Ingredients (~6 servings)
- 1 lb dry kidney beans
- 12 oz andouille sausage, sliced
- 1 lb smoked turkey legs
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, diced
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Cajun seasoning
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 Tbsp salted butter
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 Tbsp chicken bouillon paste
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 Tbsp hot sauce
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
- 1 tsp filé powder (optional)
- Cooked white rice for serving
Soak Beans for 8-12 Hours
Place dry beans in a bowl, then fill with enough water to completely cover beans.
Leave to soak at least 8 to 12 hours (can be longer); beans will increase in volume by doubling.
When ready to cook, drain the beans, set aside the beans and discard the water.
Prepare Meat Using a Dutch Oven
Heat medium-high heat on your Dutch oven.
Place sliced sausage in the hot pot.
Cook the sausage until it is brown (approximately 5 minutes), then remove from the heat.
Remove sausage from the pot and place it in a bowl.
In the same pot, brown the turkey legs on all sides (approximately 5 minutes per side) before removing and placing turkey legs in a separate bowl.
Brown The Holy Trinity
Reduce heat to medium and add the onion, bell pepper, and celery to the pot.
If your pot has become dry, you may wish to add a tablespoon of oil; otherwise, there will be enough fat left in the pot from previous cooking to start cooking the vegetables.
Sauté the vegetables in the pot for approximately 5 to 7 minutes or until they have become soft and lightly browned.
Once the vegetables have cooked down, add the garlic, Cajun seasoning, tomato paste, and bouillon paste.
Add the butter and mix together until all ingredients combine and have become fragrant, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.
The tomato paste will darken slightly while cooking.
Build Base And Simmer
To form the base for the soup, pour chicken broth into the Dutch oven and use a wooden spoon to scrape any of the brown bits from the bottom of the pot into the broth.
The brown bits (or fond) that you scraped up make up the majority of the flavour in your soup.
Add the bay leaves, sausage, turkey legs, and dried beans back into the pot.
Bring the soup to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to low.
Simmer the soup for approximately 1 hour to 1½ hours or just until the meat pulls easily off of the turkey bones.
Shred Turkey And Finish Beans
Remove turkey legs from the soup, and cool the legs enough to handle.
Pull all of the meat off of the bones; discard the bones and skin.
Put the shredded turkey back in the soup along with the Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, vinegar, liquid smoke and, if desired, filé powder.
Remove the lid from the pot and let the soup simmer uncovered for at least another 30 minutes to cook beans until completely softened.
During this time, the remaining liquid from the soup should also reduce and thicken.
Thickening And Serving
Once the beans are ready, remove the bay leaves from the soup, and taste the soup; add salt and pepper, if necessary.
Take approximately half of the beans out of the pot, and mash them with a potato masher; then add the mashed and whole beans back to the soup.
By doing this, you will achieve the signature creamy texture of the soup while maintaining whole beans.
Serve soup over cooked white rice, and top with sliced green onions (if available).
Red Beans and Rice
Ingredients
Ingredients (~6 servings)
- 1 lb dry kidney beans
- 12 oz andouille sausage sliced
- 1 lb smoked turkey legs
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 2 celery stalks diced
- 6 cloves garlic diced
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Cajun seasoning
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 Tbsp salted butter
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 Tbsp chicken bouillon paste
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 Tbsp hot sauce
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
- 1 tsp filé powder optional
- Cooked white rice for serving
Instructions
- Soak beans in water 8-12 hours, then drain.
- Brown sliced sausage in Dutch oven over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, remove and set aside.
- Brown turkey legs on all sides for 5 minutes per side, remove and set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium and cook onion, bell pepper, and celery for 5-7 minutes until softened.
- Add garlic, Cajun seasoning, tomato paste, bouillon paste, and butter, cook 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
- Pour in chicken broth and scrape up browned bits from bottom.
- Add bay leaves, sausage, turkey legs, and drained beans, bring to boil, cover, and reduce to low.
- Simmer 1 to 1.5 hours until turkey meat falls off bones easily.
- Remove turkey legs, shred meat, discard bones and skin.
- Return shredded turkey to pot with Worcestershire, hot sauce, vinegar, liquid smoke, and filé powder.
- Simmer uncovered 30 minutes until beans are tender and liquid thickens.
- Remove bay leaves, mash half the beans and stir back in.
- Serve over white rice.
