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Dirty rice is a southern comfort food staple and it’s easy to see why!
Tender meat is browned and sauteed with onions, peppers, and celery then finished off with fluffy rice and flavorful cajun seasoning to give you a complete meal!
What is Dirty Rice
I love all kinds of Cajun food from cajun chicken and shrimp to gumbo; I just can’t get enough of it! This Dirty Rice is just one more favorite among my collection!
Regardless of where you’re from, rice (especially in a rice casserole) is truly such a comforting dish! Dirty rice is New Orleans staple and a simple dish combining beef, sausage and minced chicken liver along with peppers and onions. It’s all seasoned with our favorite Cajun Seasoning and rice cooked to tender perfection.
Some dirty rice recipes use different things like carrots, potatoes, or mushrooms but I really prefer this dish to just be prepared simply with traditional ingredients. If you’d like, you can add whatever veggies you have handy to this recipe!
How to Make Dirty Rice
Dirty rice, filthy rice – whatever you want to call it – is actually made with white rice, but it gets its dirty color from the spices and meat added to the dish! This dirty rice recipe uses a deliciously spiced homemade cajun seasoning. I find that homemade has so much flavor (and much less salt) but store bought will work too!
In this version of dirty rice, I use a combination of lean ground beef, sausage and minced chicken livers. If you’ve never had chicken liver before, this is the perfect time to try it.They’re minced quite small and combined with so many amazing flavors. While they don’t stand out, they definitely add some richness to the dish (plus they’re a traditional ingredient). If you really can’t/won’t eat chicken livers, you can leave them out but it’s worth trying!
While it’s traditional to use a smoked sausage (or ground pork) with the chicken livers, I love the flavor that ground sausage adds. Feel free to use sliced smoked sausage if you prefer!
To make easy work of mincing the chicken livers, freeze them for about 20-30 minutes before chopping! This makes the task a breeze.
I start by browning all of the meat together until no pink remains. Once browned drain the fat and soften the veggies. Finally I add raw rice and broth and allow the flavors to cook right into the rice. If you want to substitute white rice for any other type, just make sure you adjust the simmering time accordingly so it gets the chance to cook properly!
The beautiful thing about dirty rice is that it’s a one pot meal, which means less dishes on a busy weeknight!
While dirty rice is a perfect complete meal on it’s own, we sometimes serve it as a side. If we’re eating it as a main dish, a side of greens or another freshly steamed veggie and some cornbread makes for the perfect meal!
Dirty Rice
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 ounces lean ground beef
- 8 ounces ground pork sausage
- ½ cup minced chicken liver optional
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 1 cup diced celery
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons Cajun seasoning
- 1 ½ cups long grain white rice uncooked
- 3 ½ cups chicken broth I use low sodium
- 2 bay leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
- green onion for garnish
Instructions
- Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a dutch oven or heavy bottomed pan.
- Add beef, sausage and chicken liver (if using). Cook until no pink remains.
- Add onion, garlic, green pepper, celery and Cajun seasoning. Stir until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add rice, broth and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered about 20-23 minutes or until rice is cooked.
- Garnish with green onions and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Side Dish
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I use this recipe and make it vegan and my family and friends love it! Thank you for sharing.
I’ve added a can of rotel, optional, of course. Also a grand kids fav, add a drainad can of chopped water chestnuts, they like the crunch!!! Very versatile & yet simple!!!!!
The rice was still soupy after 25 minutes of cooking, so maybe next time I would use 1/4 – 1/2 cup less broth. When I first tasted I thought ‘meh’, but I had used chorizo for my sausage and the rice was too spicy for my company, so I carried on with the eating. Later on, I realized I had eaten the whole pot over the course of the day, and I enjoyed every bite. Great recipe Holly!
So glad you enjoyed it, Karen!
Love all of the Spend with Pennies site!!! This dirty rice is always perfect. I sometimes use hot Italian sausage in the recipe. Very forgiving! Thank you so very much for your delightful recipes!!!