This Belizean Rice and Beans recipe is a great way to change up your rice and beans flavor. The rice is cooked with coconut milk to give the dish a rich, tropical flavor. Serve this as a side with any protein for a yummy meal!
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It’s no secret that rice and beans are a staple in MANY diets across the world. Rice is universal, and I’ve already released a few rice and beans recipes on the blog, like this Pigeon Peas and Rice from the Bahamas and Gallo Pinto from Costa Rica.
It’s true that rice and beans never get old, but still, it’s necessary to keep things interesting. That’s why I was excited for this Belizean Beans and Rice Recipe. This recipe is perfect because it’s cooked with one of my very favorite ingredients: Coconut milk!
The coconut milk gives the dish a very unique and strong coconutty flavor that I can’t get enough of.
Ingredients for Belizean Rice and Beans
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
- Dried Red Kidney Beans: In Belize they frequently use a smaller red bean, but Kidney Beans are a good substitute in America.
- Oil: This recipe calls for both coconut oil and vegetable oil but feel free to use all of one or the other if you prefer. Coconut oil is traditional.
- White Onion: Can substitute a different type of onion if necessary.
- Garlic: Use fresh garlic for the best flavor.
- Salt
- Cilantro: Fresh cilantro. Feel free to omit if you don’t like cilantro flavor.
- Long Grain White Rice: Wash your rice well so it releases all of the extra starches.
- Coconut Milk: Canned is easiest, though in Belize it’s not uncommon to open up a real coconut from the backyard to get your coconut milk!
How to Make this Recipe
Step 1: Start by making your beans. Saute onion and garlic together.
Step 2: Add your sauteed onion and garlic into a slow cooker along with the beans, water, seasonings, and cilantro.
Step 3: Cook the beans for about 3 hours on HIGH, or until they are almost cooked through.
Step 4: Saute onions in coconut oil until translucent. Then add your rice and stir until the rice is toasted.
Step 5: Add the cooked beans, coconut milk, water, and salt to the pot.
Step 6: Cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Make sure the rice is cooked through, then remove the pot from the heat and leave it covered for 15 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
The Beans in Your Red Beans and Coconut Milk Rice
The rice in this dish is delicious because it’s cooked with coconut milk, but it’s made even more tasty by the addition of Red Beans! The red beans add some protein and fiber to the dish, making it more filling and healthy to eat.
This recipe calls for dried red beans, and the instructions walk you through the steps of softening up the beans to add into the rice dish.
If you want to use canned beans, you can definitely do so! Simply skip the soaking/boiling steps and add the canned red beans into the water about 10 minutes before the rice is done.
This will boil them enough to give them some flavor but not so much that they become too tender and fall apart.
Cooking Your Beans Ahead of Time
To make this recipe even faster and easier for you, I highly recommend cooking your Stewed Red Beans the day before and enjoying them for dinner. Then use the leftovers to make your Belizean Rice and Beans! That way you aren’t spending all day waiting for your beans to cook, and can instead get started right away.
Keep in mind that once your beans are done cooking in the crock pot, they will need to cook for another half an hour when you add them into the rice. Cook them in the crock pot until they are mostly soft but still have a little texture. That way once you cook them for another ½ hour in the rice, they will be perfect.
Can You Substitute Coconut Milk for Water When Making Rice?
Yes, 100%! In fact, that’s what we do in this recipe. The water to rice ratio is normally 1:2 for long grain white rice, meaning for every 1 cup of rice, you use 2 cups of liquid.
Instead of substituting all 2 cups of water with coconut milk, I did a mixture of coconut milk and water (with some liquid from the beans to help out the ratio). This thins out the coconut milk to boil the rice in, but still gives a nice hint of coconut flavor!
I have also seen recipes that boil the rice as normal (with water) and then add the coconut milk in at the end. You can do this if you’d like, but it tends to make the rice a bit wetter. Instead, I like to add coconut milk right into the cooking process.
Recipe FAQs
This dish has enough protein in it that it can act entirely as a main course if you need it to. This would be a great way to get a healthy and cheap meal to last you a really long time.
Serve it alongside Garnaches and Rum Soaked Pork Loin for a true Belizean feast. Don’t forget the Banana Cake for dessert!
I love turning my leftover Belizean Beans and Rice into FRIED Rice and Beans. I scrambled an egg, added some coconut aminos into the pan, and refried the rice until it was nice and crispy.
This adjustment makes the recipe taste like an entirely different, but still incredibly delicious, meal. I would highly recommend it!
