This Easy Dirty Rice is the perfect recipe! Made with cajun seasoning, ground beef, white rice, celery, onion, and garlic this dish is flavor packed!
If you're looking for a go-to side dish that is packed with flavor, then you're going to love this easy recipe. Of course it can easily be a one pan meal on its own as well. Dirty Rice cooks in one pot and tastes great with a variety of dishes. The authentic cajun flavor shines through in this flavorful dish! We loves serving this for dinner as a simple side with oven Baked Chicken Thighs or Cajun Garlic Baked Salmon!
What is dirty rice?
Dirty rice is a classic Creole recipe. It's made with with white rice and cajun flavors. The "dirty" name comes from the dirty color it gets from being cooked with ground beef, green bell pepper, celery, onions and seasonings. These ingredients also add a lot of flavor.
How to make easy dirty rice
This rice dish cooks in a large Dutch oven or pan in less than 35 minutes.
- First, cook the beef. Add the ground beef to a large pan set over medium heat. Crumble the beef with a spatula and cook for 5 minutes, or until the beef is no longer pink.
- Next, add the onion, garlic, green bell pepper, celery, Cajun seasoning and salt. Cook for 5 minutes, then add the rice and beef broth.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 to 23 minutes.
- Allow the rice to rice for 5 to 10 minutes and then fluff the rice with a fork.
- Serve the rice with your favorite main dish, or eat it as a main meal along with a side of the easiest ever Drop Biscuits!
Enjoy!
Dirty Rice
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 bell pepper diced
- 1 cup celery diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups white rice uncooked
- 3 ½ cups beef broth
- chopped green onion or parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Add ground beef to a dutch oven or heavy bottomed pan set over medium heat. Crumble with a spatula and cook 4-5 minutes until no pink remains.
- Add onion, garlic, green pepper, celery, Cajun seasoning, and salt. Stir until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add rice and beef broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered about 20 to 23 minutes or until rice is cooked.
- Allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Garnish with green onions or parsley before serving.
Cooked in a Ninja Foodi (I think Instapot would have the same directions..) Used "sear/saute" function to brown the meat. When it was almost finished, I added the cajun seasoning and veggies and cooked until softened slightly. It looked like a lot, so I added two cups of white rice, stirred everything a few more minutes allowing the rice to brown slightly. Poured in two and a half cups of beef broth, stirred well. Close the lid and set to "pressure cook" for 3 minutes, making sure the vent is in the seal position. Once it was finished, I let it natural release pressure for 10 minutes, opened the vent to let it manual release the rest of the way. Open lid, stir, and serve! It was PERFECT. I have a kid that doesn't like spicy food, so I added extra seasoning and cayenne pepper to my own bowl. 🙂 Absolutely delicious! Great recipe.
Do you have to cover the pot while the rice is simmering?
It says simmer covered, so yes! ❤️
Very good! I used pork sausage and topped with truffle Buffalo sauce. Yummy!
Perfect base recipe! I used bulk breakfast sausage (had it in the fridge and needed to be used up). So yummy. I topped with black truffle Buffalo sauce. 🙂
Taste great. Very Easy to follow, but I would recommend adding canyane pepper or more Cajun spice if you want it spicy New Orleans style.
Very tasty and simple to make! Thank you for the recipe!
I make this except I use cajun sausage rather than ground beef. I also throw some red beans in and it's amazing.!!!
I remember these substitutes for this dish from my childhood, served in my school a lot. the sausage and beans are really delicious. We use Poblano peppers instead of Green bell peppers and throw in a little Jalapeño for some fun heat.
I made this tonight for dinner for my very picky 13 year old and she actually loved it. Instead of Cajun seasoning I used Italian seasoning and since I'm allergic to celery I skipped that step but the last few minutes of cooking I added some peas and it tasted wonderful!
Can you use chicken livers instead?
Yes you can.
Delicious! Even the three year old is eating it willingly. We will definitely be making this again.
This is literally my "go to" recipe when it comes to dirty rice. Everyone in my family loves it. The only thing I do different is lower the Cajun seasoning a little and add about 1/2 to 1 tsp of smoked paprika. YUMMY!!
I followed this recipe but tweaked it and made it my own, of course. I kept everything the same but added sage breakfast sausage with the ground beef and some worchistehhire sauce. Delicious. I paired this with fresh string beans and your drop biscuit recipe (a must try!!! Definitely add the melted butter to tops after removing from oven!). Will be making this again!