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With just 5 simple ingredients and about 10 minutes of prep, this Dump-and-Bake Sausage, Red Beans and Rice Casserole is an easy dinner recipe for your busy weeknights. The quintessential New Orleans favorite is a flavorful, comforting, and kid-friendly one dish meal!
My 3 boys have officially returned to school, which means that our schedule has drastically changed from the slower days of summer!
Instead of quiet mornings at home and afternoon pool dates, we’ve now transitioned into the craziness of fall: complete with 3 different soccer teams to juggle, 3 different sets of homework to keep track of, and all of the other volunteer and work-related commitments that have picked back up again. To say that my schedule is full would be an understatement!
These days, after I pick the kids up from school, we usually have about an hour and a half at home before we’re rushing back out the door. That means that I need to get dinner prepped, the kids fed, homework completed, and outfits changed in this short amount of time — just so that we can make it to the practice fields by 5:30.
That’s why dump-and-bake meals are a necessity in my life right now. Without help from Zatarain’s products like this Red Beans and Rice Mix, we’d be heading to the drive-thru more often than I’d like to admit!
Dinners made with Zatarain’s include real, wholesome ingredients that aren’t just full of flavor, but that will also keep your family full and healthy!
HOW DO I COOK RED BEANS AND RICE WITH SAUSAGE?
This easy dump-and-bake version of red beans and rice combines smoked sausage, veggies, and a zesty rice mix in one dish for a quick dinner any night of the week.
You’ll only spend about 10 minutes prepping the ingredients, and then you can pop the casserole in the oven while you tackle the rest of your to-do list. Dinnertime doesn’t have to be stressful…I promise!
Here’s how you can assemble one of our favorite Cajun meals in just minutes:
First, slice smoked sausage into rounds. This fully-cooked meat adds so much flavor to the dish, and the extra protein turns the red beans and rice into a satisfying entrée.
Every good southern casserole needs to include the “holy trinity” of Creole cooking: bell peppers, onion, and celery.
Once the ingredients are chopped, you simply combine everything in your dish (or in a separate bowl).
By using this Zatarain’s Rice Dinner Mix, there’s no need to spend time measuring out spices because they have already been carefully selected, harvested and added to preserve flavor. Plus, the 100 U.S. grown, parboiled long grain rice isn’t made with fillers like other grocery store rice mixes. It’s quality rice that will still be good the next day as leftovers (if you have any)!
Add plenty of water for the rice to absorb as it bakes,
and give it a good stir.
Then just dump-and-bake! It looks like a lot of liquid, but the rice will soak up most of that water as the casserole cooks.
The end result is a rich, hearty, and satisfying dinner recipe that accommodates your family’s hectic schedule. What more could we ask for?!
I hope that you’ll stash these 5 basic ingredients in your kitchen to help with cozy last-minute meals this season! And while you’re at it, pick up a couple of other boxes of Zatarain’s Rice Mix to keep in your pantry. The packages are a perfect shortcut for even more easy recipes like Slow Cooker Chicken & Shrimp Jambalaya or Shrimp & Veggie Cilantro Lime Rice.
Dump-and-Bake Sausage, Red Beans and Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 14 ounces smoked sausage, cut into ÂĽ-inch rounds
- ½ cup diced onion
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- ÂĽ cup diced celery
- 1 package (8 ounces) Zatarain’s Red Beans and Rice mix
- 2 ½ cups water
- Garnish: sliced green onion and/or fresh parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking dish with cooking spray.
- In the prepared dish (or in a separate bowl), stir together all of the uncooked ingredients until completely combined.
- Cover tightly with foil and bake for 50 mins.
- Remove foil, stir, and return to the oven (uncovered) for 5-10 more minutes, or until rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed.
- Fluff with a fork, allow to sit for about 5 minutes, garnish with sliced green onion and/or parsley, and serve!
I love rice. Your recipe sounds Yum Yum, Blair. Can’t wait to try it.
Thank you, Victoria!
Hi Blair, I love your recipes and have been using them for quite a while now! I was just wondering if it’s alright to prepare the dump-and-bake red beans & rice & sausage dish the night before? I wasn’t sure if the water absorption would affect the consistency of the dish. Thank you!
