Caribbean black beans and rice is a tasty Caribbean-style side dish featuring roasted red peppers, rice, black beans, and hot sauce.
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This recipe post has been updated on November 23, 2021.
It has been cold so I thought that I would try to spice it up a bit and have some Caribbean-inspired food. That means kicking up the heat with pepper sauce and pairing this Caribbean rice and beans with a spicy baked chicken thigh. The two combine to make an outstanding meal.
This blog post will concentrate on the Caribbean Black Beans and Rice, and tomorrow, I will feature Yucatan Chicken. Both are excellent by themselves, but together, give you a taste of the Caribbean.
Ingredients You Will Need
There’s nothing fancy or unusual with these ingredients:
- Oil – for cooking
- Red and Green Bell Peppers – for some tang and a bit of sweetness
- Garlic cloves – minced
- Black beans – canned, drained, and rinsed
- Cider vinegar – acid for balance
- Rice – cooked according to package instructions, either long-grain white or brown rice
- Hot sauce – for the Caribbean heat
- Cilantro – for added spiciness
- Salt and pepper – as desired. I added 1 teaspoon of salt
Preparing the Caribbean Beans and Rice Side Dish
Start by making around three cups of cooked rice. You can use whatever rice you like. I used brown rice and cooked it for 45 minutes on the cooktop. You could also use long-grain white rice varieties too. Basmati rice and jasmine rice are examples of this variety. They usually only take 15 minutes to cook.
The recipe calls for roasted red pepper. To do this, I started up my little gas grill and charred the pepper for about 10 minutes.
If you have a gas stove, you can roast the pepper on your stove. Just keep the peppers over an open flame to cause the skin to roast. Remove them from the flame and plate them and cover with plastic wrap for 5 or 10 minutes. Doing this will steam the peppers and make removing the skins really easy. This brings out the sugars of the pepper and gives a great flavor to the dish.
Scrape the charred skin from the peppers and then chop the pepper into small slivers.
Using a high-sided skillet or saucepan, add some olive oil and heat your stove on medium. Place the red and green peppers into the pan and cook for a couple of minutes. Mix in the garlic and cook until it is fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add the beans, vinegar, and hot sauce to the pan then turn the heat to low, cover the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Stir this occasionally the heat through evenly.
Stir in the cooked rice and the cilantro and cook for a few minutes to warm the rice. Taste and add salt or more hot sauce as desired.
Serve the Caribbean side hot and garnish with a bit more cilantro.
You can make this Caribbean black beans and rice dish as hot as you like. If you would like a real Caribbean hot sauce, check out Baron West Indies hot sauce. It is made in St. Lucia and I’m pretty sure they use scotch bonnet peppers in their sauce.
This dish is really good with some spicy chicken. Give it a try.
And here are some more tasty recipes to try:
- Caribbean Salt Cod Fritters
- Easy Black Beans Rancheros
- Black Bean and Egg Tostada
- Green Beans with Mushrooms and Bacon
Caribbean Black Beans and Rice
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
- 1 large roasted red pepper, *see Notes , slivered and cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1/2 green pepper , slivered and cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 2 15 oz , cans black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 tbsp vinegar , white or cider
- 2 tsp. Tabasco sauce or other hot sauce
- 3 cups cooked rice, brown or white rice about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups uncooked
- 3 tbsp chopped cilantro
- salt and pepper to taste , (I added 1 tsp salt)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and add both red and green pepper and saute for 2 minute's
- Add garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds until it is fragrant.
- Add black beans, vinegar and Tabasco, reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir a few times to heat the beans through evenly.
- Stir in rice and chopped cilantro and cook until heated. Taste and add salt, pepper, or hot sauce as desired.
Notes
- To roast the pepper, first, remove the stem then cut the pepper into 4 or 5 sections lengthwise and remove the seeds. Place the peppers skin side down on a hot gas grill or over the flame of a gas stove. Cook until the pepper's skin is blackened. Remove them from the heat and place them on a plate and cover them with plastic wrap or even another upside-down plate. This will steam the pepper and make the skin easy to peel off.
- Leftovers can be stored in your refrigerator in a covered container for 3 days.
- Leftovers are easily reheated in a microwave.
Nutrition
Some time ago, I bought a bag of black beans – just because I had never seen beans that were black before. Now I have a recipe to use them in that sounds simple to make and from the ingredients, should taste really good. Thanks Joe, and Mary Jo. Great post.
Hey Donna,
Simmer your dry beans in 5 quarts of water, with 2 tsp salt, for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Drain, then use in this recipe. It is really good!
This dish (Joe made it with brown basmati rice) has wonderful flavor. You could serve the rice and beans on tortillas with some cheese for a great vegetarian meal.