This southern classic dish is comfort food at its finest! It's slightly spicy from the creole seasoning and super simple to make. On the table in about 30 minutes.
Originally posted March 27, 2019; Updated tips and FAQ’s on November 15, 2019.
Dirty rice is a southern classic dish typically made with a combination of small pieces of pork, chicken, and beef. When I mentioned wanting to use diced chicken livers to my wife, she said something like... "That's fine, but I will need to eat something else for dinner." It hurt my heart a little, but what I decided is that if she didn't want to eat them, then you might not either. So this Instant Pot dirty rice version is a little less "authentic" than I would like. But, for that reason, it is much more palatable; even for our 3-year-old daughter who doesn't like rice, but devoured a big bowl of this!
Why This Recipe Works
- Cooking rice in the Instant Pot takes out the guesswork. You can set it and forget it and have perfect rice every time.
- Cooking with beef and sausage, rather than livers, makes the dish more palatable to picky eaters while still delivering great flavor.
More of our favorite rice dishes…
- Pressure Cooker Yellow Rice
- Instant Pot Cilantro-Lime Rice (Chipotle Copycat)
- Pressure Cooker Chicken Broccoli & Rice "Casserole"
The Process
Using sauté setting - add beef and sausage to pot...
...along with onions, peppers, celery...
...and creole seasoning.
As the meat begins to brown, break up as much as possible...
...and cook until meat is browned thoroughly.
Add rice to pot...
...along with chicken stock...
...and mix well.
Place thyme and bay leaves on top (so that you can easily remove them later). Lock lid and cook for 12 minutes at low pressure.
Once cook time is complete, allow pressure to release naturally (will take about 10 minutes).
Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaves, then mix.
Finally, add green onions...
and parsley, then mix really well one last time.
And this is the AMAZING result…
Expert Tips
- Depending on the type of sausage you use, there may or may not be oil there to drain. You can drain or leave as much as you prefer. A little fat is good for flavor, but if there’s a lot, you will want to drain most of it.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. I do not recommend freezing leftovers, as the rice will turn to mush when reheating.
FAQs
What kind of sausage did you use? You can use whatever sausage you like, but I used Jimmy Dean hot.
How much liver would you have used and would it be in place of the beef or sausage or in addition to them? I have not tested this recipe with liver, so I can't say for sure. However, I would try adding ½ cup diced livers and subtract about the same amount of either beef or pork.
Can I freeze this? I wouldn't recommend it. The rice will turn to mush upon freezing and reheating.
★ Did you make this Instant Pot Dirty Rice? Please give it a star rating below! ★
Instant Pot Dirty Rice
Ingredients
- 1 lb. lean ground beef
- 1 lb. ground sausage
- 1 cup yellow onions diced
- ¾ cup green bell peppers diced
- ½ cup celery diced
- 1 Tbsp. creole seasoning
- 2 cups long grain white rice
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 4 thyme sprigs
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ cup green onions thinly sliced
- 2 Tbsp. parsley finely chopped
Instructions
- Using sauté setting – add beef and sausage to pot along with onions, peppers, celery, and creole seasoning. As the meat begins to brown, break up as much as possible and cook until meat is browned thoroughly.
- Add rice to pot, along with chicken stock, and mix well. Place thyme and bay leaves on top (so that you can easily remove them later). Lock lid and cook for 12 minutes at low pressure.
- Once cook time is complete, allow pressure to release naturally (will take about 10 minutes).
- Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaves, then mix. Finally, add green onions and parsley, then mix really well one last time.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Linda G
This looks delicious -- and even I (a devout liver hater) might be convinced to add just a tiny bit of ground cooked chicken liver or gizzard -- knowing what an addition of flavor it gives to Popeye's gravy! (Boudain wouldn't be quite the same without just a touch of liver, also!) Since we're no longer in LA, my first choice for 'sausage' would be Jimmy Dean's sage sausage - or maybe the hot sausage, since we don't have small children any more. What kind of sausage do you use, or recommend? Thanks!
Gary
I agree about the livers, but one of my biggest goals in life is keeping my wife happy. Therefore, no livers for us, lol. As for sausage, you can use whatever you like, but I used Jimmy Dean hot.
Judy
How much liver would you have used and would it be in place of the beef or sausage or in addition to them?
Gary
I would add 1/2 cup diced livers and subtract about the same amount of either beef or pork.
Anthony M.
Agree 100% here. Hate liver in general but love this dish (and the occasionally liverwurst). The liver/gizzard in this dish introduces a critical tweak on the taste/texture.
Bridget Booth
Crap I am just now realizing recipe says sausage not pork. Wonder what I will need to add to get flavor right. It’s already in pot cooking
Gary
How did it turn out? Probably not toooo different.
Kallou
What size instant pot did you use for this?
Gary White
We used a 6qt.
Kallou
Thank you, did this in a 3 at. But didn't add celery. Did add pineapple chunks. Came out really well. Thanks for the recipe!
Patti
This recipe looks great! My family and I prefer brown rice, so what would you recommend as far as cooking time and would you change anything else if using brown rice?
Gary White
Brown rice has a much longer cook time, 22 minutes at high pressure with 10 minutes NPR
Jacob Bryant
Thanks for the great recipe Gary!!! This will be a staple for me for a long time. I didn’t have a green pepper so I used three jalapeños instead and it came out perfect.
As a guy in his 20’s I really hope to have a dope food blog with an awesome wife like you someday! Thanks for the inspiration
Gary White
Wow, Jacob. Thanks for the kind words!
