Cajun Dirty Rice – Cajun rice or “dirty rice” is a traditional Cajun rice pilaf and a Louisiana classic. Traditional Cajun rice uses chopped chicken livers which gives it a distinctive flavor and a dark color dubbing it “dirty” rice.
Ingredients you’ll need:
1 lb bulk breakfast sausage [*see cook’s note]
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 small green bell pepper, diced
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 medium sweet onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt & black pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups long grain rice [such as Uncle Ben’s Converted Rice]
5 cups low sodium chicken stock or water
2 tsp Cajun/Creole seasoning [more or less to taste]
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley or cilantro
Directions:
In a large stove top saucepan, over medium-high heat, sauté the sausage until no pink remains. [The sausage I used was lean, so very little fat was left in the pan. If needed, drain all but 3 Tbsp from the pan.] Deglaze the pan with Worcestershire sauce scraping any brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the diced veggies and garlic. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Cook for 5-7 minutes until the veggies begin to soften and brown. Add the rice. Stir the rice and cook for 1-2 minutes until it begins to brown.
Add the chicken stock, creole seasoning and bay leaves. Lower the temperature and simmer over medium-low heat covered for 25 minutes. Cook until the rice is fully tender and the broth has been absorbed. Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped parsley. Keep covered until serving. Yield: 8 servings
*Cook’s note:
If you’d like to add liver to the rice, 4 oz of chopped chicken livers will do nicely. Cook along with the ground sausage then proceed with the recipe as written.
You may also like: Creole Andouille Rice Brunch Bake, Teriyaki Rice Pilaf with Mushrooms and Peas, Italian Rice Pilaf, Kielbasa and Shrimp Rice Casserole, One Skillet Beef Meatballs and Rice with Peas.
- 1 lb bulk breakfast sausage [*see cook's note]
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1 small green bell pepper, diced
- 1 small red bell pepper, diced
- 1 medium sweet onion, diced
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- salt & black pepper to taste
- 1½ cups long grain rice [such as Uncle Ben's Converted Rice]
- 5 cups low sodium chicken stock or water
- 2 tsp Cajun/Creole seasoning [more or less to taste]
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ cup chopped flat leaf parsley or cilantro
- In a large stove top saucepan, over medium-high heat, sauté the sausage until no pink remains. [The sausage I used was lean, so very little fat was left in the pan. If needed, drain all but 3 Tbsp from the pan.]
- Deglaze the pan with Worcestershire sauce scraping any brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the diced veggies and garlic. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
- Cook for 5-7 minutes until the veggies begin to soften and brown.
- Add the rice. Stir the rice and cook for 1-2 minutes until it begins to brown.
- Add the chicken stock, creole seasoning and bay leaves. Lower the temperature and simmer over medium-low heat covered for 25 minutes.
- Cook until the rice is fully tender and the broth has been absorbed.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped parsley. Keep covered until serving.
Wow, I’ve never had dirty rice. And I do like chicken livers! Will give this a try, thanks Melissa:)
That’s cool Linda, let me know when you get a chance to make it. 🙂
What can be substituted for the sausage and chicken liver?
You don’t have to use chicken livers at all. If you’d like to lighten up the dish use ground turkey or chicken sausage instead. You could also use ground beef.
This gives me an idea. We have a family favorite we call Chinese Casserole. It is raw rice, ground turkey, onion, carrots, brown sugar and cream of mushroom, soy sauce, & water that is baked for an hour at 350. I’m wondering if using your skillet method might work just ask well and be quicker.
Hi Anita, that sounds delightful! Great question, sometimes dishes that use cream soups need the baking process to develop the flavor. Sounds like a great experiment. ☺
I tried this dish on Monday and my family loved it, the flavor is amazing! The only substitution I made was, I used beef broth instead of chicken. Going in my dinner rotation, thanks!
Wonderful, thank you for taking the time to let me know.
Dirty Rice was always a favorite in Culinary School.. Any time we made it we had to take a plate out to the receptionist or suffer her wrath. :-).
How funny, I share her love of dirty rice.