Small red beans, traditionally. Red kidney beans if your store doesn’t carry them, which is most stores. A 15.5 ounce can of kidney beans cost $0.98 in July 2026 and returns 23.4 grams of protein per dollar, with no soaking and no planning ahead.
If you’re using dry kidney beans instead, there’s one rule you actually have to follow. It comes further down and it isn’t optional.
| Bean | Form | Package | Price | Protein per $1 | Fiber per $1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kidney beans | Canned | 15.5 oz can | $0.98 | 23.4 g | 19.3 g |
| Pinto beans | Dry | 4 lb bag | $3.97 | 97.9 g | 70.8 g |
| Black beans | Dry | 2 lb bag | $2.42 | 81.0 g | 58.1 g |
| Navy beans | Dry | 2 lb bag | $2.67 | 75.9 g | 52.0 g |
Source: USDA FoodData Central + US store prices, July 2026. Full methodology at /methodology/.
What beans go in red beans and rice?
Small red beans are the traditional answer, and they’re a distinct bean from kidney beans even though the two get used interchangeably. Small reds are rounder, softer, and they break down into that creamy gravy the dish is known for. Kidney beans are bigger and firmer and hold their shape more.
Both work. Kidney beans are what you’ll find, so kidney beans are what most people cook.
One limit up front: our datasets include canned kidney beans but not small red beans and not dry kidney beans. So the prices in that table cover the substitutes and the canned version, and we’re not going to invent a figure for a bag we never bought.
Can you use canned kidney beans?
Yes, and for a weeknight it’s the obvious call. Canned beans arrive already cooked, which is the whole reason a can sits on a shelf for years, and we went through the details in do you have to cook canned beans. Two cans, some rice, an onion, and you’re most of the way there.
The trade is texture. Canned beans are soft going in and softer coming out, so the pot never develops the body you get from beans simmered from dry. In a dish where the sauce is basically dissolved beans, that’s more of a loss than usual. My workaround is to mash about a third of the can against the side of the pot before the rest goes in, which fakes the gravy well enough.
Cost wise the can is the expensive route, at 23.4 grams of protein per dollar against 97.9 for a bag of dry pinto beans. That gap is the same one we measured across every bean in canned versus dry beans. Still cheap food. Just not the cheapest.
Why dry kidney beans need a hard boil
This is the part worth reading twice, and it’s the reason I wrote this article.
Raw and undercooked red kidney beans contain phytohaemagglutinin, a lectin that occurs at its highest concentration in this specific bean. FDA’s Bad Bug Book covers it directly, and the numbers are worth knowing: as few as four or five raw beans can trigger symptoms, and the reaction shows up as severe nausea and vomiting within one to three hours.
FDA’s guidance is specific. Soak the beans in water for at least 5 hours, pour the soaking water away, then boil them in fresh water for at least 30 minutes. Boiling is what does the work, not time at a low simmer.
The other half of that guidance surprises people: slow cookers should not be used for kidney beans or dishes containing them. FDA notes that studies of slow cooked casseroles found internal temperatures of only 75 degrees C or less, which is not enough to destroy the toxin. If you want to build the dish in a slow cooker, boil the beans hard on the stove first and add them cooked.
None of this applies to the can. Those beans already went through a heat process before the lid went on.
What to use if you cannot find red beans
Pinto beans, first choice. They’re soft, they break down willingly, and at 97.9 grams of protein per dollar they’re the best value food in our entire ranking. A $3.97 four pound bag will make this dish more times than you’ll want to.
Black beans work and change the color of the plate, which some people mind and I don’t. Navy beans work too and go further toward mush, so use them if you want the gravy and don’t mind losing whole beans. All three take a normal soak and simmer with none of the kidney bean drama, and the method is in how to cook dried beans from scratch. Forgot to soak? The same day quick soak covers it.
If you’re building a bean cupboard rather than one dinner, the storage side is in how long dried beans last.
What it costs to put on the table
Not much, which has always been the point of this dish. The bean and rice portion of a similar plate came to about 32 cents per serving in our day costing work, and even the canned route keeps a dinner well under a dollar a head before the sausage and the vegetables.
Rice and beans as a daily habit is a bigger question and we took it seriously in can you eat rice and beans every day. If you want the pantry version without the Louisiana accent, beans and rice as a complete protein meal is the plainer recipe, and the leftovers question is covered in how long rice and beans can sit out.
Red beans and rice is a dish built out of the cheapest ingredients in the store and a long afternoon. The bean you pick matters less than whether you cooked it properly.
