Rice has been an important part of Cajun food culture for over 300 years, and it serves as a base ingredient for many traditional Cajun dishes such as étouffée, gumbo, red beans, and jambalaya. Popeye’s Cajun Rice is the perfect fast food side dish because it has meat in it, which means it can be eaten as a side item, but it’s hearty enough to be eaten as a main dish. You can even add more vegetables to bulk up the nutritional value. That’s the beauty of being able to recreate this recipe from home.
This recipe is made with long-grain rice, veggies, spices, and ground beef. The uncommon ingredient in Popeye’s Cajun Rice recipe is the chicken gizzards. It’s important to pulse the gizzards in a food processor to break it up before you cook it. Alternatively, if you want to make this a vegetarian dish, simply skip the gizzards and ground beef, and add more vegetables. You can also use vegetable broth instead of beef broth.
If you have leftovers, this Cajun rice would make a delicious burrito filling or you can skip the rice and use the beef mixture in a pasta dish. You can save your leftovers in the refrigerator for three or four days in an airtight container.
Popeye's Cajun Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups long-grain rice
- 4 cups beef broth
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 cup chicken gizzards, minced
- 1/2 green bell pepper, minced
- 1/2 yellow onion, minced
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1/2 tsp celery seed
- 1 tsp creole seasoning
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 tsp coarse ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- First, rinse your rice well, and add it to a pot with the beef broth. Bring the rice to a boil, then reduce to medium-low heat. Cover and let the rice cook for about 20 minutes.
- Finely chop or pulse the chicken gizzards in a food processor. Then, in a frying pan, stir in the ground beef, ground chicken gizzards, and the minced bell pepper, and cook on medium-high heat until the beef loses its pink color and bell peppers are soft. Remove excess grease.
- Turn the temperature down to medium-low. Add the remaining ingredients, stir, and cook together until the ground beef is completely cooked and the liquid is gone, which will be about 20-25 min.
- Add the rice to the mixture, and stir it well to combine. Serve hot and enjoy.
Notes
- Stored in an airtight container, this dish is good for 3 days in a refrigerator.
- To make this a vegetarian dish, you can skip the ground beef and gizzards, and use a vegetable broth instead of beef broth. You can also add more vegetables to bulk up the nutritional value.
Looking for more Cajun recipe inspiration? Check out our Copycat Chili’s Cajun Chicken Pasta recipe.
