You gotta love one pot meals. Who doesn’t love less dishes? This is a meal that we all love with a flavor we don’t eat all the time with pinto beans & thyme.
But this meal has another thing going for it – it’s a pantry staple meal. Basically most of the ingredients you can keep on hand and when in a pinch, you’ve got an easy meal idea. Plus it’s super affordable.
Ingredients & Pantry Suggestions:
- Smoked sausage – did you know you can freeze sausage? While it lasts a few months in the fridge, it can last longer in the freezer plus leave you with more fridge room. Keep it in it’s original packaging or divide into meal sizes and bag (removing all the air), date & freeze.
- Pinto beans – you can use canned beans or dry beans, I’m a canned girl for the ease.
- Rice – again, rice is great kept in bulk in the pantry. This is a staple you should have months worth for in your home if you eat it a lot.
- Onion & Garlic – if you’re looking for “keeping on hand” for these items – buy frozen chopped onions or when you chop an onion, chop an extra and bag and freeze. Same with garlic – or ready chopped garlic or garlic frozen cubes works great as well.
- Chicken broth – I keep bouillon powder on hand in my home always. This works great – add to water and you’re good to go.
- Spices – as long as you have thyme, salt and pepper in your spices, you won’t need to go and buy these or anything else above right?
Check out the full recipe below. It’s also easy to adjust – the rice and broth are a 2-1 ratio so if you want less or more rice, be sure to do the same to the broth. Adding extra beans or sausage for more protein works anytime as well. 😉
One-Pot Sausage Beans & Rice
My sister-in-law passed this recipe on to me years ago - calling it a Brazilian Beans dish. Well, we loved it and it's been on our favorite meal list since! Hearty smoked sausage with pinto beans and some nice flavored rice. The great part - cook it all together in one pot!
Servings: 8 people
Cost: $6
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 lb. smoked sausage sliced
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups rice
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 14 oz can pinto beans drained/rinsed
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1-2 tsp thyme
Instructions
- In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat.
- Add sausage, onion, and garlic and sauté until onions become soft.
- Stir in rice, chicken broth, beans, salt & pepper, thyme and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to a low simmer and cover. Simmer for 20-25 min or until rice is done.
- Remove from heat and fluff rice with a fork.
Notes
*Smoked sausage is great, also chicken sausage is a great alternative
