, and the beans will be more uniformly tender.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili

From Taste of the South magazine, this easy slow cooker recipe highlights a great combo of vegetarian flavors and spices, including smoky chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and Hatch green chiles.

Creole-Style Pork and Red Bean Chili

Featuring spicy pork sausage (with the optional addition of pork tenderloin, for a milder flavor), this recipe is little more time-intensive but totally worth the wait! It’s the perfect chili for Louisiana football fans.

Old Fashioned Chili with Beans

Made with ground beef, our signature red kidney beans, fire-roasted tomatoes, and a slew of spices, this classic chili recipe will soon become a new favorite.

Slow Cooker White Bean & Chicken Chili

Versatile, creamy, and perfectly seasoned, you’ll love this chili for its big flavor. Throw it in the slow cooker, or make the stovetop version – whatever works best for you.

Instant Pot Southern Large Limas with Ham Hocks

An Instant Pot favorite with slow-cooked flavor, this recipe offers all the comforts of home.

Bourbon-Bacon Field Peas with Collards

Featuring both bourbon and bacon, this field peas dish will win over everyone with great taste. Be sure to serve it alongside fried chicken.

Simple Slow Cooker Blackeye Peas

Nothing’s more foolproof than this slow cooker blackeye peas recipe. No hands-on attention needed!

Mosquito Supper Club White Beans

This recipe and photo are excerpted from Mosquito Supper Club by Melissa Martin (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2020. Photographs by Denny Culbert.

Hailing from Chef Melissa Martin of the Mosquito Supper Club, this recipe celebrates authentic Cajun cuisine, just like her restaurant does.

Instant Pot New Orleans-Style White Beans

Another recipe to turn to when you’re short on time, this Instant Pot dish will taste like it simmered all day.

Zydeco Chop-Chop Red Beans & Rice

No fresh vegetables on hand? No problem. If you’ve got Zydeco Chop Chop, you’ve got great red beans & rice.

Instant Pot White Bean Chili

Fast, comforting, and delicious, this Instant Pot white chicken chili recipe warms the belly — whether it’s a weeknight or game day.

Dump and Go: Slow Cooker Red Beans & Rice

This recipe relies on pre-chopped trinity and your slow cooker to do all the work. Just dump it in and go!

Soup Beans

This Appalachian dish featuring pinto beans and bacon is simple and homey.

Simple Southern Lima Beans

If you love creamy butter beans, you’ll love this dish. But don’t forget the cornbread or biscuits.

It’s the perfect time to cozy up with delicious bean soups, stews and more, so check out these easy to follow, foolproof recipe videos for fall dishes your family will love. From stovetop and slow cooker recipes to Instant Pot favorites, there’s something for everyone to dig into.

White Bean and Spinach Soup

A vegetarian soup that’s hearty and satisfying, this stovetop recipe gets big flavor from Great Northern beans, red pepper flakes, fresh rosemary and lemon juice.

Slow Cooker Vegetarian Red Beans

A set-it-and-forget-it version to keep at the ready, these Red beans practically make themselves. Nothing could be easier or less stressful on a Monday.

Bourbon-Bacon Field Peas with Collards

Bourbon and bacon — with these two awesome ingredients, what’s not to love? Field peas have never tasted so good.

Instant Pot Pinto Beans & Ham Hocks

A dish that’s savory and satisfying, a ham hock’s marrow-rich flavor is the key to this winning recipe.

There are three bean-approved ways to cook up delicious, scratch-made red beans and rice, and the method you choose comes down to three things: personal taste, the amount of time you have, and the appliance you prefer.

Stovetop, Slow Cooker & Instant Pot Methods

First, there’s the traditional, time-honored stovetop method of simmering all the ingredients to creamy perfection in a dutch oven pot. Then there’s the slow cooker method – or the “set it and forget it ” approach. And finally, there’s the Instant Pot or electric multi-cooker method, which pressure cooks beans in a short amount of time.

