Red Beans & Rice w/ Smoked Ham Hocks

Red beans and rice is a classic dish from Louisiana that can be made with ham hocks and Andouille sausage. It's a hearty, filling dish perfect for any time of year.

Red beans and rice are two of the world's most eaten foods. Beans are high in protein and rice is high in fiber, which combines the two main building blocks needed to be healthy.

Have you heard all the talk about bone broths and stocks lately? The amazing health benefits? We are using one today, Beef stock.

Or, you could use homemade chicken stock or even good old water.

Ingredients

Here's the ingredient list that elevates the humble dish of Red Beans and Rice to a restaurant-quality level.

• Quality Stock: suggested Beef Stock - Try ours: Beef Stock Technique
• Andouille Sausage -
• Smoked Hamhocks - Available at most grocery stores costing around $4
• 🧈 Butter. Or beef marrow butter is a by-product of making homemade beef stock. The bone marrow butter is what sets up at the top of the pot when the beef stock completely cools down. The beef marrow butter is ready the next day for use. Or use regular butter.
• 🫘 Small Red Bean
• 🫘 Kidney Beans
• 🧄 Garlic - minced
• 🧅 Onion - small dice
• Poblano Or Bell Pepper
• Celery
• 🍚 Rice - cooked
• Beef Femur Bones: the bone is a cross-section cut from the leg. The middle of the bone is pure bone marrow. This should be added to the pot to cook until ham hocks soften. This creates a powerhouse of flavor.

Watch How To Make

Instructions

Make sure you wash the beans off under cold water. It will remove the sand and dirt often found in bean bags. There is no need to soak the beans in water(stock) overnight.

Our selection of beans for red beans and rice:

• Small Red Beans

• Kidney Beans (Classic)

The beans can be cooked alongside the ham hocks, the andouille sausage, and the beef femur bones. The second option is adding the beans around the middle of the cooking time.
Our suggestion is to cook the beans with the ham hocks and the femur bones, then remove half of the beans around the mid-cooking point. Make sure to cover the removed beans with some of the cooking liquid, or risk the beans drying out. To finish, return the beans to the main cooking pot to rewarm before serving.
Cook the beans for 3 to 4 hours on the stovetop, partly covered so a small amount of liquid can escape.

Bean Texture Tips

• Never salt beans until they are cooked or close to being cooked. Salt causes a reaction on the surface and will toughen the outside of the beans, making them chewy, or sticks in your teeth.
• The beans will be very soft if you cook the beans for the entire 4-hours. Some people love them this way.
• After 2 plus hours, the beans will be soft to the touch. The longer cooking time is for the hammocks to soften and release the meat from the bone.
• If you like the dish to be thicker, the trick is to smash a few of the beans against the side of the pot. The split beans will mix with the stock and thicken. It is a traditional method of thicking red beans and rice.

Think of it like braising a pot roast. Longer is usually better in the way of softness. The beans become a natural thickening agent from releasing the natural starches.

Cooking The Rice

The rice can be cooked in advance and rewarmed when you're ready. Rice rewarms nicely.

Cooking rice should be easy, but can challenging when you're not sure of how much water to use for the amount of rice you want to cook. Then there's the type of rice and how long to cook it until perfection.

Here's the complete guide to making perfectly cooked rice every time.

5 Ways to Cook Rice | Stovetop | Oven | Instant Pot | Microwave

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