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.
Kristen Parillo says
I made this tonight in combination with your Jamaican jerk seasoning recipe which I used to make jerk chicken. What can I say.. OMG so good. I sauteed boneless free range thighs with red onion and crushed garlic (used olive oil for both btw, but added a tablespoon of coconut oil to the chicken). Put in about a tablespoon per pound of your jerk seasoning, a 1/2 TBSP more brown sugar and I am now happily drowning in a bowl of Jamaican food. Your blog is lovely, easy to read, few annoying pop-ups. I will be coming back to scope more recipes! (I’m also bringing some of this to my friend at work who’s from Grenada tomorrow 🙂
Kristen
Fran says
P.S. forgot to rate 5 stars!
Fran says
Yowzaa!!
This is super. Just finished cooking it and can’t wait to serve for dinner. I googled jasmine rice and black beans and your recipe was the second one in line. So glad I checked it out. Not sure how current this is, but I can’t wait to try MANY more .
Your presentation, photography and video are amazing. Love your website. I will pass it on to my daughters to check it out. Your visuals and written directions couldn’t be better. Blessings to you.
imma africanbites says
Awww, thank you so much for being around, Fran and welcome to the site. Can’t wait for you to try some of my other recipes. Enjoy! 🙂
Craig says
Going to Make this tonight for the first time. Going to switch out the Creole seasoning with Cajun thought. Its what I have at hand lol. Looks amazing, making it with jerk chicken and a veggie.
ImmaculateBites says
That sounds like a plan. Happy cooking !!!!
Bavy T says
This recipe came out very good! My husband was floored that I made this which tastes better than the peas and rice we buy from our local restaurants. Awesome recipe thank you so much!
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome! Thanks for taking the time to let me know.
Dorina says
hi, how will the recipe turn up if i use just water and no milk? I always wanted to try Jamacan rice but in our family coconut milk is a delicious ingredient in deserts but a big No No in dinners. Many Thanks
ImmaculateBites says
It’ll be just fine. Give it a try!
Alan says
Oh I can’t wait to cook the beans and rice and goat curry . Beans are still growing in the garden at the moment, a wild goat was scored recently so the goat curry will be first off the block.
ImmaculateBites says
Fresh beans and wild goat? YUM!
Heather says
I made this tonight on such a freezing winter’s eve. It was delicious. The coconut milk provided the perfect creaminess and balanced out the heat from the pepper beautifully, while the lime cut through with a resounding zing. This will be a regular staple in my household. Thank you so much for sharing, Imma!
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Heather! Just love the way you describe this – makes me want to make it tonight . Thanks Girl!!!
Joan says
I am making this tomorrow for a NYE dinner along with jerk pork and mango slaw. Followed by rum cake. I have lived in the caribbean for 23 yrs and home now in Ireland for the holidays..treating the family to a taste of the caribbean!
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome! That sounds Scrumptious ! Wishing you a fabulous New Year’s Eve Dinner! Happy Cooking Joan!
Jayne says
I have attempted a few rice and peas recipes and ended up with mush or bland rice.
I tried this last night and followed it to the letter and used the tip of less water.
It came out perfect. This will be my go to recipe. Thank you for adding the step by step pictures, that really helped.
I was about to give up on this dish, so I am so happy I found your recipe on line and gave it one more go 🙂
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome!! Glad to hear you didn’t give up. So kind of you to take the time out to let me know. Have a great weekend !
Erika G. says
This was delicious! Didn’t have any scotch bonnets so replaced with 2 small jalapenos finely diced. Used brown basmati rice, and a whole onion. Thank you for such a tasty recipe!
ImmaculateBites says
Awesome! Glad to hear it worked out well for you. Thanks for taking the time to share this with us.
Shida G says
I want to try this tonight w/the canned dark red goya beans… do I use one can or two? I am only making it really for 2 people……was not sure if I had to alter the recipe much. I am looking forward to trying it! Looks super yummy.
ImmaculateBites says
You use one . If you are making this for two you might have to cut the recipe in half it feeds about 5 people. You can go ahead and use the whole can of beans.
C P says
Was really good.
ImmaculateBites says
Thanks Girl!
April says
What about using pinto beans
ImmaculateBites says
You sure can. Makes no difference.
Nicole says
Hi this looks great! I just want to make sure I’m on the right track since I have seen some comments about the liquid to rice ratio. So to have it turn out like the rice in the photos use 2 cups of rice, 2 cups of water or broth, and 1 3/4 cups of coconut milk?
ImmaculateBites says
2 1/4 cups of broth and 1 3/4 coconut milk, is the amount I used . The ratio of rice to liquid is 1 cup rice – 2 water. So 4 cups altogether. Add a little more if you want it creamier.