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.
I was looking for a recipe to use with ingredients I had on hand. This saved the day! I made changes due to what I had at home and it still turned out sooo good! I used frozen corn and chopped onions as I didn’t have red pepper, beef broth, and kielbasa. I didn’t have cayenne pepper, but there was still loads of flavor. Thanks so much! I’m sure the original recipe is fantastic!
Could leftover rice be used? Would it change the time or liquid quantities? Thank you!
I wouldn’t suggest pre-cooked rice for this one because you’d have to change too many ingredients and the cooking method, which will result in a very different outcome. The rice absorbs a lot of flavor when it cooks with everything else in one pot.
This was amazing, ended up using regular canned tomatoes, my husband ate two portions , bit spicy for myself but really good flavor
Can you freeze this?
Yes, this should freeze very well.
I doubled this recipe. I also used mild rotel tomatoes and smoked sausage because my grandson likes spice, but not too spicy. Everyone LOVED it! 2 year old ate all his, plus some of mine! Thank goodness for leftovers!!
So simple, so budget friendly and oh SO DELICIOUS!!!!
This recipe was fantastic! We will definitely make it again, and soon. Please remember to follow the directions. I am guilty of always stirring the rice more than I ought to and checking it off and on. Just leave it closed and simmering. Like the directions say, once it comes to boil put the lid on and set your timer. When the timer goes off turn off the heat and let it sit for five minutes and don’t peek!! You will be rewarded!
I make Cajun Sausage and Rice Skillet too often. My son and I like the heat and flavor. I make this dish every other week. Thank you for giving me a great recipe that uses pantry staples.
This was an amazing dish packed with flavour. I substituted with smoked beef sausage since my bf doesn’t eat pork. The smokiness went well with the fire roasted tomatoes. Definitely a keeper and I’m making it again since the bf requested it. Thanks for the great recipe.
Made this a bunch of times now, always an easy hit, even my 1 year old likes it! (She loves spicy food)
The only difference I made was adding half a diced onion in with the bell pepper and that I didn’t have fire roasted tomatoes so I used diced tomatoes with green chilies. Comes out amazing every time! Thank you for the recipes, I pretty much use exclusively this website for my weekly meal planning and everything always tastes awesome.
I’ve made this so many times and we love it so much. It’s delicious to add some cilantro on top as well! I usually add more sausage and use 2 bell peppers as well.
This recipe was amazing! My entire family loved it and I will definitely be making it again. I did, however, use significantly more sausage in my recipe. I got my and Dewey sausage from Costco and doubled everything else and it was very tasty. Thank you so much for all your amazing recipes!
Good flavor, not nearly enough sausage for a good ratio. I used 16 oz of sausage and wish I’d had 2 more links to add.
Beth and team never miss! I cooked this up tonight in my instant pot. Used the sauté function for the sausage and peppers and then switched over to the rice setting for the rest of the recipe. Added yellow and red peppers and a can of kidney beans. Amazing!
I decided to make this in the instantpot! I did the sauté function for the sausage, peppers and spices, dumped the rest in and did manual on high pressure for 8 min and let it naturally pressure release for 5 min. Perfection!