Jamaican Rice and Peas (or Caribbean Red Beans and Coconut Rice) is an easy and flavorful side dish that brings a fun tropical flair to your meal.
Jamaican Rice and Peas
A common side in Jamaican cooking is a dish called “Rice and Peas”. Jamaican dinners, particularly on special occasions, aren’t served with plain white rice.
No way!
They jazz up their rice with beans (traditionally Pigeon peas), coconut milk, and a lot of flavor!
What are Pigeon Peas?
Pigeon peas are small round peas that can either be found green (fresh) or brown (dried). They are often used in Latin and Caribbean cooking, and can be found canned or dried in many Latin grocery stores.
Since pigeon peas are not particularly common in all parts of the world, red beans (like kidney) are very often substituted in this Jamaican rice and beans side dish.
Caribbean Coconut Rice and Beans
What really sets Jamaican rice and peas apart is that the rice is cooked with coconut milk, aromatic herbs, and Scotch bonnet chilies.
The coconut milk gives the rice a creamy and lightly sweet flavor. While the herbs and chilies give the dish a savory spice.
But don’t worry, our recipe for rice and beans won’t have you calling for the fire department from a chili pepper overload!
What are Scotch Bonnet Chiles?
Scotch bonnet chiles are native to the Caribbean and are incredibly spicy. We’re talking 40-50 times the heat of a jalapeno.
Small, squat, and bright orange, they kind of look like habanero peppers. And their heat is similar. But, they tend to have more sweetness to their heat than habaneros do. (If you can taste that sweetness through the heat, that is.)
Our Jamaican Rice and Beans Recipe
Instead of tracking down a whole Scotch bonnet pepper for our rice and peas, we’ve made the dish a bit easier (albeit less traditional) by simply adding heat from ground black pepper.
If you have hot peppers on hand, feel free to throw a whole Scotch bonnet or Habanerro pepper into the pot with the rice as it simmers.
If you do use a whole chile, since the pepper is left whole, it shouldn’t add an alarming heat to the dish, rather a more subtle chili flavor and light spice. (But we’d recommend leaving out the black pepper until you taste your rice, just to be sure you like the heat.)
How to Make Jamaican Rice and Peas
The steps to make our recipe for Jamaican rice and beans are quite simple.
- Saute onions and garlic in butter.
- Add rice and seasoning with water and coconut milk and simmer.
- Add your cooked beans and continue cooking until the rice is tender.
- Remove the bay leaf and season with salt.
- Let the rice stand.
- Season with salt to taste.
In the time it takes to cook a pot of rice, you have now made a delicious, coconut-infused, Jamaican dish.
It’s the perfect way to jazz up your typical rice side dish!
What to serve with Jamaican Rice and Peas
This side dish is perfect to serve any time you would typically serve rice. You can dial the heat up or down as you prefer, so the dish is incredibly versatile. You can serve it with robustly flavored main dishes, since the coconut milk adds a cooling effect. Or, you can serve it with more simple main dishes, since the heat and flavor of the rice can add a nice pep to the meal.
If you’re looking to create a fun Jamaican meal that will transport you to the island, try serving our Jamaican rice and peas with our recipe for Slow Cooker Jerk Pork or grilled, whole Jerk Chicken!
Jamaican Rice and Peas (Coconut Rice and Beans)
Ingredients
- ½ tsp unsalted butter
- ½ onion, diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 c rice, dry
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ tsp thyme
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 c water
- ½ c coconut milk (canned)
- ½ c cooked red beans (kidney beans or pigeon peas)
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Heat butter in a medium saucepan. Add onion and garlic, and sauté 1-2 minutes over medium heat.
- Add rice, bay, thyme, pepper, water, and coconut milk. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, 10 minutes.
- Add the beans and continue to cook, covered, until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, 8-10 minutes.
- Remove the bay leaf and mix in the salt. Let the rice stand, covered, for 5 minutes to finish steaming.
- Taste the rice and adjust the salt and pepper as desired.
Notes
Nutrition
This is one of the recipes from the early days of Curious Cuisiniere. We’ve updated our pictures since we first made it, but we’ve left the original images here as a fun throwback and shout out to how far we’ve come. Enjoy!
If you liked this recipe, here are some similar dishes you may enjoy!
