Caribbean Rice and Beans delivers a flavor explosion with garlic, onions, and intensely delicious spices. Infusing it with bay leaves, thyme, scotch bonnet, and coconut milk creates an incredible rice meal!
I would like to say that with what the world is experiencing right now, every day should be a gratitude day. So, I’m beyond thankful for this gift of life and my beloved family by my side.
And while I’ve been daydreaming about my next Caribbean trip, a tropical food trip in my kitchen, starting with this rice and beans recipe, will have to do. Or if you’re into Jamaican food, it’s rice and peas. 😍
What Type of Beans for Caribbean Rice and Beans
When making this scrumptious meal, I don’t have any favorites, so whatever is in the pantry works. Traditionally, Caribbean beans and rice use red kidney beans. However, it’s just as delicious with black or pinto beans or pigeon peas. The look may change slightly, but that’s about it.
Recipe Ingredients
- Rice – Long-grain separates more easily. However, medium-grain, jasmine, and basmati rice work just as well.
- Seasoning – Garlic, onion, hot pepper (scotch bonnet peppers are my fave), Creole seasoning, thyme, bouillon powder, bay leaves, optional smoked paprika, and good ol’ S&P pack a flavor punch.
- Kidney Beans – Dried beans are cheaper, but for convenience’s sake, I’ve gone with canned. Choose which is best for you and your Caribbean red beans and rice.😉
- Coconut Milk – Full-fat coconut milk provides liquid to cook the rice and a tropical taste.
- Chicken Broth delivers the rest of the needed liquid and adds extra flavor.
How to Make Caribbean Rice and Beans
- Wash rice until water runs clear. Drain water.
- Sautee Aromatics – Heat a saucepan with oil. Then add onions, garlic, thyme, and hot pepper, and sauté for about a minute. (Photos 1-2)
- Simmer – Stir the rice into the pan, then the beans, and cook for about 2 minutes. Then add coconut milk, bay leaf, bouillon powder, Creole spice, and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until rice is cooked (about 20 minutes). (Photos 3-4)
Note: Stir occasionally to prevent burning, adding water as needed. - Serve – Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Discard bay leaves. Serve warm and enjoy!
Recipe Variations
- Jerk Rice and Beans – For even more spice, add a teaspoon of jerk seasoning to the traditional recipe.
- Bean Swap – Pigeon peas, kidney beans, and black beans are all conventional choices. You can also use other beans, such as pinto beans, red beans, or lentils.
- Vegan Version – Replace the meat-based broth with vegetable broth; done.
Tips and Tricks
- Test the rice to avoid overcooking. It should be tender but still have a slight bite, and the beans should be tender but not mushy.
- Almost any chili pepper, such as habanero and jalapeño, will work if you don’t have a scotch bonnet.
- Don’t skip rinsing the rice because it removes excess starch and keeps the rice from getting sticky.
Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions
Cool the rice and beans after cooking and freeze them in meal-size portions in airtight containers for 2-3 months. It will last in the fridge for 3-4 days—the same works for leftovers.
Thaw frozen rice and beans in the refrigerator overnight. Then simmer (stirring occasionally) in a pot until it bubbles. Add water or broth as needed to keep it from burning—a microwave works, too.
FAQs
Caribbean rice and beans definitely have a West African influence. Enslaved Africans brought the recipe to the Caribbean, and it quickly became a staple in many Caribbean cuisines.
It depends on who you ask and where you are in the world. In Jamaica and other Caribbean countries, it’s known as rice and peas. That’s because, in the West African Akan language, the word for pea refers to most legumes, including beans.
Rice and beans are a nutritious meal. So you can serve it as a complete meal or add meat and sides, such as ripe fried plantains.
What to Serve With Caribbean Rice and Beans
It’s traditionally served with chicken, beef, or pork. It goes excellent with brown stew chicken, Jamaican curry goat, or jerk chicken. Fried sweet plantain and Caribbean coleslaw are wonderful sides.
More Popular Jamaican Dishes to Try
Conclusion
This Caribbean rice and beans recipe takes rice to a whole new level. Would you like more African-based recipes? Then follow me on Facebook for more! ❤️
Watch How to Make It
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This blog post was originally published in February 2014 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video.
Caribbean Rice and Beans
Ingredients
- ¼ cup vegetable oil (or canola)
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ medium onion, diced
- 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
- 2 cups uncooked long grain rice
- 1 sprig fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
- 1 13.5-ounce can coconut milk (about 1¾ cups)
- 1 15.5-ounce can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 small bay leaves
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 2¼ cups chicken broth or water (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon (optional)
- 1 whole scotch bonnet pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika (optional)
Instructions
- Wash rice until water runs clear. Drain water.
- Heat a saucepan with oil. Then add onions, garlic, thyme, and hot pepper, and sauté for about a minute.
- Stir in rice to the pan, followed by beans, and cook for about 2 minutes. Then add coconut milk, bay leaf, bouillon powder, and Creole spice with 2¼ cups of broth or water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover with a lid, and simmer until rice is cooked, about 20 minutes (more or less). Stir occasionally from the sides to prevent burning add more water as needed.
