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!
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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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Equipment
- Deep Stainless Steel Skillet
- Chef’s Knife
- White Cutting Boards
- Measuring Cups Spoons
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’ve made this several times for my husband and I. Even tweaking some ingredients I didn’t have, it still comes out amazing! We love Cajun style food so we keep this bad boy on rotation! Thank you so much for posting this!
Just made this tonight. So delicious! Basically a quick and easy Jambalaya. I added 3 cubed boneless-skinless chicken thighs before cooking the sausage, onions with the sautéed green bell pepper and added a can of roasted green chiles with the tomatoes. Chef’s kiss! Thank you for this recipe, it’s in my rotation now.
I doubled the recipe and followed the instructions, but the rice was still hard. How can I fix it?
Since you doubled the recipe, did you also increase the cook time and pan size? It sounds like maybe there was just too many ingredients and the rice didn’t get enough time to cook fully.
Hi. I am going to make this. Quick question–Do you add cooked or uncooked rice? Thanks.
Uncooked rice. :)
We make this all the time!!! Any idea how much longer it would take to cook this recipe using brown rice?
With typical brown rice, yes, you’ll likely need at add at least 10-15 more minutes! You may also need a bit more broth, but just keep an eye on it!
I made this recipe tonight. The slight spice kick is very good. The bell pepper is sweet. I like it.
This is a great recipe for a busy weeknight. I love that it uses ingredients I already have in my pantry. I mostly followed the recipe, but I did double the herbs and spices—especially the smoked paprika, since we love that flavor and 1 teaspoon didn’t seem like enough. I was also out of onion powder, so I diced a small onion and added it while cooking the peppers. I really appreciate recipes that are nutritious, budget-friendly, and delicious. This one checked all three boxes, thank you!
I can not remember if I rated and commented on this recipe yet or not, but it’s so good it’s worth reviewing twice if I did. Of all the recipes I have found and tried, this one is one of my favorites. It’s economical, easy, and wonderfully customizable. Straight up, no changes, this recipe is already near perfection. To save one step of prep, I use a bag of frozen diced onion and bell pepper mix and sauté it with the sausage. Then when I add the broth and tomatoes, I add a can of drained sweet corn. The pop and flavor of the corn is so amazing in this. I get a craving for this one at least once or twice a month, so it gets heavy rotation here. Thank you SO MUCH for this winner!
This is one of our favorites.
I have made this so many times and it never disappoints. I cleaned up the recipe a little with andouille chicken sausage to reduce the fat and it works with brown and white rice. So much flavor. Even my picky kids eat it.
Made this recipe today for lunch- it was absolutely delicious! Spicy, smoky, and very flavorful. I sautéed 2 chopped onions in bacon grease first, then followed the rest of the recipe. Before serving, I felt it needed a little something to counteract the heat, so I added about a teaspoon of sugar to it, and that was exactly what it needed. Yummy! Thanks for sharing this – it’s going in my permanent rotation.
I absolutely love this dish! It’s very easy and inexpensive to make and super delicious. I’ve made it with andouille and boudin.
Almost gave it a 4, but I didn’t have all ingredients, that was my fault, this was a easy and wonderful meal, I doubled the recipe, added in more Cajun then required(Didn’t use spicy sausage) overall, very great dinner!
Can you freeze this meal? If so, should you cook first and then freeze or vice versa? Thanks
I would cook and then freeze!
I love this recipe!! it tastes amazing, it’s simple to make, and relatively inexpensive!! i’ve made this multiple times, swapping out the types of sausage, adding black beans, adding some greens, and it always hits. thank you!!