Southwestern Black Eyed Peas and Brown Rice Pilaf
Arroz Rojo (Mexican Red Rice)
Shrimp and Ham Creole Jambalaya
Harvest Wild Rice and Apple Stuffed Squash
Hoppin’ John (South Carolina Black Eyed Peas and Bacon)
Vegetarian Black Bean and Rice Stuffed Poblano Peppers
Spicy Fall Wild Rice Bake
Apple and Mushroom Wild Rice Stuffing
Easy and delicious!!! I was looking for a side dish for an authentic curry Chicken I was making in my instant pot and this went wonderfully with it. Going on the rotation!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Sarah:
I’d like to use brown rice. How would I alter the recipe to do that. Thanks very much.
Hi Kate. This recipe uses 1 1/2 cups of liquid for 1 cup of rice. You will want to check your brown rice package instructions to see how much liquid it needs per cup of rice, and increase the water accordingly. You will also need to cook the rice for longer. Enjoy!
Looks great, but the recipe does not state how much rice to use and I’m not the best cook so need specific amounts please. Thank you.
Hi Paul. This recipe uses 1 cup of dry rice. Enjoy!
I really enjoyed this recipe. I had to use a little “extra” water because my rice still had a little crunch to it. However, the flavor was great and it was so very tasty.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe Desiree!
love your recipe, thanks for sharing
Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I only have basmati rice will that work for this recipe? can I also do the palif method and coat the rice in metled butter after the veggies cook and add hot stock? Also adding Jamcian jerk sauce
Hi James. Basmati rice should work just fine. And if you want to use the pilaf method, go for it!
I also added about 1/2 tsp ground all-spice (also called pemento seeds)
Allspice would be a great addition to this dish!
I substituted quinoa for the rice and used a whole scotch bonnet for the essence. Ended up using a full cup of coconut milk … it’s an Insanely good recipe, thank you!
Love the idea of trying this with quinoa! Glad you enjoyed it!
Hello!
I want to make a bigger batch of this, perhaps 3 cups of rice. How much water and coconut milk should I use?
I’m a newbie!
Hi Arlett. If you hover over the number “6” in the servings of the recipe, you will find a handy slider that will scale the recipe for you. If you’re looking to use 3 cups of rice, just multiply every ingredient by 3. So you will need 3 cups of water and 1 1/2 cups of coconut milk. Hope this helps! Enjoy the recipe!
There are various kinds of coconut milk.
What kind/brand do you use?
Hi Carolyn. We use canned coconut milk for this recipe. Thai Kitchen or Goya brands are typically readily available, but we prefer to buy organic brands will less fillers when we can, like Whole Foods 365 Organic or Trader Joe’s version which doesn’t contain any additives. (You’ll also want to use the original or full fat versions and not the lite.) Hope this helps!
I was wondering that same thing. I wasn’t sure whether to use the coconut milk that comes in the carton or the can and they are quite different. Thanks for the recipe. It’s just what I had in my mind but needed a recipe to match my idea.
Hi Carolyn. We use canned coconut milk. We will update the recipe to reflect this. Thank you!
If you think black pepper is spicy… I feel sorry for you . Other than that, the recipe looks good. I will have to add some chile pepper for my taste buds.
Hi Lucia. You’re right, black pepper isn’t really spicy. This dish isn’t supposed to be alarmingly spicy, rather it’s just supposed to have a hint of pepper flavor to complement the creaminess of the coconut milk. Even if you used a Scotch Bonnet chile, you’re leaving it whole and letting it simmer with the rice, so it doesn’t give too much heat. If you’d like your rice spicy, definitely feel free to add some chile pepper to get it where you like it!
Hello Lucia…
Regarding your comment on “spicy”, there isn’t any need to be rude or condescending. Bear in mind that many people reading these cooking blogs may not have any experience or awareness with certain ingredients used in recipes. It is the prudent responsibility of the author to explain and offer comparisons that most can understand and relate to. Kudos to Sarah for her non-apologetic, classy reply, encouraging your “spicy” side! Thank you Sarah! Oh, and BTW, your recipe was spot on!
Thank you for your kind words Nancie! We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Does the coconut milk make it so you need less liquid? Wouldn’t you usually use 2 cups water to 1 cup rice? Thanks!
Hi Liz. It does decrease the amount of milk slightly. We typically find that a 1:1 or 1:1.5 ratio of water to rice works well for us. If the rice you typically use needs more water, then you may need to increase the water in this recipe.