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Dirty Rice

Dirty Rice is a traditional Creole dish, which gets its "dirty" color from diced chicken livers. Don't like chicken livers? Then this "un"dirty rice recipe is for you!
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Southern
Keyword: Bacon, dirty rice, pork, rice
Servings: 6

Ingredients

  • 1 lb ground pork
  • ½ lb bacon diced
  • 1 tbsp reserved bacon fat (or EVOO)
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 1 red pepper chopped
  • 1 green pepper chopped
  • 2 stalks celery chopped
  • 2 tbsp garlic minced
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
  • ½ tsp oregano
  • 1½ cups basmati rice
  • 2 cups chicken stock (or more as needed)

Instructions

  • Over medium heat in a Dutch oven, brown ground pork until no longer pink. Drain and set aside. Meanwhile, in a small skillet, crisp bacon. Drain and set aside, reserving 1 tbsp of the fat.
  • While the pork and bacon are cooking, chop the onion, celery, green and red pepper, and garlic. (Or use pre-chopped garlic.)
  • In the Dutch oven, heat the reserved bacon fat over medium low heat. Add onion, garlic, celery, green and red peppers. Sweat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until onions are translucent. Add cayenne (if using), salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano. Stir to incorporate and continue to sweat vegetables for another 2-3 minutes.
  • Stir in rice and cook an additional 5 minutes. Add pork, bacon, and chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until rice is done, adding more stock if needed. Serve immediately. ½

Notes

To save time, you can prep all the ingredients in advance. 
We use basmati rice, and the proportion of 1½ cups rice to 2 cups is pretty spot on. If you use long grain rice, you'll either need to reduce the amount of rice to 1 cup, or increase the amount of stock closer to 3 cups. Either way, I recommend that when the chicken broth is mostly absorbed, you simply do a little taste test and add stock in 1/4 cup increments. 
This recipe can be made without cayenne, or you can add cayenne or Cajun seasoning at the table to accommodate different palates. 
This recipe is great for leftovers!