Hello, new favorite! I think of this Cajun Sausage and Rice Skillet kind of like “jambalaya light”. It has similar flavors and ingredients as jambalaya, but it’s a slightly scaled back, simplified version, perfect for quick weeknight dinner. And the best part? The leftovers are SO GOOD. So feel free to add this tasty skillet to your meal prep rotation!
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What Kind of Sausage Do I Use?
To make this skillet meal taste the best, try to find Andouille sausage, which is a smoked pork sausage commonly used in Louisiana cooking. If you can’t find any in your area (I’m not sure how readily available this is outside the southern U.S.), you can use any smoked sausage in its place. If you want to go so far as to special order some to get the full experience, check out the selection from Cajungrocer.com.
Is Cajun Sausage and Rice Spicy?
It can be, depending on the ingredients you use. I used a “medium” heat Andouille sausage, which had a good amount of spicy heat, as well as a little cayenne pepper in my Cajun seasoning blend. If you want to make this dish mild, make sure to get a non-spicy smoked sausage, and you can skip the cayenne pepper in the spices listed in the recipe.
Can I Use Store Bought Cajun Seasoning?
The recipe below includes a half batch of my homemade Cajun seasoning, minus the salt because the other ingredients in the skillet contained enough salt that I didn’t need to add more. The total amount of spices used is about 1 tablespoon. If you’d like to use a store bought Cajun seasoning blend, first check to see how much salt it contains. Many store bought Cajun seasoning blends contain a lot of salt and are used more like a seasoning salt, or table seasoning, and probably will not work well for this recipe. If the blend you have is mostly just herbs and spices, I would use about 1 Tbsp for this recipe.
Can I Use Brown Rice?
Brown rice requires more liquid and a much longer cook time than white rice, so you will need to take these into account if you attempt to substitute brown rice for the white rice in this recipe. While I haven’t tested a brown rice version, I would probably add at least another cup of chicken broth and increase the simmer time to closer to 40 minutes.
You might also love my One Pot Lemon Garlic Shrimp and Rice!
Cajun Sausage and Rice Skillet
Servings 4 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 14 oz. Andouille sausage* ($3.99)
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.04)
- 1 bell pepper ($0.89)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.01)
- 1 15oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes ($1.00)
- 1 cup long grain white rice ($0.62)
- 1.5 cups chicken broth ($0.20)
- 2 green onions, sliced ($0.20)
Instructions
- Slice the sausage into ¼-½ inch thick slices. Add the sausage and cooking oil to a deep skillet or Dutch oven and sauté over medium heat until the sausage is well browned. Don't worry if the sausage begins to brown on the bottom of the skillet. That's extra flavor that will cook into the rice later.
- While the sausage is cooking, dice the bell pepper. Once the sausage is browned, add the bell pepper to the skillet and continue to sauté for about one more minute.
- Add the spices (smoked paprika, oregano, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, and black pepper) to the skillet with the sausage and bell pepper and continue to sauté for one minute more to toast the spices.
- Add the fire roasted diced tomatoes (with juices), rice, and chicken broth to the skillet. Stir to combine and dissolve any browned bits off the bottom of the skillet.
- Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to medium-high, and allow the broth to come to a full boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let the skillet simmer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the skillet from the heat and let it rest, with the lid on, for an additional 5 minutes.
- After the skillet has rested, remove the lid, and fold the sausage and rice to redistribute the rice and sausage throughout. Top with sliced green onions and serve!
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Deep Stainless Steel Skillet
- Chef’s Knife
- White Cutting Boards
- Measuring Cups Spoons
Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Cajun Sausage and Rice Skillet – Step by Step Photos
This is the Andouille sausage that I used. Andouille may not be readily available in all areas, so if you can’t find any, just try to get a smoked pork sausage of some sort instead. You really want that smoky flavor!
Slice the Andouille into medallions and add to a skillet with a tablespoon of cooking oil. Sauté over medium heat until the sausage is well browned. Don’t worry if the bottom of the skillet turns brown. That’s just extra flavor that will soak into the rice later!
While the sausage is browning, dice one bell pepper. Add it to the skillet and continue to sauté for about a minute. Then add the Cajun seasoning: 1 tsp smoked paprika, ½ tsp dried oregano, ½ tsp dried thyme, ¼ tsp garlic powder, ¼ tsp onion powder, ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper, and ⅛ tsp freshly cracked black pepper. Continue to sauté the spices for another minute.
Next, add one 15oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes (with juices), 1 cup long grain white rice, and 1.5 cups chicken broth to the skillet. Stir to combine and dissolve those browned bits off the bottom of the skillet.
Once everything is combined, place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to medium-high, and allow the broth to come up to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let the skillet simmer for 20 minutes. (Pictured: before simmering)
After simmering for 20 minutes, remove it from the heat and let it rest for an additional five minutes (with the lid on). After resting, it will look like the photo above.
Fold everything together to redistribute the sausage, rice, and bell peppers. OMG it looks so good at this point I just want to dive in!
Top the skillet with sliced green onions and serve! It’s rich, spicy, smoky, and all-around DELICIOUS.
Most excellent! I used an onion in addition to the peppers. Didn’t have fire roasted tomatoes so I used a can of Rotel. I also threw in a can of rinsed black beans. We loved it! Wish I made a double batch because one batch wasn’t enough!
Leftovers are great!!!!
Warm up the next morning and top with an over easy egg!
Start a bit in a skillet to warm up and scramble with an egg and top with cheese.
Stuff it into a tomato or bell pepper or cabbage leaves.
Stuff it into an acorn squash!!!
Can I use minute rice for this? I can’t wait to try this recipe!
You wouldn’t be able to sub minute rice for this recipe exactly as written. The regular long grain rice takes longer to cook and will absorb all that liquid as it cooks, whereas minute rice would cook too quick and leave behind a lot of liquid. You could, however, try making the dish up to adding the broth, but only add the amount it calls for on your box (maybe a little less because you’ll still have liquid from the tomatoes). Still add the tomatoes, and you obviously won’t need that 20 minutes of cooking rice, so maybe just keep everything on lowish heat until the rice cooks through and everything comes together!
Made this up and had to stretch it a bit to feed 6. Added celery and mushrooms and a drained canned of black beans. Everyone loved it.
Another hit from Budget Bytes! Yum. Thanks as always!
I made this for the first time and it is just like a dish you would find in a New Orleans restaurant!!! It is perfectly seasoned as I went by the recipe to the letter!! Thank you for this, and more recipes.
Excellent! Easy to make and very tasty. I added some frozen corn to give it a bit of color, and some sliced pieces of carrot and celery.
Loved it!! The seasoning makes it! I used a bag of corn, black beans and peppers during the last 20 minutes.
This is definitely something you can play with.:)
If I have a lot of cooked white rice to use up, how would I modify this dish?
I would make the dish up to adding the broth, but skip that ingredient. Still add the tomatoes, and you’ll need about 3 cups cooked rice to equal the end volume of rice. You obviously won’t need that 20 minutes of cooking rice, so maybe just keep everything on lowish heat until the rice warms through and everything comes together! You may want to have some broth on hand if the dish looks a little too thick.
I love this this recipe so much. I left the spiciness out of the rice since the sausage itself was already hot enough for my taste, and the milder rice works really well to give balance/relief from the hot sausage, if you’re not as good with spiciness like me. I will 100% make this again, many times.
Would you be able to subsitute chicken thigh instead of the sausage in this recipe?
I’m sure that’s fine! If it were me, I would mix up the spices first and season the chicken with some of it. You might need a little extra seasoning since the sausage comes pretty seasoned and adds to the flavor a lot.