A Few Basic Ingredients & Steps = Delicious Red Beans and Rice

A little forethought and planning is all it takes to cook red beans. In fact, all three methods involve a few basic ingredients and steps: soaking the beans (which is totally optional, by the way), chopping the trinity (onions, bell pepper, and celery) or using pre-chopped trinity, slicing or chopping whatever sausage or meat you prefer, sautéing the trinity and sausage (optional for the slow cooker method), and then adding the beans, liquid, and spices. Keep in mind that there are so many different ways to deliciously flavor and season your red beans, that there is no “right” way!

Let’s look at the pros and cons of each cooking method:

1) Stovetop Red Beans & Rice

There’s simply no rushing the process of slowly simmering red beans on your stovetop. You have to set aside a few hours to do it, but it’s actually hard to get it wrong, and the only thing you need to be concerned with is making sure there’s enough liquid in the pot and stirring occasionally, so that the beans don’t burn. Everything else about the process is very forgiving. Need more liquid, just add it. Need more spice? Give it a dash here and there. Like it creamy? Keep cooking, and keep stirring. For many, gently coaxing their beans into a state of creamy perfection on the stovetop is both a pleasurable experience and a bit of kitchen therapy that they look forward to on a weekly basis.

2) Slow Cooker Red Beans & Rice

While you’re busy doing other things all day, the slow cooker can be busy, too – turning your red beans into a delicious meal. Get home from school or work, cook a pot of rice, and dinner is served. Slow cooking your red beans is also ideal for parade season and football season – because you can enjoy the festivities while the beans are cooking, and then keep them warm for serving right from the slow cooker. Now, you might get deeper flavor if you sauté the trinity and meat in a skillet before adding all ingredients to the slow cooker. However, if you don’t have time for that, you can literally dump and go – adding everything to the slow cooker at once, turning it on, and walking away. It usually takes anywhere from 8-10 hours using low heat and 4 hours using high heat. Some like to toss everything in the slow cooker in the morning, so that their red beans are ready by dinner time; others prefer to slow cook their red beans overnight, so that they can eat them for lunch the next day. Sometimes the end result is not as creamy as stovetop red beans, but that can usually be remedied with the use of a potato masher to thicken things up.

3) Instant Pot Red Beans & Rice

The Instant Pot is another great option for when you need to start dinner and then walk away to do other things. The beans don’t need to be pre-soaked, and you can use the sauté feature to cook the trinity and sausage first, before adding the rest of the ingredients to the pot and switching to manual mode. Setting the timer to 40 minutes at high pressure and then allowing for 20 minutes of natural pressure release is usually all you need for tender beans. And that’s pretty darn fast! Note: if there are still some not-so-tender beans here and there, simply cook at high pressure for an additional 5-10 minutes. And when you remove the lid, if there’s too much liquid remaining for your taste, put the cooker on sauté mode again, and stir occasionally. This will allow excess liquid to evaporate. All in all, using the Instant Pot is the best way to cook dried beans quickly and be able to walk away while doing it. And the ability to do everything in one appliance is icing on the cake.

Whichever way you choose to cook red beans and rice, follow our tips, and you’re bound to end up with a wonderful meal everyone will enjoy.

Cooking Doesn’t Have to Heat Up Your Kitchen

Think it’s too hot to cook? Don’t let the summer heat keep you from getting in the kitchen and cooking your favorite meals. Keep your cool by relying on the kind of appliances that keep all their heat contained inside: slow cookers, Instant Pots, pressure cookers, or any kind of electric multi-cookers. By not using the stovetop or the oven, your kitchen stays cool.

Hands-Free Cooking = More Time with Family & Friends

These set-it-and-forget-it wonders are also perfect for summertime family meals and gatherings because they’re hands-free — leaving you plenty of time to hang out with friends and enjoy the slower pace, rather than slave over a hot stove. Simply add your ingredients, cover, and set the timer. Then sit back and relax till dinner’s ready.

