In 30 minutes, you can have perfectly-seasoned homemade dirty rice right at your fingertips! Using a combination of ground sausage and ground beef, plus the perfect blend of spices, this Cajun dish will taste SO good... you just might eat it for your main course instead of a side.
Dirty rice (or Rice Dressing) is one of my FAVORITE sides when eating Cajun or Creole food. And growing up less than an hour from Louisiana, I've had a lot of amazing variations. So, there was TONS of pressure on me to make this recipe an absolute hit. I'm here to say - this recipe nails it! From the spices, to the sautéed veggies, to the perfectly cooked rice... and the best part is, this is made all in one skillet!
Ingredients
- Ground Sausage - I'm very loyal to the Jimmy Dean brand of ground sausage. Although I normally don't eat pork, I do save my consumption for delicious dishes like this! You can sub this with turkey or deer sausage.
- Ground Beef - Try to find an 85/15 blend of ground beef; it's just lean enough for this dish while also giving off a good amount of oil to cook the veggies.
- Cajun Holy Trinity- Speaking of veggies - you simply can't make a savory Cajun recipe without the Cajun Holy Trinity. Bell peppers, onions, and celery. Trust me, I'm not a HUGE celery fan but you can't skip it in this recipe. Your vegetables will all soften down while cooking.
- Seasonings - We keep it pretty simple with seasonings. Garlic powder, No-Salt Creole Seasoning (I love Tony's!), and salt. I also added a couple shakes of thyme to the end of the dish to bring everything together. If your Creole seasoning has salt included, simply skip the extra teaspoon of salt.
- Jasmine Rice - No need to get picky with the brands on this - any type of uncooked jasmine or medium-grain rice will work perfectly.
- Beef Broth - Beef or vegetable broth helps cook the rice until perfectly fluffy. Don't tell anyone - but I didn't have any broth one time... and I simply used a combination of water + chicken bouillon. STILL delicious!
How to Make Dirty Rice at Home
My recipe for dirty rice from scratch is incredibly easy to make, and you only need one skillet to cook everything in! With Thanksgiving coming up, this would be a great recipe for an alternative-Thanksgiving feast! Think Cajun Thanksgiving, with a Blackened turkey, dirty rice, sautéed green beans, and bananas foster for dessert.
We start out by browning our meat. A combination of ground beef and sausage gives you a perfect balance, taste-wise - but if you want to go all sausage or all beef, feel free!
No need to drain the meat - the oils produced will help soften our veggies. Of course, we need the Cajun holy trinity of bell pepper + celery + onion. Chop up the veggies evenly while your meat is browning to be more efficient on time, then add them in right as the meat finishes cooking.
After about 5 minutes, your veggies should be soft. Add in the seasonings - cayenne pepper, garlic powder, no-salt Creole seasoning, and salt. If you're using the regular version of Creole seasoning, OMIT that salt!
Finally, just stir in the uncooked rice and beef/veggie broth. No broth in the house? Just add the same amount of water and about 1-2 teaspoons of bouillon. Once that begins to simmer, simply cover the skillet and let everything finish cooking for about 22 minutes.
Fluff the rice around to make sure each forkful will give you the perfect bite. I love to serve this with more Cajun dishes like blackened catfish, fried shrimp, or Cajun chicken tenders. However, I've also been known to just eat this as a main meal... no judgement!
FAQs
We use a 50/50 combination of ground beef and ground pork sausage. You can also substitute out for all ground beef, or use a turkey sausage blend if you don't eat pork.
This is a one-skillet dish to make life easier for whoever is washing dishes tonight. So you're just going to mix uncooked rice and beef/veggie broth right into the meat and veggies. Then, after the mixture simmers, just cover the skillet with a top and DON'T lift it until after 22 minutes. The cover helps steam the rice to a perfect consistency.
Really, any type of onions you have will work. For these photos, I used red onion because we had one that needed to be used up. The ideal type of onion would be white or yellow, but you don't have to get super picky.
Other Tasty Sides You'll Love!
Mexican Street Corn Salad (Esquites)
Easy Homemade Dirty Rice
Ingredients
- 8 oz. ground sausage I used the Jimmy Dean brand
- 8 oz. ground beef 85/15 lean
- ½ cup chopped green bell pepper about ½ of the pepper
- ½ cup chopped celery
- ½ cup chopped onion white or red
- ½ tsp. cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. no-salt Creole seasoning
- 1 tsp. salt if using the salty Creole seasoning, skip this
- 1 ½ cups jasmine rice
- 3 cups vegetable or beef broth or water + bouillon, see above
Instructions
- On medium heat, brown the ground sausage and ground beef in a large skillet.
- Add in the chopped veggies and cayenne pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are softened.
- Season the mixture with garlic powder, no-salt Creole seasoning, and salt. Only add the salt if your Creole seasoning is salt-free like mine - otherwise, omit!
- Pour in the rice and broth. Stir well.
- Once the mixture begins to simmer: turn the heat to low, cover the skillet, and cook for about 22 minutes.
- Fluff the rice and distribute all of the meat and veggies. Enjoy!
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The Coined Breakdown
- Total Cost per serving: $0.61
- Total Cost (10 servings): $6.06
- Those Other Guys: $8.99 per serving
SS says
Another hit! This dish cooked up perfectly. I halved the seasonings (& onion) since kids were eating it too. Will definitely be a regular one for us. Thanks!
Yay! I love to hear that. Thanks so much for commenting!