Hi, Ashley! I’m so glad that you like the recipes! Thank you for letting me know. 🙂
I get this question a lot on other dump-and-bake recipes, so you’re not alone. I prefer to stir together the ingredients right before baking; however, you can definitely do so the night before. Since the uncooked rice will absorb some of the liquid as it sits overnight and will soften as it does so, you may need to reduce the total baking time slightly. I would just keep an eye on the dish as it gets closer towards the end and pull it out as soon as the rice is tender. Otherwise you risk a gummy, mushy rice dish, which is not good. If you find that the rice isn’t done yet, but the dish seems dry, you can always add a little bit of extra liquid as it’s baking, too. Hope that helps!
Helps tremendously, thank you, Blair! Continually discovering more great recipes of yours and planning to try out many more!
Can this be done in the crockpot?
My Family loves the crockpot. They get worried if its not on!
Hi, Heather! Yes, I think you can probably make this in a slow cooker, but I haven’t tested the recipe to be able to give you the specific cooking time. I would look at other similar Crock Pot recipes with rice so that you can gauge how long the rice might need to cook through. Let me know if you give it a try!
I didn’t have the red beans and rice Zatarans but I did have the Jambalaya, so I used that package along with the rest of the ingredients. It turned out excellent!
That’s a great idea, Meg! Now I want to try it with the Jambalaya! 🙂
Waaay too salty! The sodium content in this dish is through the roof! Using shortcut ingredients from a box tends to be. I’ve made Chef Kevin Belton’s recipe (from scratch), and it was much tastier & healthier. Sometimes, ‘easy’ doesn’t translate into ‘good’.
Hi, Angelina! If you’re concerned with the sodium content, Zatarain’s does offer a reduced sodium version of their Red Beans and Rice mix, too. 🙂
Thanks Blair, I didn’t see it here. I’m sure that will help if I can find it.
To reduce the salt you can bulk up this or any other recipe with a pound or two of produce. I always like to add it to make a recipe much bigger and get extra vegetables into the meal. In this case I add them at the end along with extra liquid if needed. I keep several bags of frozen ready…I realize some folks don’t think they’re as good as fresh but I’m not positive about that because they’re basically frozen almost immediately after being picked so to my thinking they’re fresher than fresh unless of course if ya garden yourself. ????
Zatarains is salty and I looked at the sodium content for this recipe and almost fainted. Will have to find an alternative.
Zatarains makes a lower sodium version of the same mix
Great tip, thank you!
Your meals are so delicious. We live on them. Can’t wait to try this one.
Thanks so much, Patricia! That’s wonderful to hear. I hope you enjoy!
I made this for dinner tonight. The flavor is very good but as someone mentioned above “way too salty. So glad I didn’t add any other seasonings. I fixed corn bread with it. Yeses all around the table.I will try this again but looking for low sodium. I also used kielbasa.
Awesome! Definitely check out the lower sodium version, Breeze! Thanks!
I made this for our dinner tonight since I just had a box of the low sodium box in the pantry just sitting around.. I also didn’t have celery and Bell peppers! I did use better than bouillon with my water thinking that it was “lower sodium” that it may needed an extra boost. I was wrong! I should have left it alone because of the sausage but otherwise this was delicious served with my homemade rolls. This was the easiest meal that I have served this week and this will be in my rotation. Thanks!
PS: this is a five star recipe but the website won’t let me enter it!
Wonderful! Thanks, Nancy! So glad that you enjoyed it. Thank you for letting me know!
Love this! Yes used spicy sausage and cook it then add to the pan. I also prefer yellow or red bell peppers. Overall, easy and delicious! Thank you!
I made this dish this past Sunday, I love making it, it smelled awesome and it tasted good, but the issue I had was I could only eat a small amount the salt level was so off the chart it took away from the dish. I will try it again and use my own blends of spices and rice and beans and let you know how it turns out.
Sounds good. Thanks, Pete!
Well, trying it for the first time, and after 55 min it’s a bit of a soupy mess. We’ll let you know how it turns out.
Ok – better now; more like a moist stew than a soup.
Thanks – Peter
I always use this recipe with the jambalaya mix. I also do not like a lot of sale, so I try to use the low sodium option. As well as I use turkey or chicken sausages – these also come in lower sodium options which help a lot.
Sounds perfect, Meg! Thanks for taking the time to let us know about those other options, too!
For our crew, we always combine the jumbala and the red beans and rice and our sausage. Makes enough plus leftovers for lunch the next day!
YUM!
Haven’t tried yet can I use regular rice and red beans if so what seasonings to use
Hi Dottie,
We can’t guarantee your results if you do, but it should work! The rice mix includes salt, onion, red and green bell pepper, paprika, and red pepper. Feel free to include any spices you like to suit your preferences. Hope this helps!