Give yourself a break with these delicious recipes that practically cook themselves:

Slow Cooker Shredded Pork & Pinto Tacos

Instant Pot Pinto Beans & Ham Hocks

Instant Pot Red Beans and Rice

Slow Cooker Royal Street Red Beans

Slow Cooker Where Y’at? White Beans

Instant Pot Black Beans

Slow Cooker Charro Beans

Slow Cooker Chartres Cajun White Bean and Sausage Soup

Slow Cooker White Bean Chicken Chili

Slow Cooker Red Beans & Rice

Instant Pot New Orleans-Style Red Beans & Rice

Slow Cooker Royal Street Red Beans

Instant Pot Pinto Beans & Ham Hocks

Whether you’re all about hosting football parties in front of your big screen TV or doing it up right at tailgate get-togethers, you’ll love these delicious gameday winners with a Creole twist. Whatever the rivalries may be among your family and friends, it’s time to get serious about enjoying cocktails and decadent dishes that are deserving of this long anticipated season.

Check out these creative, indulgent recipes that incorporate classic Louisiana and southern flavors in new and totally unexpected ways. Like adding Andouille sausage and Creole seasoning to a hot bean dip, topping not-your-average nachos with gooey pimento cheese sauce and spiced blackeye peas, and adding ground pork and smoked sausage to red beans & rice and frying into bite-sized balls. Because there’s nothing better than giving your favorite football foods a new lease on life and a deep southern accent. Get ready to dig in.

Smoky Bloody Mary

A Smoky Bloody Mary with all the fixins’ is a must when you’re getting ready for a 12 noon game. Featuring standard building blocks like vodka, tomato juice, celery salt, Worcestershire, and horseradish — this recipe adds savory, smoky accents provided by a few dashes of Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce and a rim of smoked paprika and kosher salt. Garnished with celery, bacon, pickled okra, cornichons and olives, it’s southern brunch in a cup.

Slow Cooker 7-Layer Creole Bean Dip

This spicy slow cooker bean dip comes from Louisiana girl at heart, Creole Contessa, and puts a new Louisiana twist on an old school favorite. First off, Creole seasoning, black pepper and garlic powder give the base layer of refried beans (made from cooked Camellia Brand Pinto Beans) a real kick that gets things going. Layers of sharp cheddar, pickled jalapenos, and Monterrey jack cheese take it up a notch. And then, Creole flavor goes over the top with layers of cooked spicy Andouille sausage and crispy bacon. Lastly, a generous helping of Mexican cheese blend melts over everything. But why stop there? This Slow Cooker 7-Layer Creole Bean Dip begs to be topped with chopped green onions, sour cream, and avocado. Oh, my. Add bowls of tortilla chips, and watch it get devoured.

Blackeye Pea Pimento Cheese Nachos

This dish is what happens when Tex-Mex and Southern flavors collide. Layers of tortilla chips are topped with a hearty, spicy mixture of browned ground turkey, Creole seasoning, spices, and cooked Camellia Brand Blackeye Peas. Then all that deliciousness is drenched in a creamy, homemade Pimento Cheese sauce with flavor for days — and studded with fresh jalapenos, grape tomatoes, and green onions. Run, don’t walk to these nachos.

Red Bean & Rice Sliders

Everyone knows that one-handed foods are a must at football parties, so that the other hand is free to hold a beer or cocktail. Which is why we love these Red Bean & Rice Sliders — an inventive New Orleans take on the mini burger. They’re lovingly made by combining cooked trinity vegetables, cooked white or brown rice, cooked Camellia Brand Red Kidney Beans, whole wheat bread crumbs, and seasonings in a food processor. Then they’re formed into itty bitty patties and browned in a hot skillet. Served dressed on brioche rolls, these cuties make for a little bit of Creole heaven in an all-new, one-handed form.

Red Beans and Rice Boudin Balls

Red Beans and Rice Boudin Balls combine the best of all worlds — delicious ingredients, a snackable size, and oh yes, crispy fried goodness. An incredibly tasty combo of cooked red beans and rice, smoked sausage, ground pork, and seasonings are formed into balls, rolled in corn flour and egg wash, and fried till golden. What more could you possibly want, other than a creamy sauce to dip them in? Yep, we got that, too.

