Pinto Beans and rice prepared with canned beans and stewed over the stovetop with sausages.
This is a quick and easy healthy dinner meal. It's comforting and effortless to put together after a long day at work.
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🧅 Ingredients
You will need a few pantry ingredients to make this from scratch with canned beans, AND you can enhance it further with a seasoning of your choice. Ideas further below.
- rice - I like to use basmati rice but you can use any other white or brown rice.
- pinto beans - canned. Either store-bought canned beans or homemade canned beans.
- oil - any will do. I use olive, canola, vegetable, or sunflower oil.
- onion - red, white, yellow, or shallot.
- garlic
- tomato sauce - plain unflavored/ tomato passata
- salt
- black pepper
- water or vegetable stock for added flavors
🌶 Seasoning
I made this recipe easy, with just a few ingredients, so that anybody can try do make it at home.
But I do like to season my pinto beans further.
Just add one of the following spice and herb combinations to your beans during the cooking process.
- bay leaf + nutmeg + crushed allspice
- rosemary + thyme + savory herb. Dried or fresh.
- Mexican seasoning to make it like arroz con frijoles
- sazon seasoning
- Cajun seasoning for southern-inspired flavors
- Creole seasoning for Caribbean-style pinto beans
- fresh or dried curry leaves. Adds some Indian flavors but it's a super tasty food discovery!
- Dijon mustard - This is my secrete favorite. Mix in after the cooking process to the beans.
🔪 How to make it?
Here is how to make these delicious pinto beans with rice.
Step 1
Cook rice as per package instructions.
Slice onion and chop garlic.
Step 2
Saute onion and garlic in oil.
Add pinto beans, tomato sauce, seasoning, water and sausages and mix.
Step 3
Cook pinto beans until done.
Serve beans with rice.
🍴 Serving
I just love my hot oh so delicious creamy pinto beans with plain salted cooked basmati rice.
But you have options!
You can serve up your beans with cauliflower rice, cilantro-lime rice, aromatic clove rice, or even bright yellow lemon rice with mustard seeds.
As a side dish, I highly recommend a small light salad to balance out the flavors and nutritious intake of vitamins and minerals.
A small salad can be a green lettuce salad, a shredded carrot, or a radish salad.
🍱 Storing
Leftover can be refrigerated and heated up again. They usually even taste better the next day (I'm not kidding you!).
Place the leftovers in an airtight container in your fridge for up to 5 days.
Reheat over the stove top over a slow heat setting so that the beans don't burn on OR reheat in a microwave save container in the microwave.
You can also freeze your pinto beans (without the rice). Just prepare batches and freeze in a freezer-friendly, suitable container.
Then just take them out and thaw if you have time. Or else, just place them frozen over the stove top heat, and reheat until your beans are nice and hot.
The rice can be cooked separately from scratch.
More Beans and Lentil Meals
📖 Recipe
Canned Pinto Beans and Rice with Sausage Recipe
Ingredients
For the rice
- 1 cup rice
- salt pinch
- water to sover and cook rice
For the pinto beans
- 2 can pinto beans *see Notes
- 1 Tablespoon Oil olive, sunflower, canola, vegetable
- 1 Onion any
- 2 cloves Garlic fresh
- 7 ounces Sausage *see Notes
- ¼ cup Tomato Sauce
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1 cup Water *see Notes
To garnish
- Cilantro to garnish
Instructions
For the rice
- Cook rice with water and salt until cooked through or as per the package instructions.
For the pinto beans
- Slice onion and chop garlic.
- Heat up a medium-sized pan with the oil and stir in onion slices first. Saute until the onions appear a bit soft.
- Stir in garlic and continue to saute for a minute or two over a medium heat setting.
- Pour in pinto beans and mix it all up. Keep over a high to medium heat setting.
- Pour in tomato sauce, season with salt and black pepper, and pour in water. (at this point you can add a seasoning blend, see post for ideas).
- Mix it all up and keep over a medium heat setting.
- Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, uncover, and cook for another 5 minutes over a medium heat setting.
- Stir occassionally and remove from the heat when you are satisfied with the thickness.
Serving
- Serve up cooked rice with pinto beans.
- Garnish with fresh cilantro.
Notes
- 1 pinto beans can = 16 oz/450 gram
- pick pork sausages because those add flavors and compliment your beans. You can add any of the following sausages: andouille, Vienna sausage links, Italian sausage, polish kielbasa, or some smoked pork sausages. I used some kind of German brats in the video.
- switch water with vegetable stock for extra flavors
- you can season this dish further during the cooking process. Add a teaspoon or two of Mexican seasoning, cajun seasoning, creole seasoning, sazon seasoning or see post for more ideas.
Equipment
- Medium sized pan
