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Instant Pot Dirty Rice is packed with authentic Louisiana dirty rice flavor in every bite. It get's done under 30 mins & freezes well too. Your whole family will enjoy this Cajun dirty rice recipe.
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Easy dirty rice recipe
If you are looking for an authentic dirty rice recipe to make in your pressure cooker than this recipe is for you. It's well seasoned, has just the right amount of minced chicken livers, ground pork sausage and balanced well with the holy trinity veggies.
You can never go wrong with this Louisiana style dirty rice recipe ever!
What is dirty rice?
Cajun dirty rice is a traditional Louisiana Creole dish made with white rice, small pieces of meat (pork, beef, chicken, livers), celery onion, green bell pepper and a generous amount of cajun or creole seasoning.
The rice get's it's dirty color from the meat and the liver. Chopped green onion and parsley are commonly used to garnish Louisiana dirty rice recipe.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Find the Ingredients with actual measurements at the bottom of the post. The list below is just a reference.
The garlic is missing in the above ingredients photo, but you can find it in the recipe video & on detailed the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
You can make the best dirty rice recipe with pantry staples. Here's a few easy substitutions to help you make this recipe right at home.
- White rice: We normally use store brand long grain white rice.
- Ground pork sausage: You can sub it with same amount ground beef.
- Chicken livers: Mince the chicken livers into small pieces. Livers create a huge depth of flavor and makes this Louisiana dirty rice recipe authentic. If you do not like the taste of chicken livers just use diced andouille sausage instead.
- Holy Trinity: Yellow onion, green bell pepper, celery. You can add red bell pepper instead of green bell pepper.
- Garlic: Go heavy on the garlic for best flavor.
- Seasoning: Cajun or creole seasoning, thyme, red pepper flakes (skip if you are heat intolerant or making the dish for kids).
- Worcestershire Sauce: This will take the dish to a whole new level. Use it if you can.
- Hot Sauce: This will add a subtle kick to the recipe without making it very spicy. However, you can skip it if you are heat intolerant.
- Garnish: Use either chopped green onion (only the green part) or fresh chopped parsley.
- Beef stock: Makes the dish rich and flavorful. If you do not have beef stock handy use a same amount of chicken stock or add 2 tablespoons better than bouillon chicken base or beef base and replace the stock amount with normal water.
- Cooking fat: Use either bacon fat or any neutral oil like extra light or light olive oil, avocado oil, canola oil or sunflower oil.
Best Tips
- Rinse Rice: Rinse the white rice very well under running tap water several times until clear water runs through. This will rinse out the surface starch from the rice grains and prevent the burn error. Also, the rice will come out fluffy and not gummy.
- Best flavor: Build deep rich flavor by browning the ground pork well, this will take the dish to the tops.
- Chicken Liver: We cannot imagine Louisiana dirty rice without the chicken livers! Minced chicken livers incorporate so well into the rice and gives this dish the authentic southern flavor. However, if you do not prefer chicken livers just leave them out. The cook time and the liquid amount in todays recipe will remain the same.
- Extra spicy: To make this easy dirty rice recipe extra spicy just add more hot sauce, red pepper flakes. You can also add some dice jalapeno peppers along with the holy trinity (onion, celery, green bell pepper).
- Prevent Burn error: Deglaze the pot with the liquid really well by scraping the sides and the bottom of the pot with a spatula. This will help loosen any stuck food particles and shall prevent the burn error!
How to make Instant Pot dirty rice from scratch?
Find the detailed step by step recipe along with measurements + Video at the bottom of the post.
Step #1 Brown sausage, chicken livers
- Brown sausage & chicken livers: Set the instant pot on sauté mode on high heat setting. Add oil and brown the sausage. The meat will release quite a bit of moisture & fat. If you prefer you may drain out the fat. Add the chicken livers when the sausage has begun to brown a bit and sauté them together. Lower the heat to NORMAL settings now. Sauté the meat until the moisture evaporates and the color changes to golden brown. This will enhance the flavor of the rice manifold.
- Sauté veggies: Add the onion, garlic, celery & green bell pepper and sauté for another 2 mins. Cancel the SAUTE mode.
Step #2 Deglaze pot, add rice
- Deglaze pot: Add the beef stock and deglaze the pot very well by scraping the sides and the bottom of the pot with the help of your spatula. Make sure to loosen any stuck brown bits or food particles from the bottom of the pot. Otherwise the pot will trigger a burn error. This step is important, do not rush! Add the Worcestershire and hot sauce, stir to mix well.
- Add rinsed rice: Rinse the long grain white rice multiple times under running tap water until clear water runs through. Add the rinsed and drained rice in the instant pot. Add the seasonings. Give everything a good stir.
Step #3 Pressure cook
- Pressure cook: Add the bay leaves. Secure the lid, seal the vent and PRESSURE COOK on HIGH for 6 mins followed by 10 mins natural pressure release. Release the rest of the pressure manually and open the lid carefully.
- Fluff rice: Discard the bay leaves and gently fluff the rice with a pair of fork. Gently stir the rice with the help of your spatula to mix things up nicely.
Step #4 Serve Rice
- Garnish and serve: Garnish the Louisiana dirty rice with chopped fresh parsley and serve. Enjoy!
What do you eat with dirty rice?
Dirty Rice Instant Pot recipe is loaded with proteins and hence we serve it as the main dish with a choice of steamed veggies & cheddar biscuits or corn bread on the side. Here are a few options:
- Instant pot steamed broccoli.
- Instant pot steamed carrots.
- Instant pot steamed green beans.
- Instant pot beets.
Can you freeze dirty rice?
