White Beans and Rice Recipe with Sausage (2024)

Are you looking for an easy white beans and rice recipe with canned beans? This white bean and sausage soup fits the bill!

I don’t know why beans and rice seems so southern to me. After all, people all over the world subside daily on beans and rice. My mom, a native of Panama, grew up eating rice and beans every single day. In a domino effect, she fed me beans and rice nearly every single day when I was growing up in southern Arkansas, too. Whether southern or global, a good white beans and rice recipe is hearty and filling.

Make White Beans and Rice or White Beans and Sausage Soup

Although I am calling this dish a white beans and sausage soup, you can easily serve it with less broth if you wish. In my family, we are a mixed camp. I often prefer more broth on things than the Hubs does. My bowl is more of a soup. His is not. You can also add some veggies – like celery or shaved carrots in when you add the beans – if you wish for a more soup-like consistency.

This recipe is rather versatile, you can make sausage and white beans with sliced smoked sausage, as I am doing here. Or you can make white beans and ham with leftover ham. Just substitute two cups of chopped ham instead of the sliced sausage links. And if you are looking for more ways to use leftover ham, be sure to check out my posts on fettucini alfredo with ham and spicy English muffin breakfast sandwiches.

One thing about any canned beans and rice recipe, is the flavor can come off pretty bland. You have to rely on the fat from your meat and the spices you add to kick up the flavor a notch. Personally, I like to add chili powder or red pepper to my beans and rice to give it a little flair as I do with my CrockPot red beans and rice.

Which White Bean Should I Use?

You may be wondering which white bean to use for southern white beans and rice. After all, your head probably spins in the grocery aisle as you look from navy beans to Great Northern beans to Cannellini beans.

For me, cannellini beans are my least favorite when it comes to taste. Granted, the taste is very similar to Great Northern. But there is a slightly more earthy, mushy taste to the inside of the cannellini beans for me. Cannellini’s have a shape similar to kidney beans, and I have heard people refer to them as white kidney beans.

Great Northern beans or white navy beans are the ones I typically use for this southern white beans and rice recipe. (For the white beans and sausage soup featured in this post, I used white navy beans.) White navy beans are found in a lot of southern white beans and rice recipe versions. They are smallish and have a pretty muted flavor. Great Northern beans are used in a lot of dishes, though they can often be used interchangeably with Cannellini beans. According to Randall Beans, Great Northern beans are a safe bet for buying to keep your pantry stocked.