This Dirty Rice recipe is a flavorful and hearty dish, with just a little kick from the creole seasoning. Italian sausage and ground beef, white rice, bell peppers, and a handful of seasonings come together in this delicious one-pan meal. It’s an easy weeknight dinner that will quickly become a family favorite. It is filling and delicious, and the best part is that the cleanup is a breeze.
It’s about to get real southern around here because these authentic flavors are exactly what you would find if you were dining in the French Quarter in New Orleans. That may sound fancy but this dirty rice recipe is actually really simple to make and you probably have everything on hand already with the exception of the cajun seasoning.
You could make this as a side dish, but it does hit the spot as a main dish event when you aren’t in the mood to stand in the kitchen all night. I love a one-pot meal because clean up is easy and most of the time there is minimal prepwork involved like with my Chili Mac, Corn Dog Casserole, and Shrimp Pad Thai.
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Fun Fact
WHY IS IT CALLED DIRTY RICE?
In traditional cajun cooking, if you followed the old Louisiana way, this classic cajun dish is made with chicken liver. After it has simmered you can imagine, because of the meat and spices, the rice will no longer be white, which makes it “dirty”. Your rice will be a light brown color, or dirty color. Long ago this was a dish that everyone could afford and was relatively cheap to make for those who had larger families but few resources.
Fast forward to today, cajun dirty rice has been transformed over and over with many recipes holding that creole flavor but the meat that is used is most likely not liver.
🍚 Ingredients:
- MEATS (ground meat): ground pork sausage, ground beef – as I mentioned if you want to eat a more authentic dish, swap these for chicken liver or add in addition. In contrast, we make this often with Impossible sausage or plant-based ground beef, or ground chicken.
- SPICES & SEASONINGS: minced garlic, salt and pepper, Tony Chacere’s creole seasoning or your favorite combo of Cajun spices, parsley
- VEGGIES: onion, green bell pepper, celery
- RICE: any long grain variety will work, we like jasmine rice, basmati rice or wild rice, but you can certainly swap in brown rice for a whole grain meal
- BROTH: beef broth is the best and ads so much flavor, but you could probably swap for chicken broth if that’s all you have or if you are using just chicken livers for the meat. Either broth you choose, you can also use low sodium chicken broth or a low sodium beef broth.
For a full list of ingredients and their measurements, 📋 please view my printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Optional Garnish:
A sprinkle of fresh parsley freshens up the meal and the plate.
Substitutions and Variations
- Chicken: As mentioned you can use chicken livers. If you want to experiment with poultry and can’t find those, you can also use gizzards.
- Italian sausage or hot Italian sausage add great flavor to this dish when swapped with the standard pork sausage.
- Sweetness: Use red or yellow bell pepper for a slightly sweeter flavor.
- Spicier: Mince some jalapeños or add a little bit of cayenne pepper if you like more heat.
- Vegetarian/Vegan: This is a great recipe to use a plant-based meat substitute. Impossible sausage can be spicy, so if you want a milder dish, adjust the seasoning or use part sausage part “ground beef.”
🔪 Instructions:
PREP: Chop your veggies and gather ingredients.
Step 1: Sauté the ground beef and pork sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until almost all of the pink is gone.
Step 2: Add the onion, garlic, green pepper, and celery to the meat mixture. Cook for another 5 minutes or until the veggies have softened.
Step 3: Season with salt and black pepper (just go light when salting) and creole seasoning and toss to combine.
Step 4: Add the white rice and beef broth. Stir well, scrap the bottom of the pan to remove any browned bits, and add thyme sprigs to the top.
Step 5: Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cover. Allow it to simmer for 20 minutes.
Step 6: Remove the thyme and fluff the rice with a fork.
GARNISH/SERVE: Stir in chopped parsley or sprinkle on top before serving as a garnish.
Best Dirty Rice Recipe Tips:
- Be careful about adding too much salt. If you are using a seasoned ground sausage,regular-sodium beef broth and a cajun/creole seasoning that includes salt, you probably will not need to add any salt.
- Use a skillet that is at least 2 inches deep and has a lid.
- I like to set the thyme sprig on the top of the mixture just before putting the lid on. Then, it’s super easy to find it and remove once the rice is cooked. You can also strip the leaves off of the thyme sprigs and simply stir them into the rice mixture. Leaves do not need to be removed after cooking.
- Place the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. You can also freeze dirty rice for up to 1 month. Allow it to cool then add to a freezer safe bag or container. Allow it to thaw overnight in the fridge. Reheat on the stovetop over low to medium heat until warm (or reheat in the microwave, of course!)
If you try this easy Dirty Rice recipe or any other easy recipe on my website, please please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below.
Easy Dirty Rice
Ingredients
- ½ pound ground pork sausage
- ½ pound ground beef
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 cup diced green bell pepper 1 pepper
- 1 cup diced celery about 2 ribs
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon Tony Chacer’s creole seasoning
- 1 ½ cups long-grain rice
- 3 cups beef broth
- Parsley for garnish
- 1-2 sprigs of fresh thyme
Instructions
- In a large skillet, saute ground beef and ground sausage over medium high heat. Use a spatula to break apart the meat and cook until most of the meat is no longer pink (about 4-5 minutes).
- Add garlic, onion, pepper, and celery to the skillet and saute an additional 4-5 minutes until the vegetables are softened.
- Add salt and pepper (be cautious you do not oversalt), creole seasoning, rice, and beef broth. Stir and add thyme sprigs to the top of the mixture.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, then turn down the heat and cover skillet. Let simmer for 20 minutes.
- Remove the thyme sprigs and fluff rice.
- Add chopped parsley for garnish and serve.
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Comments & Reviews
Rebecca says
if I used pre-cooked rice (leftovers from another meal) would you decrease the amount of broth used?
Stefanie says
Hi Rebecca, Yes, for sure decrease the amount of broth. Maybe 1/2-1 cup total and let everything simmer together to get the flavors infused into the leftover rice. You can simmer off any excess liquid or add a bit more if it’s too dry. It will probably depend on the type of rice and how moist it is going in. Let me know how it turns out, I haven’t tried it this way, but I seem to frequently have leftover rice, this would be a great way to use it up.
Rebecca says
Thank you for your quick response.
I made this recipe for 16 servings.
My kids do not care for to much spice, so I added maybe 2 tsp Tony’s, and ended up using just 1 large onion and 1 large bell pepper.
I added 1c. beef broth and 6c. pre-cooked minute rice.
was the perfect consistency.
and got the things up from the family.
Thank you for this delicious recipe.
Christina says
Awesome recipe! My family loved it. Instead of the hamburger meat I added Johnsonville Andouille sausage. This is a keeper!
Christine says
This looks really good please send me the website thank you