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 recipe is so good! It’s become a cycling staple amongst many other of Beth’s recipes! It’s so simple to make and has so much flavor! We like to top it off with some sour cream! Super yummy! Thank you for a great recipe!
This was super easy to throw together, and it smelled delicious while cooking. However, the end result was a bit disappointing. My rice turned out wet and mushy, and there wasn’t really much to it other than tomatoes. I followed the recipe other than omitting cayenne (didn’t have any) and using jasmine rice since that’s what I had on hand. 9 out of 10 Budget Bytes recipes I’ve tried are fantastic, but this one’s gonna be a pass for me!
This was delicious! I didn’t have the green pepper so opted for a small chopped onion for a fresh veggie substitute which worked very well. I also took one of the reader notes and added the rice before the liquids. I would say that’s all about texture preference though. Great recipe and will be saving. Thank you!
This was a hit! I simplified it for myself even further by dumping everything in the rice cooker after browning the sausages and spices. Used a bag of frozen peppers & onions, and a half bag of frozen spinach so there wasn’t even much work involved for extra veggies.
Made this last night and my family loved it! I added yellow and red bell peppers as well as onion to sauté with the andouille sausage. Thank you for this recipe! It will be part of my go-to’s!!
I toasted and coated the rice in the meat/pepper/ spice mixture before adding the more liquidy ingredient items. I used canned garden tomatoes from the summer, and about midway I took the lid off and gave it a good stir to keep the bottom from scorching. It was good and is definitely a keeper.
lo provo stasera
Very readable. I thought there weren’t too many adds. Excellently linear and well put together recipe! I didn’t have Fire Roasted Tomatoes, but regular canned diced tomatoes worked great!
Unreadale. Ad frenzy. Unlinear and fragmented.
I’m confused. Are you reviewing your own comment? Because I would agree with you!
Yummy. Yummy. Yummy. The combination of spices were palate pleasing. I did make the dish with brown rice and I loved it. I boiled the brown rice until the rice was partly tender and then added the rice to the rest of the dish and let simmer 20 minutes. The rest was history.
THIS WAS SO GOOD! I used fresh andouille from a local place, baked first. I just didn’t have fire roasted tomatoes, but regular diced were great. Added in an onion too to use some up I had. The spice blend was on point and it made a huge portion. Tasted as good as leftovers. I’ll be saving this one for the future.
Wow! Just wow!! I cooked this for a family cook off where the meal including taxes had to be under $10. Even though I doubled it, it only came to around $8.50. (I did shop at Aldie so the cost was a bit lower than your average grocery store.) I won the appetizer round! I did smoke the sausage and tomatoes since I couldn’t find find smoked versions of either: Andoullie wasn’t available and the store had limited options. .) While cooking, I spent several seconds just admiring the smell of the seasonings. Oh my word, the end result was a layered flavoring the just left you wanting more. This dish will be a regular on my family dinners!!
This recipe was so good! I think it’s great for beginners too.
I have never posted a recipe review but felt like I have to tell you how awesome this meal is. For being very quick and easy, it has so much flavor! My husbands new favorite. Thank you!!
I have never commented on a Budget Bytes recipe, although I have been making them for months now. But I just HAD to leave a perfect rating on this dish because it’s that good!! I was blown away by how such a quick cook time could create flavors that tasted as if they had been simmering all day. When I took off the lid after letting things rest at the end, I couldn’t believe how good it looked (and not because I distrust Budget Bytes…because I’m still a novice in the kitchen!) I’ll be making this next time I have friends over (in the days of socializing again post-COVID) and I know it will be a big hit. THANKS!!!!