CAJUN RED BEANS

Cajun Red Beans image

Delicious red beans. Serve it over rice with some cornbread. Yum!

Provided by Tami Hanks Baughman

Time 7h45m

Yield 8

Number Of Ingredients 14

Ingredients

1 pound dried pinto beans
3 tablespoons bacon grease
¼ cup chopped salt pork
1 ½ cups chopped yellow onion
¾ cup chopped celery
¾ cup chopped green bell pepper
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pinch chipotle chile powder
½ pound smoked sausage, split in half and cut into 1-inch pieces
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
water as needed

Steps:

Place the pinto beans into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water. Soak beans 15 minutes; drain and rinse.
Heat bacon grease in a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook and stir salt pork in hot grease for 1 minute. Add onion, celery, bell pepper, black pepper, and chipotle powder to salt pork; cook and stir until the vegetables are soft, about 4 minutes.
Stir smoked sausage, bay leaves, parsley, and thyme into salt pork mixture; cook and stir until sausage is browned, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more.
Stir beans into sausage mixture and add enough water to cover the beans. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, and transfer beans mixture to a slow cooker.
Cook on High for 1 hour. Reduce to Low and cook until beans are tender, adding water as necessary, about 6 hours more.
Mash about 1/4 the beans against the side of the slow cooker crock with the back of a heavy spoon. Continue cooking on Low until beans are tender and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes more. Remove bay leaves.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 382.7 calories, Carbohydrate 41.2 g, Cholesterol 25.4 mg, Fat 15.5 g, Fiber 9.9 g, Protein 19.6 g, SaturatedFat 5.5 g, Sodium 547 mg, Sugar 3.6 g