Chicken & Sausage Dirty Rice

A hearty one-pot recipe for Dirty Rice made with sausage and chicken seasoned with classic Cajun flavors and spices.

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Depending on where you live, you may call this Cajun Jambalaya. Traditional Creole Jambalaya (or "red" jambalaya) has tomatoes in it but Cajun doesn't.

You may also call this pilau or perlo (especially if you're from the Low Country of SC).

There's no right or wrong answer to what folks call food in their region of the country. In my neck of the woods, traditional dirty rice is made with only bulk pork sausage (no smoked sausage, chicken, etc.) and/or chicken livers and is eaten as a side dish.

And I love it all! I especially love me some dirty rice and am very partial to Bojangle’s. As a matter of fact, I love it so much I created a copy recipe I call Better-Than-Bojangles Dirty Rice. 

I also especially love something we make in South Carolina called Chicken Bog. Chicken bog is a similar recipe made with smoked sausage. You can read more about it in my recipe for Carolina Chicken Bog.

Anyway, Mama and Daddy were coming over for Sunday Dinner one afternoon and I was trying to figure out how to make my one little chicken stretch to feed everybody when I spied a roll of bulk sausage.

I decided to combine to two recipes (dirty rice and chicken bog) into one big pot and hoped for the best.

Daddy doesn't like change so I was a little worried. But you know what he does like? Loves, actually? RICE!

So I knew he'd like it. He might grumble under his breath about preferring to have one or the other, but I knew he'd like it!

And I mean it when I say that man doesn't like change.

I thought he and my mama were going to get in a fist-fight when she bought a "better" coffee pot. He might not like change but she doesn't put up with too much lip so sometimes it gets interesting :)

He did like this recipe though and I've been making it ever since!

Recipe for Chicken & Sausage Dirty Rice

Chicken & Sausage Dirty Rice

Yield: 8 Servings

Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 1 H & 20 MTotal time: 1 H & 30 M

A hearty recipe made with bulk sausage, chicken and rice seasoned with classic Cajun flavors and spices.

Ingredients

• 1 small chicken (approx 4 lbs)
• 4 cups water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 pound pork sausage
• 3/4 cup finely diced celery
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/2 cup red or green bell pepper, finely diced
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning (such as Tony Chachere's)
• 2 cups uncooked long-grain rice
• 3 tablespoons dried parsley or 1/2 cup chopped fresh

Instructions

1. Place chicken in a Dutch oven (or large pot with a tight-fitting lid). Add water, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes then heat over high heat. Once water begins to boil, reduce heat to low, cover tightly then simmer for 1 hour.
2. Remove chicken from broth and set aside. Once cool, remove skin, bones, etc. then cut chicken into bite sized pieces and set aside.
3. Strain broth and measure 4.5 cups liquid. Set broth aside. The fat will settle on top of the broth - don't include this in your measurement. I like to leave a good bit of fat on top but whether you do is up to you.
4. Sauté sausage, celery, onion and bell pepper in the (now empty) pot until sausage is cooked through. Add garlic then cook 2 minutes longer.
5. Add 4.5 cups reserved broth, chicken pieces, Cajun seasoning and rice to the pot. Taste for seasoning then add more salt, etc. if desired (your dish will taste like the broth so make sure it's as salty and seasoned as you'd like).
6. Bring mixture to a boil, cover then reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until rice is tender, stirring with a fork occasionally.
7. Remove from heat, stir in parsley then let rest for 15 minutes or so before serving.

Notes

• Feel free to use chicken pieces instead of a whole chicken but be sure to use bone-in, skin-on pieces to ensure there is enough fat and flavor in the dish.
• I typically use Jimmy Dean HOT sausage in dishes like this.

https://www.southyourmouth.com/2013/02/chicken-sausage-dirty-rice.html

Images and text © South Your Mouth LLC 2013

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main dish

cajun, southern

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