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice is the ultimate dish to round out your party spread. Full of smoked sausage and big flavor — it’s perfect for letting guests serve themselves. And the best part? You can leave the slow cooker on the “warm” setting all afternoon or evening, so it’s ready to go at any crucial gameday moment. You’ll fill lots of bellies with this dish, and keep ’em coming back for more.

So get on it, and put these recipes on your gameday to-do list — because a great party menu is the best offense.

A Modern Twist on a Beloved Tradition.

Here in New Orleans, many of us observe the weekly tradition of cooking red beans and rice on Mondays. The traditional method takes several hours to cook from scratch on the stovetop (assuming you’ve not soaked them… ).  Most of today’s modern, busy workers leave their homes early on weekday mornings making that four hour stovetop cook time pretty unrealistic. What to do? If you love red beans but haven’t the time to cook them, meet your new best friend: the slow cooker. With just a little ahead-of-time preparation, you can have red beans not long after you get home. How’s that for convenience?

Not only is the consumption of red beans a big deal here in New Orleans, but the ritual of preparation is also a time honored tradition. Slowly chopping the trinity can be the closest thing to a meditative experience as you’re likely to find in the kitchen. However, if you don’t have the time, several companies here in Southeast Louisiana figured that out – so you can now find pre-chopped trinity in most, if not all, grocery store refrigerated produce sections.  Today’s busy home cook doesn’t always have the time for a lot of prep-work, especially when it’s just as cost effective to use the pre-chopped version.

Advantages of Cooking Red Beans in a Slow Cooker Abound

Let’s loop back to the slow cooker. Clearly, advantages abound here. Not only are slow cookers convenient and easy to use, they’re also a major time-saving device. Plus they eliminate the need for soaking, especially when you’re cooking them low and slow, as does the recipe presented here. While you’re busy at work all day, the slow cooker is busy, too – it’s turning the red beans, smoked sausage, and trinity into a delicious meal for you. When you arrive home, your beans are ready. Simply throw on a pot of rice and slice a few green onions, and you’re all set! This is so easy that a child could do it. In fact, cooking red beans in the slow cooker is a great way for you and your kids to bond over meal preparation, and it also provides a convenient way for you to pass the red beans and rice tradition on to them. While cooking traditions persist, modern day time crunches call for modern day solutions. The slow cooker provides that answer.

Embracing slow cooking allows you to cook traditional meals like red beans more often. Between using it as family bonding time and having Mondays be an easy dinner night, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start this tradition earlier. Red beans also make great leftovers for lunches during the week or they can be frozen to eat later, especially on those weeks when you don’t even have the time to use the slow cooker. You know those weeks. The versatility and storability of red beans makes them an ideal weekly tradition.  Slow cooking your red beans is also ideal for parade season and parties for the big game – you can enjoy the festivities while the beans are cooking, and serve directly from the slow cooker so that everyone can enjoy a piping hot bowl of New Orleans most beloved dishes.

SLOW COOKER RED BEANS & RICE

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 hours (low) or 4 hours (high)

2 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
1 quart pre-chopped trinity (onion, celery, bell pepper)
1 pound smoked sausage, each link quartered length-wise then cut 1/2″ thick
7 cups water (low setting) or 6 cups water (high setting)
1 (1-pound) package Camellia Brand Red Kidney Beans
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion
Hot sauce, to taste
Salt and black pepper, to taste
6 cups cooked white or brown rice

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the trinity, stir well, and cook until vegetables start to soften, about 3-5 minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure that the vegetables don’t stick.
3. Add the smoked sausage, stir well, and continue to cook until sausage is browned and vegetables are tender, about 5-7 minutes. Continue to stir occasionally to make sure trinity and sausage aren’t sticking.
4. Once done, remove the skillet from heat and transfer the contents to a slower cooker.
5. Add the water and red beans along with garlic powder, onion powder, bay leaves, and dried thyme. Stir well and place cover on the slow cooker.
6. Set the slow cooker on low for 10 hours (or 4 hours on high setting). Stir occasionally.
7. Before serving, stir in thinly sliced green onions and the desired amounts of salt and black pepper. Serve over rice and with hot sauce.

