Shrimp dirty rice is a version of the traditional Creole dirty rice dish, made with shrimp, Andouille sausage, and aromatics.
Shrimp Dirty Rice
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
My recipe of the day is for shrimp dirty rice as part of sharing recipes for Mardis Gras (or Fat Tuesday) which is coming up a week from today.
Dirty rice itself is a Creole rice dish that is not dissimilar to a southern style fried rice. It is called dirty because usually it is flavored with crumbled cooked chicken livers. Sometimes as an option people might make that with beef, pork or other meats. In this version, I have used crumbled Andouille sausage along with small shrimp (so they don’t have to be chopped up). But you can also sub something like pork sausage or ground beef with similar results instead of the Andouille. If you can only get that in links, make sure it is the uncured or unsmoked type that is soft and cooks up into a crumble, and you would simply cut the casings off those to get it in bulk form.
I omitted salt in this one since most people will use a saltier type of Cajun spice, although it can be had salt-free if you are lucky to find that available. Also, the chicken base is lightly salty- using bouillon increases the salt quite a lot. So consider what you are using- if it needs more at the end, just add salt to taste but I doubt you will need that at all.
Be careful with the hot sauce and use your judgement on the type and amount. Kids probably won’t like it. You can always add that at the table too.
Mardis Gras Recipes
Check out these other delicious Mardi Gras recipes:
- Bananas Foster Mardi Gras Macaron from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Cajun Chicken Pasta from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
- Chicken and Sausage Gumbo from The Spiffy Cookie
- Fastelaynsboller from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- King Cake Donuts from The Freshman Cook
- King’s Cake Cinnamon Rolls from Kate’s Recipe Box
- Mardi Gras Monkey Bread from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
- Muffaletta Salad from A Day in the Life on a Farm
- Oven-Baked Mardi Gras Empanadas from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
- Shrimp and Grits from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
- Shrimp Creole from Caroline’s Cooking
- Shrimp Dirty Rice from Palatable Pastime
- Shrimp Etouffee from House of Nash Eats
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Shrimp Dirty Rice
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 12 ounces small cooked salad shrimp
- 8 ounces fresh Andouille sausage
- 1 cup onion chopped
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 1 cup celery diced
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon garlic chopped
- 2 teaspoons Cajun spice
- 4 cups long grain white rice cold cooked
- 1 cup green onion chopped
- 1/2 cup water hot
- 2 teaspoons chicken base or bouillon
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon Louisiana hot pepper sauce optional
Instructions
Method:
- Brown sausage with onion, bell pepper, celery.
- Season with black pepper, thyme, garlic, and Cajun spice while cooking.
- Stir water with chicken base to blend and add Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce.
- Add to pan along with the shrimp, rice, and onion; continue cooking until hot and liquid is absorbed.
I never knew why they called it dirty rice. Thanks for the lesson and the marvelous recipe.
When using the chicken livers it really disperses into the rice. That one is my favorite (I love chicken livers, especially fried or in rumaki) but there’s an army of people looking to ditch liver.
I love dirty rice but would have to make it with another protein as I’m not a fan of shrimp!
I usually make it with some sort of mince (andouille in this one). I think a good one would be chunks of Cajun chicken as well, since the riginal has minced chicken livers and some chicken flavor is always good.
I love dirty rice. I never had it with shrimp. This sounds so good!