Dirty rice is a traditional Cajun preparation, and it happens to be one of the best uses for giblets ever — especially to those who think they hate eating them.
I am not too proud to say that this dirty rice recipe is roll-your-eyes-back-in-your-head good! I mean, really, really fantastic. Spicy, meaty, and richly flavored, it is a perfect side dish, or a light supper on its own. It is, effectively, a Cajun take on Chinese fried rice.
What makes dirty rice “dirty” is ground up gizzards and minced liver. And when I say “minced,” I really mean chopped almost into a puree. You really never know you’re eating giblets. Seriously.
If you don’t have any wild game giblets — because you didn’t save them — make this recipe with regular chicken giblets. Please. Then come back and tell me how sorry you were for not saving the gizzards, hearts and livers of all those ducks or geese or pheasants you shot.
I most often use duck giblets for my dirty rice, but pheasant, grouse, wild turkey or really any game bird will do. You can even use the hearts, livers and kidneys from rabbits or squirrels.
The only caveat is that small birds like teal or quail are really not worth cleaning the gizzards from. I mean you can if you want, but you get only a smidge of meat. Mallards and geese are ideal, as are wild turkeys and pheasants.
And big game works, too. Grind heart meat and some liver and you’re in business. Or some leftover braised tongue, or even diced kidneys.
My method for cooking dirty rice is one of two I’ve seen throughout Cajun Country, which is basically anywhere south of Interstate 10 in Louisiana. The “fried rice” style, which I think is lighter and fluffier, and the “jambalaya style,” where you cook the giblets and vegetables first, add the uncooked rice, and then cook it all together. To me, that method is OK, but feels muddy and heavy. You do you.
(If you like jambalaya, here is my recipe for wild game jambalaya.)
Oh, and if you ever happen to be in New Orleans on a Saturday, make sure to visit Mother’s, which, arguably, has the best dirty rice in town. It’s legit.
Cajun Dirty Rice
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
- 3 tablespoons duck fat, lard or vegetable oil
- 1/2 to 1 cup livers from birds, or about 3 ounces deer liver
- 1/2 to 1 pound of ground meat from gizzards and hearts or any other ground meat
- Salt
- 1 1/2 cups meat broth
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
- 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper
- 1 to 3 hot chiles anywhere from Tabasco to jalapeno, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 to 2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 4 green onions. chopped
Instructions
- Cook the rice as usual. Move the cooked rice to a sheet pan and lay it out to cool. You need to start with cool rice. And yes, you can do this step a day ahead if you want.
- If you are using gizzards, clean them of grit and that silver membrane and either chop fine or grind in a meat grinder. A meat grinder is better, but not everyone has one. Alternately, you can use any ground meat. Either finely grind or finely chop the livers.
- Heat the duck fat over medium-high heat and, when it is hot, add the ground gizzards and the chopped livers. Toss to coat in the fat and then let them sit a bit to develop a crust on the bottom of the pan. Stir only occasionally, as you want to develop a good crust. If your Cajun seasoning isn't salty, salt the meat now.
- Pour about 1/4 cup of the broth into the pan and use it to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the onion, peppers, celery and garlic. Mix to combine and Cook for a solid 3 to 5 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.
- Sprinkle over the oregano and the Cajun seasoning and let a crust form on the bottom of the pan again. When it does, add the rest of the broth and the rice and mix to combine. Scrape the bottom of the pan again. When the liquid has almost totally evaporated, mix in the green onions. You're ready when the liquid has all evaporated. Serve hot.
Served this with Cajun style duck breast. Even my father who is a picky eater loved it! Can’t wait to make it next season
Very tasty. Thank you for the recipe!
I won’t make another version of dirty rice again, this is amazing! Used about 3/4c livers and 3/4lb gizzards, and added extra rice to stretch it, ’cause I could. If you are on the fence, don’t be…just get down and into the kitchen to make this!!
We don’t eat much rice in our house however I make exceptions to use this recipe because it’s damn delicious. Cajun dirty rice is our favorite way to use the gizzards and livers that aren’t presentable enough for yakitori skewers.
I had a liver, 3 gizzards, a heart, and plenty of fat I’d rendered from a non-wild/store-bought duck I’d turned into gumbo. While my father always enjoyed gizzards in gumbo, I was never a fan of them cooked that particular way. Still, I really wanted to use everything, and those items were all that remained since stock had been made from the bones and then used for the gumbo. I knew that the best dirty rice used, at the very least, *some* liver (but hopefully never too much, as it is often chicken liver and to me that can be overpowering), and so I searched for recipes. This one looked the best, despite having to make modifications (not enough offal- only about 1/2C total when all offal had been minced), but I already had everything else and simply had to sub in some ground beef for the meat required.
It was delicious, and now I know that I will absolutely use every bit of any duck I purchase. Thank you for the recipe!
This has become a staple in our house. I make it often to introduce folks to eating hearts from big game animals. Sometimes I’ll add homemade smoked cajun sausage as we eat this for a meal quite often. It’s easy to make as well.
Good way to extend some liver into several big meals worth of food
Excellent recipe, and you’re right about not even knowing it’s full of giblets – I actually used a few venison hearts for mine and my (typically squeamish) girlfriend never said a word about it. I may alter the ratio to 50/50 medium/fine ground bits next time just to give a little variation in texture, but it is already great without changes, so who knows?
We love this recipe! I make it with some regularity, as we process our own hogs every year, and there are always wobbly bits to use. Last time I ground a pork tongue, heart and liver piece. Kids eat it, I’ve fed it to youth at a church function, people are surprised how much they like it when they hear there’s liver in it.
I didn’t have wobbly bits (please forgive)!! The last few time I’ve made this I used goose breast. Snow or Canada. It’s always a hit. My sister didn’t even know it was goose meat. I grind it through the course die.
Dirty Rice can be used as an amazing stuffing for poultry or game birds.
Made this out of braised wild turkey legs and thighs as a side for Thanksgiving yesterday. It was a huge hit! Lots of similar flavor profiles you encounter at Thanksgiving (celery, onion, garlic) but everyone appreciated the shake up the peppers and Cajun seasoning provided to the overall meal.
Great into to offal for squeamish folks. Made this for my wife with duck giblets and it was a big hit!
Thank you so much for this recipe. We harvest a lot of Canada geese and seek to use every part of them. This recipe allowed us to use the fat, livers, hearts and stock made from our wild birds. Followed the recipe exactly but used the full amount of Cajun seasoning and jalapenos so it was on the spicy side, but full of tremendous goose flavor! Delicious!
This is absolutely delicious! 🙂 have made it twice tho used ground lamb instead of giblets etc. A new favourite 🙂
Yeah, definitely understand why you cool it if you’re using precooked rice, as this reads much like a cajun fried rice recipe.
I’ll have to try it and compare, sure it’s great. Thanks
Made this tonight but with the nibs and nabs of some Flemish giant rabbits we slaughtered today. Very nice. Used rabbit fat and stock as well.
Same reason you cool the rice before making a fried rice dish. Nothing wrong with your method, Will. The texture, though, is completely different. When hot, the rice is wet and fragile. Mixing the other ingredients tends to break the grains and spread the starch. You tend to end up with something resembling a porridge. Again, that isn’t all bad, especially if that’s what your going for. By allowing the grains to cool and dry out somewhat, they firm up and are better able to hold up. You end up with a lighter, fluffier dish.
What Joe said.
So wondering why the rice is cooked separately. Does it keep everything more intact (veg, etc)? Every time I’ve made this in the past I’ve cooked the rice with broth in the pot with everything else, jambalaya style, once everything is sautéed and scraped.