Dirty rice with ground beef
A Cajun one-pot of rice cooked with browned beef, onion, pepper, celery and plenty of spice, hearty and cheap enough for any night.
- 50 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.49 a serving
- 450 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 cup long-grain white rice
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 1 tbsp Cajun seasoning
- 1 beef bouillon cube
- 2 stalks green onions, sliced
- 1 tsp hot sauce (optional)
From your pantry
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 2 cups water
- 1 bay leave
Each serving has about 450 calories, 26 g protein, 46 g carbs and 18 g fat, and costs about $2.49 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green bell peppers? Red bell peppers or yellow bell peppers work.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
- No hot sauce? Sriracha works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice until the water runs mostly clear. the onion, pepper and celery, and the garlic.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Dolly’s tip: Onion, bell pepper and celery are the Cajun “holy trinity.” They’re the base of this whole dish.Heat a large pot with a lid over medium-high, add the beef, and press it flat. Leave it 3 minutes, until underneath.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min
Break it into small and cook 5 minutes more, until no pink is left and there are on the bottom.
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: Leave the fat in. Those browned bits are the “dirt” that gives the rice its color and flavor.Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Add the onion, pepper and celery and cook 5 minutes, scraping the bottom, until soft.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min
Stir in the garlic, Cajun seasoning and thyme for 1 minute, then the rice for 1 minute.
Medium heat
in the bouillon cube, pour in the water, add the bay leaf, and .
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low, and cook 18 to 20 minutes without lifting the lid, until the rice is tender. Let it sit covered 5 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 19 min
Fish out the bay leaf, fluff the rice, and scatter the green onions on top. Add hot sauce if you like.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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