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.
The Print button appears to be broken. Please advise when fixed as I would like to try this recipe but do not like following new recipes off of a screen.
Can you explain what happens when you click the print button? And what device and browser you’re using? I just tried it and it worked on my end, so I’ll need to try to recreate the problem in order to troubleshoot.
Very good! I added some caramelized onions to the sauteed peppers and some minced garlic as they cooked. I’d also recommend a little dab of sour cream on top when it is served.
I accidentally bought fire roasted tomatoes in tomato purée. Is it going to affect the taste/texture?
It might, since there might not be as much liquid for the rice to absorb during cooking.
I veganized this with impossible sausage and veggie broth instead of chicken and it was great.
This turned out really well! I added a bit more heat to it (for our own preference). It was perfect as written. I used jasmine rice (I didn’t have just regular rice on hand). I will absolutely put this into rotation.
One of the only websites I have adblock disabled on. I’ll try to help out with the shop link in your nav soon.
I absolutely LOVE Budget Bytes and cook almost exclusively from it. For the life of me I cannot successfully make a recipe with rice in it (one pan style recipe). The rice is always undercooked. Is it me? My pan? My stove? Whaaaattt??? It’s driving me nuts. I’m currently making this and I’m at 70 min (brown rice) and the rice isn’t done. At this rate I’m going to be eating it for breakfast (which wouldn’t be terrible but..)
Any tips??
Okay, yes, brown rice is a totally different story. :) Brown rice, in general, takes about 45 minutes of simmering and it needs more liquid than white rice. If there isn’t enough liquid available, the rice will never soften no matter how long it cooks. I would need to test the recipe first to know exactly how much more liquid to add, but I’d probably start with an extra cup.
Ok thank you for your response! Does the pot matter? I used a stainless steel deep pan with glass lid. Should I get a Dutch oven?
I eventually turned off the heat and let it sit for a half hour while I put my son to bed and after it was pretty much done. A bit mushy but still very good! I’m eating leftovers as I type! :)
Haha, I’m glad it was still edible! 😅 I don’t think you’d need a Dutch oven for this. I’ve cooked brown rice in stainless steel plenty of times. It’s really more about getting that water ratio right.
Ok thanks!
Do you have any suggestions on what I can replace the cajun for?
I was afraid my toddlers wouldn’t touch this due to the spice but they mowed it DOWN. Absolutely fantastic one-pot weeknight meal.
Just wow! Better than expected and super easy. I love the texture of the rice. It’s another keeper!
What is your suggestion when attempting to use brown rice instead of white rice? I love your recipes!
For brown rice you need to add more liquid and cook a LOT longer, which is definitely going to change the results (other ingredients may become overcooked). I’d need to test it before offering an exact suggestion, but my general advice is that this type of meal isn’t very well suited for brown rice because of the long cook time needed.
Inexperienced cook here, does the rice go in to the skillet dry or is it meant to be soaked/boiled first?
Great question, it goes in uncooked (dry or rinsed). No soaking is needed. :)
I want to reiterate my praise for this recipe – I make it nearly weekly! I can’t say enough how much I like the addition of red beans. My girlfriend has been obsessed for over a year now.
This was SO GOOD! I used field roast cajun sausage and added half a bag of frozen shrimp in the last 5 minutes and wow, this is my new favorite food! So much so that now I have become a person who comments on recipes!
This was easy and delicious! I did throw in some shrimp at the end because I had it in the freezer.