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!
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!
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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.
My new favorite recipe! I’m not a very good cook but it was so easy and came out perfectly for me. I used about half an onion instead of onion powder, and next time I think I’ll add some more veg and a can of kidney beans to stretch it out :)
Did anyone else have issues with the rice sticking to the bottom? I used an enamel Dutch oven.
I made this last night to be eaten for lunches throughout the week. Thank you for this quick and easy recipe. We liked the result and expect that this will become part of our regular rotation.
Do you have a specific kind of rice you suggest for this recipe?
Just regular long grain white rice, no particular brand. :)
I would like to do a low carb version of this. Do you think it would be good with spiralized zucchini instead of rice? Has anyone tried it with rice substitutes made from chickpeas or lentils?
Can this be made with brown rice? Just more simmer time?
See the notes in the blog post just above the recipe for info on using brown rice. :)
Do you think I could get away with adding black beans to this recipe?
Yep, absolutely! Just toss them in the skillet (drained) when you’re adding the rice, tomatoes, and broth.
This was delicious! I used brown rice, because that’s what I had, and it worked well. I added the extra cup of broth and increased the cooking time to 40 minutes. After letting it sit, it was still a bit brothy for my liking (which may have been because I used some extra veg) so I just let it simmer for 15 more minutes with the lid off to reduce. So tasty! Thanks!
Trying the recipe this week…. Maybe adding shrimp!
Made it last night. It was fantstic!
Had an extra bell pepper fot the veggies and dubbled the broth because i used brown rice. It came out perfect!
omg looks so flavorful! thanks for the recipe!
Should I cook the rice or not before putting it in?
No, it’s uncooked rice. :)
Great recipe.
Love your photos and recipe instructions are easy to follow.
Thank you for not having all those pop-ups that most food related blogs have (I know they made from it but is so annoying!).
Follow you Instagram as well:)
I love to max out dishes with as many veggies as possible. Any ideas on another vegetable to add that would be good with this recipe? Thanks!
More bell peppers (different colors) and celery. :)
I think onions and corn would be delicious in this.
Thanks for these suggestions. I added extra peppers, corn, and red onion and it was delish!
I made it with half an onion and a diced carrot (in addition to the bell pepper). DELICIOUS!
If you like celery, it would be good, but I didn’t have any on hand. I have some zucchini in the drawer that I’ll probably cut up and sauté to add to the leftovers.
Beth, for the record, I live in a Wyoming, and although it wasn’t as easy to find as it was when I lived in NY, I was able to find andouille… $6.29 for 12 ounces.
When does the yellow onion go in?
I don’t see a yellow onion listed in the ingredients…but I do plan on doing one when I make this. I will slice it up (1 whole yellow onion) and brown it with the sausage. I put onion in almost everything I cook. There is onion powder listed and also chopped green onions to add on top when the dish is finished cooking.
It was on the ingredient list earlier, but it has been removed. I’m making this right now and used an onion. Smells great, just waiting for it to finish resting now!
Sorry, that was a typo. :) I fixed it.