Yes, you can freeze dirty rice for upto 3 months. Use heavy duty freezer safe containers or bags. Thaw overnight in the fridge and than follow the reheating directions below.
Reheating direction
From Fridge: Reheat the rice in the microwave oven until hot or warm. You can sprinkle a few drops water on top of the rice and than pop it in the microwave oven. This will prevent the rice from drying out.
From Freezer: Thaw the frozen cajun dirty rice overnight in the fridge first than follow the reheating directions shared above.
FAQs
Dirty rice is called dirty because it get's a brownish hue from the chicken livers and ground meat like beef or pork which resembles dirt.
Jamabalaya consists of andouille sausage, chicken, shrimp, seafoods and a generous amount of cajun/creole seasoning. Creole Jambalaya also contains tomatoes. While dirty rice consists of ground meat like beef, pork and chicken livers. It doesn't contain tomatoes or seafood.
The main difference between dirty rice and rice dressing is that rice dressing is generally made with ground beef or pork, whereas dirty rice is made with ground pork or beef and chicken livers. Louisiana dirty rice will always contain chicken livers.
Dirty rice is also called rice dressing, cajun rice, cajun fried rice. But these are all not exactly the same dish. They are slight variations of dirty rice.
Dirty rice has a smoky and a rich depth of flavor. It's filled with browned ground pork and chicken livers in every bite. You'll love the layers of intense flavors.
More Instant Pot Rice Recipes
- Chipotle Cilantro Lime Rice Instant Pot.
- Instant Pot Cajun Chicken and Rice.
- Instant pot Salmon and Rice.
- Perfect Jasmine Rice Instant Pot.
- Instant pot chicken fajita rice.
- Sausage and Rice Instant Pot.
- Instant Pot Mushroom Rice.
- Instant Pot Black Beans and Rice.
- Instant pot chicken fried rice.
- Instant Pot Hibachi Fried Rice.
Recommended
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Instant Pot Dirty Rice
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Ingredients
- 2 cups long grain white rice (**use any store brand long grain rice. DO NOT use minute rice. The rice must be rinsed very well.)
- 1 pound Ground pork sausage
- ½ pound chicken liver (**minced into small pieces.)
- 1 cup onion (**yellow onion.)
- 1 tbsp garlic (**minced.)
- ½ cup celery (**roughly chopped.)
- ½ cup green bell pepper (**diced into small pieces.)
- 1.5 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp hot sauce (**skip if heat intolerant.)
- 2 Bay leaf
- ⅓ cup Parsley (**fresh parsley finely chopped or use chopped green onion (only the green part).)
- 4 tbsp Olive Oil (**extra light or light olive oil. Or use Bacon fat for extra flavor.)
- Salt (to taste) (**use according to your personal taste preference.)
Seasonings
- 1.5 tbsp Cajun Seasoning (**use our homemade salt free cajun seasoning recipe. It's amazing and stores well too.)
- 1.5 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (**skip if heat intolerant.)
Liquid
- 2.5 cups beef broth (**or use 1:1 beef broth : water for milder flavor.)
Equipment Used
Instructions
Prep chicken livers
- Mince the chicken livers finely and set them aside. Large pieces of chicken livers won't taste good in this recipe.
Brown pork sausage
- Set the instant pot on SAUTE mode at HIGH heat settings. You can change the heat setting on sauté mode by pressing the "SAUTE" button multiple times. Add oil, when the oil becomes moderately hot add the ground pork sausage and sauté until the meat begins to change color, break down the ground sausage with your spatula as you proceed with this step. The sausage will release lots of moisture and fat at this stage. You can drain the excess fat if you prefer, we did not drain any fat. Lower the heat to NORMAL. Add the minced chicken livers now and sauté until the sausage turns golden brown. At this stage you will notice that the excess moisture from the meat has evaporated and the meat will begin to stick at the bottom of the pot. Now add the onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic & sauté for 2 mins. CANCEL the SAUTE mode.
Deglaze pot
- Add the beef broth into the instant pot & deglaze the pot very well by scraping the sides & the bottom of the pot with the help of your spatula. There should not be any brown bits or food stuck at the bottom of the pot, otherwise your pot will trigger the BURN error. Be patient and scrap out even the tiniest amount of brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Add Worcestershire sauce & hot sauce, stir well.
Pressure cook
- Rinse the long grain white rice very well multiple times under running tap water until clear water runs through. Drain the rice in a colander or metal strainer.
- Add the rinsed & drained rice into the instant pot. Throw in the seasonings (Cajun or creole seasoning, thyme, red pepper flakes, salt according to taste) and give everything a good stir. Add the bay leaves.
- Secure the of the instant pot, seal the valve and PRESSURE COOK on HIGH for just 6 minutes. When the cooking cycle is over the instant pot will begin to beep. Wait for a 10 mins natural pressure release and than release the rest of the pressure manually by moving the valve from the sealing to the venting position. Open the lid of the instant pot carefully only when the floating metal pin on top of the lid drops.
Serve Cajun Dirty Rice
- Discard the bay leaves. Gently fluff the rice with the help of a pair of forks. Gently mix everything in the pot with the help of your spatula. Serve the Louisiana dirty rice garnished with freshly chopped parsley and enjoy!
Notes
- Chicken Liver: If you do not prefer chicken liver just skip it. The dirty rice would still be yummy.
- Rice: Use any store brand long grain rice. I used Kroger's regular long grain rice. DO NOT use minute rice. And rinse the rice very well until clear water runs through.
- Spicy dirty rice: Todays recipe is not spicy, but it has a slight kick. If you prefer spicy dirty rice do add more hot sauce, cayenne and red pepper flakes.
Do let us know if you created this recipe