Notes:

• If you cannot find pre-chopped trinity in your local grocery store, substitute 2 cups of chopped onions, 1 cup of chopped celery, and 1 cup of chopped bell pepper.
• Steps 1 through 3 can be done the day ahead of time, if needed. Store the cooked vegetable and sausage mixture in an air-tight container in the refrigerator then just pick up on Step 4 when you’re ready to add everything to the slow cooker.
• If you’re strapped for time, skip Steps 1 through 4. Sauteing the trinity and the sausage will add a depth of flavor, but it’s not a requirement. If you skip over to Step 5, add the raw vegetables and sausage to the slow cooker with everything else. Omit the vegetable oil.
• Depending on your beans and your slow cooker, the beans may have more water than you’re used to on the stove. The beans will thicken upon standing. Mash some of the beans on the side of the slow cooker crock if you prefer a creamier style of beans.
• The beans can stay in the slow cooker for another couple of hours on the “Warm” setting on the slow cooker. Beans will continue to thicken as they warm longer.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

The bay leaf is a subtle yet indispensable ingredient in south Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole cooking, used in everything from gumbo and bisque to bouillabaisse and red beans.

Containing dozens of flavor compounds, the bay leaf serves as a fragrant background element in red beans, delivering a complex combination of woodsy and tea-like characteristics to the palate.

Perfect for Slow-Cooked Dishes

Bay leaves are meant to cook in red beans for at least an hour in order to distill their essence. One or two whole leaves should be enough, although some cooks use more. Don’t grind bay leaves into powder or cut them into small pieces.

Frozen Leaves Stay Fresh Longer

Don’t store your bay leaves at room temperature if you can help it. Freezing (or at least refrigerating) them will ensure that they retain their flavors for much longer. Some cooks also use fresh bay leaves, particularly when a tree grows nearby, but dried ones should be the go-to choice for red beans and rice, as the flavor is more intense.

A staple of today’s French pantry, the bay leaf also is a frequent component of the classic bouquet garni, along with other herbs such as parsley, thyme, basil, oregano, or whatever a recipe might require.

Use Turkish, Not California, Bay Leaves

The bay leaf most commonly used in cooking today comes from the bay laurel tree (Laurus nobilis), which produces almond-shaped leaves about 1 to 3 inches long. Often called Turkish bay leaves, they are native to the eastern Mediterranean. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the ancient Greek and Romans once used bay leaves from the laurel tree to weave crowns for their Olympic champions and conquering heroes (hence the modern term “Nobel laureate” or “poet laureate”).

Less commonly used in red beans is the leaf of the California-grown Umbellularia californica, which has a more menthol-like, floral taste. The California bay leaf is best for dishes that require strong aromatics, like desserts such as sorbets and mousses.

Bay and Filé: Gifts From American Indians

The bay leaf also has been used as a homeopathic remedy for centuries to ward off illnesses and treat a variety of health conditions. American Indians were known to burn bay leaves to repel insects with the smoke.

In fact, Indians likely gave French and Spanish settlers to Louisiana (as well as African slaves) their first taste of bay leaves, cultivated from a couple of laurel tree varieties native to the Southeastern coastal plains: the Persea borbonia, or red bay, and the Persea palustris, or swamp bay. Leaves from these trees can be substituted for those of the Laurus nobilis.

And the sassafras leaf, another member of the laurel family known to the Indians, is used to make filé powder, a thickening agent in gumbos. Filé has been hailed as among the Native Americans’ greatest culinary gifts to our cultural melting pot, with corn being the foremost. Ground bay leaves are thought to have been used as an occasional substitute for the leaves of the rarer sassafras tree.

Most south Louisianians wouldn’t dream of making a pot of red beans without adding bay leaves. You don’t have to use them, but the end product likely will lack the certain je ne sais quoi that this soulful herb always seems to provide. When it comes to cooking red beans, always bet on the bay.

Check out bean recipes with bay leaves.

