My love for Cajun/Creole foods is a deep one! I love a good gumbo (recipe here) and Red Beans and Rice is a true favorite of mine! So I thought I would share another favorite…Cajun Dirty Rice.
What ingredients go into Cajun Dirty Rice?
I am going to use lean ground beef for this recipe. It is going to make 4 servings and one pound is close enough to 4 Red containers to use. I happen to like to measure my meat from my container to get the most accurate count I can. Old authentic recipes use chicken livers in place of or added to the ground beef. For the sake of making this a healthier dish, I am going to leave them out of this recipe though. There is a very high meat-to-rice ratio in this recipe, making the rice appear “dirty”.
The veggies I use are the same basic “holy trinity” I use in most of my Cajun recipes. Onions, celery, bell peppers, and some garlic. Occasionally I will add carrots to it just to “up” the veggie count.
Scramble and drain the ground beef and then veggies and rest of ingredients
Sometimes I plan to make this recipe when I make a big batch of brown rice for the week and I just use a couple of cups of it. Here is a perfect way to cook it in the Instant Pot.
If I am making this recipe and don’t have any rice made I will use instant brown rice and make it a 1 pan dish by adding beef broth. I am going to give those directions since most of you won’t have rice made!
What do you flavor it with?
Spices, Worchester sauce, and a little salt and pepper are the last of the ingredients. My favorite Cajun seasoning comes in a salt-free version. It will add some real heat to the dish but you can totally adjust the amount of heat for your family. I make mine a little less spicy because of my husband and I just sprinkle a little more seasoning on my serving.
Cajun Dirty Rice {21 Day Fix}
Ingredients
- olive oil spray
- 1 to 1½ pounds lean ground beef
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ⅓ cup celery, diced
- ⅓ cup onion, diced
- ⅓ cup bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup instant brown rice
- 1 cup low sodium beef broth
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1-2 teaspoons no salt creole/cajun seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
- Spray skillet with olive oil spray. Cook ground beef, scrambling it. Drain grease off,
- Add all the rest of the ingredients, except the salt and pepper to taste. Let it cook for the amount of time on the rice box with a lid on. Take the lid off the pan. Stir the rice a few times and cook till all the liquid is gone. Salt and pepper to taste.
21 Day Fix Container Counts for 1 cup
- 1R, 1Y, 1/4G
What kinds of side dishes would go well with this rice?
Any fresh veggies from the garden are perfect of course!
Because I like my Cajun Dirty Rice with some “heat”, I like for my side -dishes to have some creaminess to cool my mouth sometimes. This Creamy Mayo Coleslaw goes perfectly with it!
I have plenty of cucumbers coming out of my garden right now and so this creamy cucumber salad will be great with it too!
I hope you enjoy this rice as much as we do!!
Leave a Reply