Caribbean Rice and Beans
Enjoy a flavor explosion with my Caribbean rice and beans recipe. Garlic, onions, and delicious spiciness from bay leaves, thyme, scotch bonnet pepper, and coconut milk create an incredible one-pot meal!
I want 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 Works Best
Traditionally, Caribbean rice and beans 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.
How to Make Caribbean Rice and Beans
- Wash rice until the water runs clear, then drain. (Photo 1)
- Sauté the onions, garlic, thyme, and hot pepper for about a minute. (Photo 2)
- Stir the rice into the pan, then add the beans and cook for about 2 minutes. (Photos 3-4)
- Pour in the coconut milk, bay leaf, bouillon powder, Creole seasoning, and broth, and simmer until rice is cooked (about 20 minutes). Stir occasionally to prevent burning. (Photos 5-7)
- Serve – Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Discard bay leaves. Enjoy! (Photo 8)
Recipe Notes
- Swap the Creole seasoning with jerk seasoning for a different flavor profile.
- Please don’t skip rinsing the rice because it removes excess starch and keeps it from getting sticky.
- 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.
- Replace the meat-based broth with vegetable broth for a delicious vegan version.
- Taste 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.
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. They’ll last in the fridge for 3-4 days—the same 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.
What to Serve With Caribbean Rice and Beans
It’s traditionally served with chicken, beef, or pork. It goes wonderfully with brown stew chicken, Jamaican curry goat, and jerk chicken. Fried sweet plantain and Caribbean coleslaw are wonderful sides.
More Popular Jamaican Dishes to Try
By Imma
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
- 2 cups (320g) uncooked long-grain rice
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) vegetable oil (any neutral-flavored oil works)
- ½ medium onion, diced
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 sprig fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
- 1 whole scotch bonnet pepper
- 1 15.5-ounce can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 13.5-ounce can coconut milk (about 1¾ cups)
- 2 small bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons (9-10g) Creole seasoning
- 1 teaspoon (3g) paprika (optional)
- 1 teaspoon (4g) chicken bouillon or vegetable bouillon for a vegetarian version (optional)
- 2¼ cups (530ml) chicken broth, vegetable broth, or water (see notes)
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Wash rice until the water runs clear, then drain and set aside.
- Heat a saucepan with the oil. Then add the onions, garlic, thyme, and hot pepper, and sauté for about a minute.
- Add the rice to the pan, followed by the beans, and cook for about 2 minutes. Then add coconut milk, bay leaves, bouillon powder, Creole spice, and paprika with 2¼ cups of broth or water.
- Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat, cover with a lid, and simmer until rice is cooked (20 minutes, more or less). Stir occasionally (but not too often) from the sides to prevent burning, and add more water as needed.
- Discard the bay leaves. Adjust seasonings for salt and pepper. Serve hot.
Tips & Notes:
- Use 3 cups of liquid for really moist rice and beans. If you want your rice to look just like in the picture, use 2 cups of liquid. Too much liquid and stirring will make your rice mushy.
- Vegetable bouillon and broth are a quick hack for a vegan version.
- I used paprika and Creole salt to enhance the rice’s flavor. It’s not traditional, so feel free to omit them.
- If you don’t like coconut milk, replace it with 2 cups of water.
- I use uncooked long-grain rice. No need to parboil; just rinse until the water runs clear. One of our readers used Japanese short-grained rice and loved it. Brown long-grain rice works, too.
- For an Instant Pot, a reader shared this: sauté everything like you usually would and cook for 3 minutes at high pressure with a natural pressure release.
- 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.
Ooh what is the rice and beans served with in the video? I love this dish but think it would be great as a side with another dish too! ❤️
Hi, Ruby. I paired it with this Curried Goat Stew (https://www.africanbites.com/curried-goat-stew/). Thanks for stopping by.
I have made this now a dozen times. It always comes out spectacularly. It is so easy and do very good. Have turned several friends on to it. Thanks for posting such an amazing recipe.
I love the flavors of this dish and just need some guidance to perfect it. I used a can of coconut milk, 2 cups of chicken broth, and jasmine rice. I didn’t stir the rice at all while it cooked. My rice turned out mushy! Any suggestions?
Hello,
Be sure to drain all the water from the rice before adding to the pot . Maybe try cutting back on the broth- about 1 2/3 cup and go from there. Hope this helps.
I can imagine this with all its flavours is amazing, mine however ended up with mushy rice. Can you point me in the right direction please
So sorry to hear that. I would suggest decreasing the liquid by a1/2 cup and drain the rice throughly before adding to the pot. It might be too much water or stirring. Hope this helps.