- Adjust for salt and pepper. Discard bay leaves You have to stir occasionally to be preventing any burns.
- Serve warm.
Tips & Notes:
- Use 3 cups of water or broth for really moist rice and beans. If you want your rice to look just like in the picture, use 2 cups of water or broth.
- I used paprika and Creole salt to enhance the rice’s flavor. It’s not traditional, so if you want traditional rice, omit the paprika and use regular salt instead of Creole salt.
- Feel free to switch the coconut milk with 2 cups of water.
- If you want to make it vegan, vegetable broth is fine.
- If using dry pigeon peas, boil them until tender, then replace beans with pigeon peas in the recipe instructions. You may also use pinto or black beans instead.
- I use uncooked long-grain rice. No need to parboil; just rinse it until the water runs clear. One of our readers here has used Japanese short-grained rice, and it works. Brown long-grain rice works, too.
- Too much liquid and stirring would make your rice mushy.
- You may cook it ahead and refrigerate it. It heats up very well the next day.
- If you don’t have chicken bouillon, you may leave it out or use half of a Maggie cube and add it to the pot.
- For those who want to cook it using an Instant Pot, one of the readers shared this: saute everything like you usually would and cook for 3 minutes at high pressure with a natural pressure release.
- No Creole spice? You can use my jerk spice.
- You can add your favorite cooked protein to the mix, like shredded smoked turkey, diced chicken, ground meat, sausages, and so on.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used.
Anthony says
After reading all the positive comments, I had to try this recipe. It was superb!!
I’ve been struggling to make peas and rice. Finally found a winner. Thank you Imma!!
Nicole says
Best rice!!!!
Imma says
Thank you!
Rosaleen Langford-Hightower says
Thanks so much for your recipes the ones I have prepared have came out a winner they’re so delicious and I can’t wait to try this one very soon. Thanks for sharing your recipes.
Imma says
I’m very glad you enjoyed Rosaleen! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Rawbee says
I made this tonight for my husband and I. Absolutely LOVED IT. Both of us didn’t want to stop eating it lol. I’ve never seen him scarf rice down like that. 10/10 would absolutely make again.
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome ! Thanks for the feedback.
Kendra says
How would you do this recipe with dry pigeon peas? I have some but I’m afraid of messing them up so I haven’t tried it lol ty!
ImmaculateBites says
I would boil it first , until tender . Then replace beans with pigeon peas.
Talia says
I LOVE this recipe! I do have a question! Do you use the plain enriched long grain rice, or parboiled rice?
imma africanbites says
Hi. Use uncooked long grain rice. No need to parboil, just rinse it until water runs clear.
Dylan says
That was a really good question, was about to boil the rice. Cool for clarification on Imma’s part.
Zizi02 says
I tried this recipe this past weekend and it’s the best rice and peas I’ve ever made. You can eat it as is but I paired this with Imma’s Slow Cooker Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken. DA BOMB! Thanks!
Laetitia says
I made that rice dish yesterday with your suggested chicken and peppers stew in the picture. Oh my gosh, it was delicious! My girlfriend was so happy with it. We both love good food I must say. She is British with quite a strong Jewish flair in her and I am french – from Brittany! I actually added the creole spice to the chicken both in it’s marinating phase (overnight for me) and at the time of cooking it with the browning sauce, organic ketchup et cédera. I found your website ‘accidentally” recently and there are quite a few meals that I look forward to making. Thank you so very much ⭐️⭐️
Dinah says
What would make this mushy?
ImmaculateBites says
Too much liquid and stirring .
Dinah says
Thank you
MEAGHAN says
This is delicious!
I made it with barbequed chicken and it was soooooo good. I didn’t have scotch bonnet peppers so I used 2 small jalapenos I had on hand and diced them along with the onion. Otherwise made exactly according to recipe, including your creole spice, and it was perfect.
Keziah Foster says
I don’t have creole spice, can I substitute for something else?
Tsuki says
Onion powder garlic powder salt pepper 1 part each, 2 parts paprika and 1/2 part each oregeno basil thyme.
Dylan says
Just make homemade creole spice, I just did 🙂
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Dylan. So happy you did. Guess what? you will never buy again from the store , it’s my favorite spice. I put it on EVERRRRYTHING. Shhhh.. my little secret.
Enjoy!!!
Tom says
Would need salted pigtail to be authentic! Also needs a sprig of thyme and some allspice grains!
Ana says
OMG .. I love this recipe
I’m from Europe and this for me is something new. I’ve always wanna to try different recipes from all around the world. With your recipes I successfully did it from the first time. Thank you so much!
Very delicious… yummy..
Mary says
This recipe is to die for. Such a perfect side for any meat dish. Heats up perfectly the next day.
It’s basically the perfect recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Adja says
Such a treat! Thanks again Imma for all your amazing recipes.