An iconic side dish of Cajun cuisine is rice dressing, commonly referred to as dirty rice, made from a Cajun recipe featuring seasoning and spices along with pork liver. You won’t see a meat-and-three plate lunch without a scoop of the stuff–it’s practically a food group in Acadiana.
Dirty rice dressing stuffed into an onion uses familiar Cajun recipe ingredients. (All photos credit: George Graham)
Here in South Louisiana, commercial dirty rice dressing mixes are sold in most every local grocery–Savoie’s makes a good one. These Cajun recipe products are excellent quick solutions for preparing standard rice dressing fare. But over the years, I’ve discovered unique variations of the dish that offer up a heavier dose of the offal bits and pieces of the pig. More intense, these Cajun recipes of dirty rice are porkier, spicier, and more livery than its more mainstream cousin. This is hardcore Cajun, and it’s down right filthy with flavor.
Dirt, filth, offal bits and pieces? Before you bolt for the door or a Google search, let me explain. Every culinary culture–Cajun and Creole included–takes great pride in the butchery process of breaking down a whole animal into a completely edible food source. The English are masters of the craft and coined the term “offal” which means the edible organ meats and entrails of a butchered animal. French cooks have taken it to a culinary artform with pates, foie gras, terrines and sweetbreads among the best interpretations. And here in Cajun country, artisans take pride in the craft of butchery, and the boucherie is always a ceremonious occasion to celebrate the pig with every part and piece used. Hogs head cheese, boudin, cracklin’, and pig’s feet are very common Cajun recipes.
For my down-and-dirty dish, I start with a stack of colossal yellow onions from Fresh Pickin’s market. These big boys are perfect for stuffing and large enough to elevate my side dish to center stage. This Cajun recipe of dirty rice dressing is darker, richer, and more flavorful than any you’ve ever tasted. The surprise will be how light and airy it is as it mingles with the baked onion flavors.
Your family and friends will love it. I promise.
And hey, let’s just let this dirty rice recipe be our dirty little secret.
- 6 extra-large yellow onions
- 1 pound smoked bacon, diced
- 1 pound pork liver, cleaned and diced
- 1 pound chicken gizzards, diced
- 3 pounds ground pork
- 3 tablespoons dark roux, such as Rox's Roux
- 2 tablespoons pork lard or vegetable oil
- 2 cups finely diced white onion
- 1 cup finely diced celery
- 1 cup finely diced green bell pepper
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
- 4 tablespoons black pepper
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- Dash of hot sauce
- 3 tablespoons dark roux
- 2 tablespoons browning sauce, such as Brown Kwik or Kitchen Bouquet
- 4 cups Louisiana long-grain white rice, such as Supreme
- 4 cups chicken stock
- Trim the stem end of the onions, but leave the skin on. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and place the onions in the water. Turn the pot down to a simmer and cover the pot. Let the onions par-boil for 10 minutes until you can pierce the top of the onion easily with a knife. Remove the onions from the water and cool. Once you can handle them, peel back the skin to expose the onion. With a spoon, scoop out the onion from the top until you have formed a large cavity for stuffing. Place the onions on a baking sheet for later cooking.
- In a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat, place the bacon and begin to cook. Once the fat is rendered and the bacon is cooked, remove the pieces from the skillet to a platter and reserve for later use.
- While the skillet is still hot, add the liver, gizzards, and pork to the bacon grease. Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat until done and move to the platter containing the bacon pieces. Once cool, transfer all the meats to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse on high until all of the meats have pulverized to very small bits and pieces. Be sure not to go too far and purée into a paste.
- While the skillet is still hot, add some of the pork lard to coat the bottom of the pan and heat. Add the onions, celery, and bell pepper, and sauté until the onions turn translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme, and turn the burner to low. Add the garlic powder, cayenne, black pepper, salt, and a dash of hot sauce. Stir until fully incorporated.
- At this point, add all of the pulverized meats to the vegetables and heat together on a low burner. Stir in the dark roux and let it melt into the mixture. Pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl, cover, and keep warm.
- Make the rice following the package directions, but using chicken stock rather than water.
- Once the rice is done, add it to the mixing bowl combining with all of the meats and vegetables. Add the browning sauce to darken the mixture and stir to combine. Continue to fold in the rice until it takes on the dark color of the mixture and all of the meats have been disbursed within the rice.
- Spoon the mixture into the cavity of the onions mounding it on top. Place the onions with the rice mixture into a preheated 400ºF oven and bake for 35 minutes until cooked through and just beginning to brown on top.
- Serve as an entrée or as a side dish with hot sauce on the side.
Taste the difference in this spice-filled Cajun recipe for Dirty Rice.
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Thank you George for this recipe.This looks fabulous.
This is so great, George. Thank you.
Love that presentation and extra flavor
Yummy
Thanks for the heads up recipe of dirty rice!
This sounds quite delicious!
What about chicken livers?
Daniel-
Yes, chicken liver will work instead of pork liver. Give it a try. All the best.
Don’t like the liver! What can I substitute instead?
Sheila – There is really no substitute for liver so just leave it out. It will still have plenty of spicy flavor. All the best.
In my opinion, you don’t have authentic dirty rice without some sort of pork, calf or chicken liver. Its where you get that flavor and consistency, but good luck with that.
Felicia- For my taste, I wholeheartedly agree with you, but every recipe should be able to be adapted to individual tastes. I do urge readers to try the recipes as written or perhaps make two versions and taste sample the results. I have had many converts who now love ingredients that they thought were not to their taste. Our palates evolve over time and we should constantly be challenging ourselves with new flavor discoveries. All the best.
Great recipes.
I’m going to serve this New Year’s Day. It sounds like it be extraordinarily delicious
Cheers!
Cheryl – All the best and have a Happy New Year!
I’m from New Orleans, LA; we call it the Big Easy. Love my Southern food.
The style of cooking is just totally different with the spices and all. It’s so traditional.
I make dirty rice feom scratch, and I’m Creole. This is a solid recipe and very authentic. I use all of these ingredients. Can’t go wrong here.
Thanks so much for this recipe; I can’t wait to try it. I came to Louisiana a few years ago to visit and fell in love with the people and food. It’s sad because I have been hunting something to give me that Louisiana taste I’ve been missing. Thanks so much George.
Thanks Karen.
I’m so excited I’m about to make this in North Dakota. Settled on an authentic Braunschweiger liver sausage (seems to be a combo of pork and pork liver)
for the pork liver. Maybe I’ll have to double it and cut down a little on my ground pork to get as much liver flavor as possible. Found everything else though.
Make my own roux. I’m goin’ on an adventure!
-dat cajun a gumbo king no lie
Looks delicious. I’m trying this recipe.
I’m assuming the 4 cups of rice listed in the ingredients are uncooked?
Adele,
Yes the rice is raw uncooked. See recipe instructions #6. By the way, in my recipes, I will always list “cooked rice” if that is what it calls for. All the best.