Instant Pot Dirty Rice. The traditional Cajun side dish made in a pressure cooker.
This year's Fat Tuesday recipe is Cajun dirty rice.
Yes, that name. I know it is a little risqué for rice. One of my kids got a lot of giggles at the high school lunch table because of it - but they were also begging her to share.
Dirty rice is one of those traditional “Use up whatever we’ve got” recipes. The meat is one or more of chicken livers, ground beef, ground pork, or uncooked sausage. I’m going with sausage - I like the extra flavor already built into the meat. Any country or breakfast sausage that isn’t breakfast flavored will work. (In other words, no maple syrup sausage.)
After the meat, it’s a simple recipe. I add the Cajun trinity of onion, celery, and bell pepper, sprinkle it with some cajun seasoning, and add the rice and some chicken broth.
For more dirty rice background, check out Dirty Rice History & FAQs at Zatarains.com
Recipe: Instant Pot Dirty Rice
Inspired by: Emeril Lagasse, Dirty Rice
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Instant Pot Dirty Rice
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 cups of dirty rice 1x
Description
Instant Pot Dirty Rice. The traditional Cajun side dish made in a pressure cooker,
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 pound bulk pork sausage (I use a tube of breakfast sausage)
- 1 medium onion, minced
- 1 bell pepper, seeded and minced
- 1 stalk celery, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon cajun seasoning (store bought or homemade)
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 cups long grain white rice
- 2 ½ cups chicken broth (preferably homemade) or water
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt (if using homemade broth or water)
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 green onions, minced (optional)
- ¼ cup minced parsley (optional)
Instructions
- Cook sausage until no longer pink: Heat the vegetable oil until shimmering in an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker set to Sauté mode adjusted to high (medium-high heat in a stovetop PC). Add the sausage and cook, stirring and breaking it up, until it is crumbled and has lost its pink color, about 5 minutes.
- Add the aromatics and spices: Add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic to the pot with the sausage. Sprinkle with the cajun seasoning and ½ teaspoon salt. Sauté, stirring often and scraping browned bits from the bottom of the pot, until the onions soften, about 5 minutes.
- Everything in the pot: Stir the rice into the sausage and onions, then add the chicken broth or water (and another ½ teaspoon of salt if using homemade broth). Scrape the bottom of the pot one last time to make sure there are no browned bits sticking, then float the bay leaf on top.
- Pressure cook for 4 minutes with a 10 minute Natural Release: Lock the lid. Pressure cook on high pressure for 4 minutes (timing is the same for Instant Pots and stovetop PCs). Let the pressure come down naturally for 10 minutes, then quick release any remaining pressure.
- Serve: Unlock the lid on the pressure cooker, tilting it away from you to avoid the hot steam. Discard the bay leaf, then stir in the green onions and parsley. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Chicken livers, ground beef, ground pork. For variations on the recipe, replace the pound of ground pork with a pound of minced chicken livers, ground beef, and/or ground pork, sprinkled with ½ teaspoon of salt.
- Green bell pepper is traditional, but I had a bag of Mini Sweet peppers, so I diced a small handful of them for the recipe.
Tools
- 6 quart or larger pressure cooker (I love my Instant Pot 6-Quart Pressure Cooker)
- Flat edged wooden spoon
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Cajun
Keywords: Instant Pot Dirty Rice, Instant Pot Cajun Rice, Pressure Cooker Dirty Rice, Pressure Cooker Cajun Rice
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
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David Marrione says
Do you know if the pressure cook timing and Natural Release timing would be the same for a “boxed” Dirty Rice, like Zatarain’s Dirty Rice (Zatarains’s brand foods have been a long time staple of New Orleans Kitchens). Just wondering.. Found a box in my pantry and was hoping to make it in the pressure cooker vs the stove.
Thanks, in advance, for your suggestions and feedback.
Mike Vrobel says
Yes, it looks like the timing should be the same, because Zatarains has “normal” rice in the box.
Katie says
My husband and I enjoyed this meal very much. I followed the recipe except for adding 2 stalks of celery and 2 bell peppers. The prep time took me a little longer but I’m a slow chopper. Thanks for sharing! I will be making again.
★★★★★