One of my all-time favorite cookbooks is the Kentucky Fresh Cookbook by Maggie Green.  There are so many delicious recipes in this book, but our favorite has been the Skillet Red Beans.  I make it quite often, and everyone loves it.  And, as an added bonus, it freezes well, so I can make a double batch and freeze some for dinner at a later date.

Skillet Red Beans Recipe

This is a perfect dinner for cold winter nights.  I’m so happy to be able to share this tasty recipe with you today!  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.  I have made this recipe both ways – with canned tomatoes and with fresh.  Fresh tomatoes are obviously better in the recipe but in a pinch the canned ones work just as well and make it a faster dish to whip up.
I keep saying that I am going to try to mix things up and make the dish with chicken, but I just love it so much with the Cajun Andouille Sausage.

Skillet Red Beans

From the Kentucky Fresh Cookbook
By Maggie Green

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 ribs celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
3 cups diced fresh tomatoes or two 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes
3 cups cooked, or two 15-ounce cans, red beans, drained
4 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook for about 5 minutes, until the onion is softened. Stir in the garlic and thyme and cook for two more minutes. Add the diced tomatoes with the juice, and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any brown bits. Add the beans and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the juices thicken. Serve over hot rice and garnish with sliced green onions.

*** I like to serve these beans with a wild rice mix and I also add browned Cajun andouille sausage to the mix.

This recipe was printed in it’s entirety with the permission of Maggie Green. Thank you for sharing Maggie! And as a note to my readers…if you do not have the Kentucky Fresh Cookbook yet, you should seriously consider adding it to your collection!

And if you’d like to read more about the Kentucky Fresh Cookbook check out this post I wrote a few months back (please note – the giveaway in this post is CLOSED).