If you have any leftover beans, turn them into refried beans and then use them to make Baleadas!
If you liked this Belizean Rice and Beans Recipe, make sure to also check out these recipes that I picked out just for you:
If you tried this Belizean Rice and Beans Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Belizean Rice and Beans
Equipment
- Pot(s)
- Crockpot
Ingredients
Bean Ingredients
- 1 lb Dried Red kidney beans
- 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ white onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ tbsp salt
- ¼ cup Cilantro
Rice Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp Coconut OIl or Vegetable Oil
- ½ chopped white onion
- 1 cup long grain white rice, washed
- 1 cup cooked beans from the Bean Ingredients section
- 1 cup coconut milk
- ½ cup water
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
Bean Instructions
- Sort through the beans, making sure to remove any rocks. Then place the beans in a colander and rinse them to remove any dirt.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a pan on the stove. Then add the white onion and saute until the onion turns translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the minced garlic and stir for another minute.
- Add the washed beans into the crock pot along with 7 cups of water, the sauteed onions and garlic, salt and cilantro. Put the lid on the crock pot and turn it to “High” for about 6 hours.
- When there is about an hour left on the timer, stir the beans, then mash them until the liquid is creamy and the beans are in pieces but not mush. If you are using these for Belizean Rice and Beans, remove the beans from the crockpot around this time so that they are not too mushy when added to rice.
- Allow the beans to cook for the last hour or longer until they reach your desired texture. Serve and enjoy!
Rice Instructions
- Add the coconut oil to a large pot. Then add the chopped onion and saute until translucent.
- Add the white rice into the pot and stir for a few minutes until the rice is toasted.
- Add the cooked Belizean beans into the pot along with the coconut milk, water, and salt.
- Bring the liquid in the pot to a boil, then cover the pot and reduce the heat to a simmer.
- Cook, covered, for about 15 minutes. When the time is up, make sure the rice is softened and the liquid is soaked up, then remove the pot from the heat and leave it covered for 15 minutes.
- Use a fork to fluff the rice and enjoy!
Notes
- Dried Red Kidney Beans: In Belize they frequently use a smaller red bean, but Kidney Beans are a good substitute in America.
- Oil: This recipe calls for both coconut oil and vegetable oil but feel free to use all of one or the other if you prefer. Coconut oil is traditional.
- White Onion: Can substitute a different type of onion if necessary.
- Garlic: Use fresh garlic for the best flavor
- Cilantro: Fresh cilantro. Feel free to omit if you don’t like cilantro flavor.
- Long Grain White Rice: Wash your rice well so it releases all of the extra starches.
- Coconut Milk: Canned is easiest, though in Belize it’s not uncommon to open up a real coconut from the backyard to get your coconut milk!
Ashley Andreasen says
The Brazilian Rice and Beans were spot on! The dish was flavorful and comforting, and the recipe was easy to follow.
Gail L Entwistle says
Never was a red beans and rice lover until I had it in Belize. This combination is a great treat.
The Foreign Fork says
I’m so glad that you like it!! I’m jealous of your trip to Belize; I’ve always wanted to go!
Eddie Castanedes says
This is DEFINITELY NOT a Belizean Coconut Milk Rice and Beans. The real BELIZEAN COCONUT RICE AND BEANS is made ONLY with rice, coconut milk and previoisly cooked beans using the beans and beans broth, NOTHING ELSE.
The Foreign Fork says
Thanks, Eddie, this is good to know! My blog is centered around cooking a meal from every country in the world, but I unfortunately haven’t been to every country so I rely on the internet a lot to teach me how to make the recipes. I’m always open to learning from a local how I can improve my recipes! I will take these notes and try to improve my recipe 🙂 If you have any other tips for how to make this authentically, feel free to email me at theforeignfork1 @ gmail.com . Thank you!
Kaitlyn Woods says
This came out good! Next time I want to add a but more garlic for extra flavor but I love it!
The Foreign Fork says
Garlic is always a good idea!!!
Katie Ackerman says
These were such a fun take on beans and rice! Loved the hint of coconut flavor!
The Foreign Fork says
Thanks for the review!! The coconut flavor is perfect because it’s enough to taste it but not enough to be overwhelming (in my opinion).
Robyn says
So if you use the canned beans, do you drain the water off so it isn’t too much liquid for the rice?
The Foreign Fork says
Yes, I drain the beans!
Chantell Laperle says
Really appreciate you sharing this blog.Really looking forward to read more. Awesome.