Cajun rice or "dirty rice" is a traditional Cajun rice pilaf and a beloved Louisiana classic. This Cajun Dirty Rice is my spin on traditional Cajun rice and it's turbo charged with flavor. Serve it as a kicked-up side any day of the week with a generous drizzle of hot sauce on the side.
Traditional Dirty Rice
Traditional dirty rice uses chopped chicken livers which gives it a distinctive flavor and a dark color dubbing it "dirty" rice. It typically starts with a trinity of diced bell pepper, celery and onion but as with any recipe, variations always depend on the cooks preference. My family loves Cajun food, but chicken livers? Not so much. I developed this version to suit their taste and it is a regular rotation on our menu now.
What Goes Well With Dirty Rice?
- I love serving Cajun Dirty Rice with chicken either barbecued or grilled, chicken tenders, or pork tenderloin rubbed with a sweet bourbon seasoning.
- It's hearty enough to serve as a main dish if you're so inclined, and guaranteed to put smiles on the faces of those you're feeding.
- You may also enjoy these rice recipes in the MSSK recipe index Creole Andouille Rice Brunch Bake, Teriyaki Rice Pilaf with Mushrooms and Peas, Italian Rice Pilaf.
- You may also like this recipe for One Skillet Beef Meatballs and Rice with Peas.
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Helpful Kitchen Items:
Cajun Dirty Rice
Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 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 rib celery diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- salt & black pepper to taste
- 1 ½ cups long grain rice [such as Uncle Ben's Converted Rice]
- 5 cups low sodium chicken stock or water
- 2 tsp Cajun or Creole seasoning adjust to taste
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ cup chopped flat leaf parsley or cilantro
Instructions
- In a large stove top saucepan, over medium-high heat, sauté the sausage until no pink remains. Drain excess fat reserving 3 Tbsp in 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.
Notes
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.
Tried this recipe?Mention @melissassk or tag #melissassk!
My name is Melissa and I'm the Creator of Melissa's Southern Style Kitchen. Cooking, baking, developing recipes and kitchen tips is my passion. I love sharing my dishes and connecting with people through the food that I create.
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Jena Simms
Love this recipe! I added liquid smoke instead of W.
Melissa
Thank you!
Abby
Is there a reason to use 5 cups of broth to 1.5 c rice instead of the typical 2:1 water to rice ratio (which would make this 3 cups broth to 1.5 c rice)? I’m planning to make this tonight and I don’t expect a reply before then, but think I’ll start with the normal ratio and go from there if I need it. But I am genuinely curious if there’s a reason. Thank you!
Melissa
Yes, there is a reason. The ratio you're referring to is when cooking rice alone. There are many other components to this recipe apart from rice.
Angela
Great recipe and delicious
Melissa
Thank you!
ME Michie
This was sooo delicious. My picky eaters loved it!!!
Melissa
Thanks so much!
Stacey
This was amazing will definitely make this again this is a must try
Melissa
Thanks so much!
Mira George
Made this with turkey sausage and it was delicious!
BJ
We have made this several time and love the flavor but the rice turns out sticky. Any tips to avoid this?
Melissa
Use a good long grain brand of rice. All rice isn't equal so, that's key.
Joelle
I tried this last week, soo delicious! One recommendation to add the veggies at the end, when there was about 10 min left otherwise they become too soft.
Melissa
Glad you enjoyed!
Robert Hiller
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. :-).
Melissa
How funny, I share her love of dirty rice.
Shana Bryant
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!
Melissa
Wonderful, thank you for taking the time to let me know.
Melissa
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. ☺
Pam Abshire G.
We actually have a quick & easy recipe that calls for cream soup that is baked in the oven.
Anita M Butler
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.
Melissa
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.
Colleen
I was going to post that you can use ground meat. I'm Cajun and this recipe is the closest I've seen that is spot on to our dirty rice!
Melissa
I consider that high praise Colleen, thanks so much!
Anonymous
What can be substituted for the sausage and chicken liver?
Melissa
That's cool Linda, let me know when you get a chance to make it. 🙂
Linda
Wow, I've never had dirty rice. And I do like chicken livers! Will give this a try, thanks Melissa:)