From Sunday Celebration to Monday Meal

Once upon a time — not so every long ago, actually — families feasted on Sundays and whole hams were a weekly thing. After morning church services, tradition held that folks would gather at Gramma’s house for a proper dinner after the preacher cut the flock loose. In many houses, it was an excuse to loosen the church clothes just a bit and spend the afternoon with extended family and as often as not, the traditional centerpiece was a whole ham sliced and served on the good china.

This regional ritual took place all across the southern US, and for food lovers of south Louisiana, it also provided the makings of a different tradition — a  pot of red beans slow-cooked with a meaty hambone. Cooked on a banked fire or a low burner, ham-spiked red beans became a Monday staple in New Orleans home kitchens and restaurant dining rooms.

Fast forward to modern times, and things have changed. Americans have shifted from family gatherings to late brunches and toaster pastries. Big Sunday suppers are a lot less common, ham comes pre-sliced from the deli counter and there’s nary a proper hambone to be found.

But rest easy friends: you can recapture the traditional magic of gramma’s pork-rich red beans if you know a couple of simple tricks. But first: a little kitchen context.

Hambone Magic

In much of the South, the whole ham represented the very essence of special occasion foods. Whether for a homecoming feast or Easter celebration, it was an at-table event that represents plenty and fellowship. But the Monday magic of the Sunday ham is at the core of the matter. Specifically the BONE at the core of said magically-cured menu item.

From a cook’s standpoint, the “leftovers” from Sunday’s feast contain culinary riches that many modern folks would discard. In addition to the little flecks of meat left behind, the hambone (the sizable shank bone from a hog’s hind leg) is filled with flavor from unexpected sources. The marrow hidden inside the shank adds amazing richness to soups and stews. Layers of tough connective tissue can dull a carving knife,  but melt into silky collagen when slow-simmered for a few hours. And of course, residual fat in the crevices adds its own distinctive flavor.

And not surprisingly, these qualities are EXACTLY what you want in a pot of Monday red beans and rice. The key to unlocking these culinary riches, not surprisingly, is time and patience — not exactly hallmarks of Our Modern Times.

Luckily, there’s are modern-day workarounds at your disposal for this act of delicious recycling.

Spiral Cuts and Slow Cookers

First: Procuring the Bone
While we might not go to Gramma’s house every week, we do live in a world where the pre-packaged “spiral-sliced boneless ham” is readily available. In fact, this kind of party-ready cut is SO popular that there are whole strip mall shops dedicated to this simple product (Honeybaked Hams and Heavenly Hams for example) and sandwiches made with same.

This convenient trend is absolute gold for the canny home cook, because when businesses sell boneless hams, they’ve usually got extra hambones in the freezer, which they usually sell for a few bucks a pound. And as an added bonus, these hambones tend to have plenty of meat on them, as the ham technicians set cutter blades wide so not to dull them on the shank bone. It’s like the meaty core of Gramma’s ham, yours for a pittance.

Second: Cooking Low and Slow
If you’re a crock-pot aficionado, you’re way ahead on this one. The classic “set it and forget it” move so popular with slow cooker folk will extract all the goodness from a hambone, whether you’re making an simple overnight ham stock or starting a pot of red beans while you wait for your morning coffee to brew.

When they’re done, you’ll have all the porky, beany goodness (church clothes optional).

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice – How to Prepare and Save Time

Our Favorite Recipes For Leftover Holiday Ham

This recipe has been our family favorite for over 70 years. My mom would make these red beans every Monday, just like most New Orleanians do. I have probably given out this red bean crock pot recipe dozens of times. It’s pretty traditional. When I worked at Popeyes’ corporate in New Orleans, we put together an employee cookbook and my recipe was included. And when I moved to Houston and I worked for NATCO we put out an employee cookbook and I got emails of many people who loved this recipe.

If it’s Monday in New Orleans, then there are thousands of households and restaurants with a big pot of red beans simmering on the stove. There are as many recipes for red beans as there are for gumbo. This one is my family favorites, based off of a common New Orleans recipe with a few changes my family made. My wife had never had real New Orleans red beans and rice until she had my recipe.

