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.
This was excellent! Followed exact recipe and it was delicious!
Easy, delicious, and doesn’t leave me with a whole kitchen’s worth of dishes to clean. I used two 10-oz cans of tomatoes because they didn’t have 15-oz and I didn’t want to just have half a can left over. This feels like the kind of recipe that’s perfectly delicious as-is, but is also really adaptable if you wanted to mess with it yourself!
Delish! I used to keep the boxed jambalaya mix on hand, but don’t think I need to anymore! I agree, it is super flexible – I’ve made with mild italian sausage or andouille. I also used a 10oz can of diced tomatoes w/ green chile both times I’ve made this (first time by accident as I don’t usually stock fire roasted tomatoes) and second time because it was perfectly delicious. We’ll be making this often!
Yes I made it and I think it needs a little more rice but I also used Anaheim Chili’s along with the bell pepper and I used stadium brats the white ones cooked them on the grill then sliced added some jalapeno peppers canned and I added some cooked shrimp the large sand shrimp
The tomatoes were overpowering but this recipe is absolutely delicious! I think the next time I prepare it, I’ll cut back on the tomatoes or eliminate them all together.
Has anyone made this dish with hot Mexican chorizo in place of andouille sausage?
I’ve made several times. Very flavorful and easy to make. I like to add a little extra rice and broth to stretch it out a bit, but recipe is great as is. Thanks!
Making now and not sure why my rice keeps sticking to the bottom. I still have 15 minutes left to cook. By that time it seems I will have burnt rice on the bottom of my pan.
It’s hard to say what could be causing the issue. The heat could be too high, causing the broth to evaporate too quickly. Also, as Beth mentions in the section about Brown Rice, you may need to add more broth if sticking occurs (even with white rice, this could be true!). Over-stirring can also release the starches in rice, causing them to get mushy and start to stick to the bottom of the pot. I hope one of those suggestions helps! ~ Marion :)
This recipe is a winner! So much good flavor with very little time or effort. I mix up the spices all at once for several times making this dish. I keep the other portions in a spice jar. Thanks for this recipe!!
Perfect recipe – no modifications needed. So easy and delicious!
Made this last night and it was difficult to save some for her lunch today. Really nice meal!
I love, love this recipe! The most important thing for me is to get a good quality andouille sausage. This is not always easy to find. I love Aidells sausage, but it doesn’t have enough spice to make this recipe truly outstanding, although it will work in a pinch and is perfectly fine. I think it’s so much better with very flavorful sausage. In addition, I like to start with sautéed onions, red bell peppers and sometimes roasted poblano chilies. After softening them, I add them back in towards the end of the cooking process. Sometimes I make the recipe with shrimp or chicken added to the sausage for extra protein. Tonight I’m going to try making it with ground turkey – adding extra spices – because that’s what I have on hand. I’m sure it won’t be quite as good.
I’m trying this next week! Looks delicious!
I have made this so many times, definitely a keeper! The only change I usually make is using a can of crushed tomatoes rather than diced because I don’t like them chunky. I cut back the water just slightly because of this, but it turns out well with the full amount too, just a little saucier.
My family enjoyed this and it’s a quick meal for a busy night. I added a can of red kidney beans to stretch the meal.
My rice came out a little crunchy
Absolutely outstanding! Made it exactly as written (although I did spoon a bit of sour cream on mine). My husband isn’t a fan of rice dishes, but he loved this! Matter of fact, I didn’t get the second helping I wanted because he beat me to the pot. This is definitely going into the recipe rotation.
One of my faves! I use vegetarian “sausage” and broth. It’s a really great one pot meal especially for the amount of prep involved. I added a bit of sour cream to it for the first time today and it was an excellent addition with the smoky spices and the hot sauce I use.