Tricia
Can't wait to try this. Being a NOLA girl (transplanted to NC in '88), I fix a lot of dirty rice in my dutch oven and use ground meat with cut up smoked sausage. I am looking forward to trying your recipe out this weekend. Thanks so much for sharing.
Anesia Lima
did you drain the oil before adding rice and stuff? or did you keep it and cook all togther?
Gary White
Depending on the type of sausage you use, there may or may not be oil there to drain. You can drain or leave as much as you prefer. I think a little fat is good for flavor, but if there's a lot, you will want to drain most of it.
Anesia Lima
Thank you so much. I used you recipe as more of a guiding and kind of just added what i had at home lol came out so good though! thank you! i ended up draining but i didnt pat the sausage down and it was all good!
Stacie
Could this be doubled and made in an 8qt pot for a crowd?
Gary White
I don't see why not!
Stephanie Olsen
Easy and delicious!
Mary T
Delicious!!! I will definitely make it again. I used the sage flavor jimmy dean sausage and it added some good flavor. Thanks for sharing!
Gary White
I love the sage sausage! Great idea, I'll try that next time I make this.
Beth
A friend made a big batch of fried rice using jasmine rice...stove top method. I froze a container for a few months. It is in my fridge and I am heating up...it is not mushy. QUESTION: Can you use Jasmine Rice instead of long grain??
Gary White
Fried rice freezes well because it's a relatively dry dish. The consistency of dirty rice is not as dry as fried rice. While you could make this with jasmine rice, it may still lose quality and become a bit mushy upon freezing and reheating.
Sonja
I used Jasmine rice because that’s all I had. Turned out great!
Shane
Tastes good but took forever to cook. No mention was written on what size instant pot was used. Yes it makes a difference, I have an 8 quart pot and the recipe called for a 6quart. Which I found out after my pot said burn. You have to read every comment AFTER the recipe to find this out. So I had to cook it in a kettle instead. Too much hassle for me so only 3 stars for not enough information. People need all the information
JUDY LOWMAN
I used zatarains boc
Rice was 1/2 shy so added
Used turkey and sweet sausage but added 2 jalapenos for heat
But used your directions the rest of rhe way
From 3 year old to 64
We all loved it
Made puree black bean for the side
Ry
It was great
Dana
Has anyone tried this using ground turkey? I cannot eat beef or red meat but would love to try this with ground turkey. Thank you!
Gary White
You could substitute ground turkey and turkey sausage in this recipe. For the ground turkey, I would recommend 85/15% lean/fat.
Sarah
Amazing flavor, my instant pot had the “food burn” setting on with 2 minutes left. The bottom did burn but it was the perfect amount of liquid because it turned out perfect minus the burned bottom. Any recommendations? This keeps happening to me with recipes. I had it on low pressure.
Gary White
I've heard that a lot of the very new models are giving the burn notice a lot. I'm not quite sure why that is.
Scott
I've made this 4 times now, and every time I also get the "food burn" warning. It freaks me out, I have to let the pressure out, blah blah blah.
I think next time I am just going to adapt this DELICIOUS recipe to work on the stovetop.
Donovan
Made this for the first time over the weekend. I did add Worcestershire sauce and garlic powder to the browning meat. Otherwise followed the recipe and enjoyed it. Will add to my collection of Instant Pot recipes.
I wonder if those people who are having problems with the recipe are not adjusting for the "low pressure" as you instruct. It may get overcooked or burn at higher levels for the time indicated. 😱
Erik
Was really looking forward to this unfortunately I received burn error just before getting to pressure. Followed directions for burn removed food made sure no food collected on bottom added a bit of water and resumed. Continued this process 4 times finally gave up and cooked on stove rice did not stay fluffy and became gelatinous and broke apart. Second time I’ve tried rice in the insta pot never again rice in rice cooker then mix. The recipe as a whole amazing flavor exactly what I wanted taste wise but rice was disastrous
Bizzy
Very tasty recipe and pretty easy to make. We all have slightly different preferences. For my family, we double the veggies + creole seasoning and cut meat portion in half and we thought it perfect. Thanks for sharing!
Sarah
Love this recipe. Just had a question about the pressure cook setting. So there are two different places to set it the pressure. One is under the screen which sets it to either low or high pressure. Then there is a pressure cook button that you can press for either low, normal, or high. Do I set both on low/less??
Barbara Leonard
Followed the directions added a little extra chicken broth this time. Last time the rice was a little crunchy but still delicious!
SC
This is a great dish. Family loved it.
Can be used as a side dish. Or stuffed Bell peppers. Or as your main dish. Try it. You won't be disappointed!
Stephanie M.
Amazingly good! Packed with flavor! Super easy! Crowd pleaser! No leftovers!
The only change I made was using Seasoning Blend instead of fresh veggies for the Trinity. I do that in several Cajun recipes on my rotation, it’s just too easy. Hopefully, I’m not sacrificing too much of the flavor of the original recipe. But, as delicious as it was for us, it would be even more so if following the recipe as written if that’s the case.
So glad to have found and tried this dinner. I will definitely make it again!
Thank you for sharing!
P.S. I used Blue & Gold Sausage and Farm Raised Beef. Served with a side salad. So good!
Jeff
Question - I saw where someone asked if you could use brown rice, & you suggested extra time. I can certainly do that, but would you need additional chicken stock? Also, if I use the white rice should I rinse it first?