Barry Begault’s Slow Cooker Red Beans

Ingredients:

1 lb Camellia Red Beans
1 lb andouille sausage or good smoked sausage
1 lb pickled pork (pickle meat) (optional – except at my house)
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 whole garlic, minced – yeah, ya gotta have the garlic!
4 ribs of celery, chopped
3 bay large bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon cajun seasoning
1 8 oz. can of tomato sauce – gives it more body and taste
2 – 4 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

The Night Before:

1. Cut pickled pork in 1 inch cubes and brown in 1 tsp. olive oil. Put in bowl for storage over night. Leave the pan drippings for the next step.

2. Sweat vegetables in the olive oil and pork drippings with a bay leaf. While the veggies are cooking, and there is plenty of water in the pan, deglaze the pan by scraping the brown deliciousness from the pickled pork from the bottom. If not using pickled port, sweat vegetables in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until almost dry. Season with 3 or four grinds of fresh black pepper, 1/2 tsp. of salt and 1 tsp. of Cajun seasoning or to taste.

3. Slice the Andouille or smoked sausage into 1/8 inch rounds and put in the bowl with the rest of the seasoning and pickle meat or smoked ham.

4. Put the sweated vegetables in the bowl covered, in fridge overnight. (with the pickled pork if using it)

5. Get out the crock pot. Wash beans in and remove any debris and bad beans. Put the beans in the crock pot and just cover with water. Stir in 1/2 tsp. of salt, 1 to 3 grinds of black pepper and a 1/2 tsp. of Cajun Seasoning, and place 1 bay leaf in the water. Do not soak for more than 10 hours.

The Next Morning:

1. Turn the crock pot on high. Get the bowl of vegetables and meat out of the fridge and put into the crock pot. Add the 8 oz. of tomato sauce and add water until up to the rim. Best to put the crock pot on a baking sheet with sides to catch the run over once the pot begins to boil.

2 .Cook on high for 4 – 6 hours, after which, reduce to low until the beans are tender. Keep water level near the top. Recycle the water that overflows onto the baking sheet.

3. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

4. Cook 2-2 1/2 cups of long grain rice. I like to have enough for leftovers – if there are any!

5. Serve over steaming white rice with French bread, or garlic bread, and a nice green salad. Serves about 6 to 8.

Well tomorrow is Monday. Which means it is Camellia red beans day. And as you can see I have just washed my Camellia red beans and I’m going to put them in the crock pot and fill it with water for tonight.
Tomorrow, I dump my vegetables and meat into the crock pot, turn it on early in the morning and by 2 or 3 maybe 4 o’clock the beans will be ready and the rice will be cooking!

Notes:

“If we don’t have pickle meat, we don’t do red beans.”

Pickle pork, or pickle meat is only available in Louisiana. Savoie and Richards puts it out and I like Savoie’s better. It can be ordered online from Cajun Grocer, but it’s expensive. Mostly the shipping. Order a dozen or so and it’s not too bad. Usually though, I just wait to go home, and get a dozen packs or so. Pickle pork is very lean pork that has been pickled. It was a way of preservation before refrigeration. Not to be confused with salted pork. My mother and both my grandmother’s used both sausage and pickled pork in their red beans.

“a pinch, dash, and a smidgen”

I have a little measuring spoon trio that measures a pinch, dash, and a smidgen. A pinch is between a dash and a smidgen, with a smidgen being the smallest measurement of the three.
Dash- 1/8 teaspoon
Pinch- 1/16 teaspoon
Smidgen- 1/32 teaspoon

“if the kids like it, they will continue the custom and you have another easy meal that feeds a lot!”

I don’t like to over season my food. I put enough seasoning to suit the taste of the person who least likes a lot of seasoning – just a slight after-burn. Then, I put the peppers in vinegar, and Cajun Seasoning on the table with the pepper and salt. You want it more seasoned, then you can do it your self at the table. I cook with what taste kids will eat; because if the kids like it, they will continue the custom and you have another easy meal that feeds a lot!