Our favorite easy Dirty Rice recipe is a popular Cajun dish made with white rice cooked with beef, sausage, chicken, veggies and spices. I love that it’s made in just one pot and it’s a meal everyone loves.
If you enjoy Cajun and Creole recipes be sure to try my New Orleans Gumbo, Red Beans and Rice, and Jambalaya.
Dirty Rice is Southern comfort food at its finest! It’s called Dirty Rice because the rice turns a “dirty” brown color while cooking with the diced meats and spices. You’ll also hear Dirty Rice called “Cajun Rice” or “Rice Dressing”, but they’re all variations of the same rice dish (they may use different types of meat or add more or less veggies, or spices).
How to make Dirty Rice:
Cook Meat and Veggies: Add ground beef, sausage and liver (or chopped chicken thighs) to a large pan over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper and cook, crumbling with a wooden spoon, until browned. Dump in flour and stir. Add onion, bell pepper, celery and sauté then toss in garlic, Cajun seasoning, cayenne, oregano, thyme and bay leaves and stir to combine.
Add Rice: Add rice and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat all allow to rest for 5 minutes. Remove lid, gently fluff rice with a fork, reapply lid and rest for 5 more minutes.
Serve: Garnish with green onion and parsley before serving this cajun rice. Dirty Rice is a hearty meal alone, but you could also serve it with a green salad, okra, Swiss chard, tomato cucumber salad, artisan bread or skillet cornbread.
Instant Pot Dirty Rice:
Turn to Sauté setting and brown meat. Add and sauté veggies and spices then pour in rice and 2 cups of chicken broth. Cook on manual/high pressure, for 4 minutes with a 10-minute natural release. Remove lid, gently fluff rice with a fork, reapply lid and rest for 5 more minutes. Garnish with green onion and parsley before serving.
Make Ahead Instructions:
Chop all of the veggies, and even measure the spices ahead, for quick dinner prep. You could also cook the meats and store them in the fridge for a few hours before cooking the remaining meal.
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Recipe
Dirty Rice
Equipment
- Meat Chopper optional
Ingredients
- ½ lb ground beef , 80/20
- ½ lb ground sausage (I use Jimmy Dean pork sausage)
- ½ cup minced chicken livers or gizzards*
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 onion , diced
- ½ cup celery , diced
- 1 green bell pepper , diced
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cups long-grain white rice , or basmati rice
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- ½ cup chopped green onion
- ¼ cup fresh chopped parsley
Instructions
- Add ground beef, sausage and liver to a large saucepan over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper and cook, crumbling with a wooden spoon, until browned.
- Add flour and stir. Add onion, bell pepper, and celery and sauté for 2 minutes. Add garlic, Cajun seasoning, cayenne, oregano, thyme and bay leaves and stir to combine.
- Add rice and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat all allow to rest for 5 minutes. Remove lid, gently fluff rice with a fork, reapply lid and rest for 5 more minutes.
- Garnish with green onion and parsley before serving.
Notes
Turn to sauté setting and brown meat. Add and sauté veggies and spices. Add rice and 2 cups of chicken broth. Cook on manual/high pressure, for 4 minutes with a 10-minute natural release. Remove lid, gently fluff rice with a fork, reapply lid and rest for 5 more minutes. Garnish with green onion and parsley before serving. Make Ahead Instructions: Chop all of the veggies, and even measure the spices ahead, for quick dinner prep. You could also cook the meats and store them in the fridge for a few hours before cooking the remaining meal.
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe August 2020. Updated September 2023.
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I followed the recipe as far as ingredients and it was AWESOME!!! The only change was using a stovetop instead of instant pot. I’ve tried cooking other recipes and this reminds me so much of my Meemaw’s recipe in MS. Thanks!
Perfect recipe. Dirty rice is always better when the rice is cooked with the meat and Trinity – so much more flavor. Simple and delicious meal. Best dirty rice recipe on Google.
Made this the day I saw it pop across my screen. LOVE this recipe! And husband declared it “Better than Zatarain!”
I have made this multiple times and my family loves it. I have never used the liver (personal preference) but almost always double the recipe to have some leftovers. I use hot sausgae and almost always add more cayenne as we like the heat. Quick easy and delicious!
While I appreciate that many people enjoy traditional food from Louisiana, but as one who was born and raised in Southeast Louisiana, I ask that people please stop calling everything Cajun. This is a rice based dish, it is Creole or to be blunt it is a dish brought over from Africa. If you are ever confused always remember, rice does not grow in France or Nova Scotia, and Cajun food is typically game meat based dishes. Rice was incorporated into Acadian (Cajun)diets via proximity to enslaved and free Blacks. While or food traditions are beautiful mosaic of many cultures, this is a sore spot for many as the labeling of Creole dishes as Cajun, for-profit is infuriating as it negates the horrors that brought these wonderful dishes to America.
While I appreciate the differences in Cajun vs Creole cooking, the presence of rice in a recipe is not a determining factor. Rice was introduced to French cuisine and agriculture in the late 13th century. The Acadians would have been quite familiar with its uses.
I used rice in a bag and boiled it in chicken broth. Put about 1/2 cup broth in with rice and meat and simmered for 5 minutes. Sped up my cool time and my daughter thanked me twice, so it was a hit! Served cheesey cauliflower as the side.
My wife was busy bussing the kids around tonight so I had dinner duty. I made the instapot version and it was so good! I’m no whiz in the kitchen, so I appreciate how easy this was easy to throw together. It was a big hit, thank you!