I only have dried black beans. I know it isn’t traditional but do you think it would be okay?
Of course it would. Boil the beans first until tender before using in the recipe.
I have been following your post thanks a lot for impact in my life. Please ma where can i paprika in Nigeria.
It’s available in most supermarkets. Just ask , sometimes it is available in open markets.
Hello
If I am using the chicken bouillon cubes how many do I use for this recipe?
Thanks in advance!!
One would do just fine.
I’m going to make this recipe
My fiancé made jerk chicken tonight and I was looking for a more flavorful version of red beans and rice for accompaniment. Imma, I will be adding this recipe to my regular rotation. I love a one-pot recipe; this was perfect. Looking forward to trying your jerk chicken recipe next
Great! Glad it worked out well for you Taylor.
This is our go to when we have Jerk Chicken. Never fails! I just swap out the scotch bonnet for some Susie’s Hot sauce and i’ve always got the ingredients on hand Thank! Thank you!
Hi…I recently discovered your blog, and have saved quite a few of your recipes already. Would it be possible for you to make it easier to “pin” them using pinterest? A lot of blogs have a nifty little “pin” button near the top or bottom of their recipes which make the process a whole lot easier. Thanks!
Hi Tripp! Thank you for the suggestion. Please could you check your page again and see if the “pin” button is visible now? Thanks.
I made this recipe with all the listed ingredients in a Caldero. The flavors were phenomenal, best recipe I have come across for Rice and Peas. I will try your Jerk Chicken recipe next.
Fantastic! I am glad you loved it, Jess. Thank you for the feedback !
I grew up in Jamaica – I’m in the US now – and with everything that is going on, I *really* needed a comfort food to go with dinner tonight <3. I'm trying your recipe for the first time – it looks wonderful, and I love how you point out the flexibility of it – all the little changes that a person can make, depending on their preferences and what they have in their kitchen. Thank you!
Hi Michelle! I totally understand where you are coming from. And I know things will get better.
In the meantime, I am really looking forward to you trying out this recipe. I hope you love it too :).
Do let me know how it works out for you. Take care.
The first time I made this I used too much water as in the instructions it said to add 3 cups. I found that 2 cups was the perfect amount for the way I like my rice! This is definitely the best recipe I have found and will definitely be using it at least once a week! I used Cajun seasoning And added a bit of ground allspice and it came out amazing! Thanks again!
Awesome! I am glad you were able to tweak it to suit you, Matty! Thank you for the feedback 🙂
Hi, I can only find “Cajun” seasoning at the grocery store. No creole or jerk. Will this work?
Yes it would do just fine.
A quick note to Instapot users. I got a “BURN” warning before this dish was finished cooking. It wasn’t a big deal really. I just had to stop the process and deglaze the pot. The next time (and there will be a next time!) I’ll make sure to deglaze the pot after the sauteing and before I begin the pressure cooking cycle. I’m going to try your brown stew chicken recipe next!
Hi Shirley. This is great advice! Thank you for taking the time share :)!
I cooked the scotch bonnet whole in the rice and took out at the end. Is this right or would you chop it up
Hi Emma! It really depends on your heat tolerance. If you would like it a little other, you can just give the scotch bonnet a little squish in the pot. If you really want to go all out on the heat, then you can chop it up before adding to your pot. 🙂
Just finished making the recipe I don’t care for hot but I do like heat so I did not do scotch bonnet I just did a few shakes of red pepper flakes excellent little bit of heat no hot
Hi Decota! I am glad you were able to make this recipe work for you. Thanks for stopping by :).
The red beans came out delicious,I used fresh from scratch,First time using coconut milk and what a different I did add smoke ham southern twist and chicken broth and and touch of liq smoke .those beans are now one of my favorite.Thank you sooo much.
Oh my!! That sounds absolutely Delicious. Thanks for sharing your tips Evelyn
I just looked in my pantry and then googled Rice, Beans, Coconut Milk. This recipe popped up. I love when I find recipes that have almost all ingredients I have on hand. I’m going to fix it later this week. I will just need to substitute the pepper for a cayenne, and use spices I have on hand for the creole spice. I will let you know how it turns out!!
Awesome!! Looking forward to your feedback, Mary 🙂 !
This has become a staple in our household! Really good! The only complaint I get is that it’s too oily… I have tried less oil and cooking it down longer. Any suggestions?
Hi Kaitlyn. Try using as little oil as possible. About 1-2 tablespoons of oil. It will still turn out great! Happy Cooking 🙂 !
You need you own cooking show
Working on that! Stay tuned 🙂 !