A classic week-night Instant Pot Dirty Rice with a twist! In just about 15 minutes of prep you'll have a homemade dinner everyone will love.
Most dirty rice recipes tend to use beef or pork for the meat. I have recommendations below on the best type of ground beef to choose. We eat a lot of ground turkey in our house so I decided to go with that for this recipe.
You may want to use turkey if you are working on reducing the amount of red meat you eat. The beef flavor from the broth still gives it a "beefy" taste just without the additional fat and cholesterol.
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Ingredients
- Veggies: vidalia onion and green bell pepper
- Seasonings: garlic, cajun seasoning, black pepper, cayenne pepper, Worchestire sauce, bay leaves and beef broth
- Rice: parboiled rice
- See "substitutions" below for the best brown rice to use.
- Protein: This recipe uses ground turkey. You can also use a lean ground beef. See "substitutions" below for the best protein choices.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Use the instant pot to brown the ground turkey. No need to do this on the stove!
Saute the onions and peppers in 1 tablespoon of fat from the ground turkey. Add a small amount of broth to deglaze the pot. See recipe card for how to deglaze.
Add all remaining ingredients to the instant pot including the seasonings, rice and ground turkey.
Even the smallest instant, the Instant Pot Mini Duo - 3 quart size works for this recipe!
Hint: Use a pot holder or long utensil to turn the valve to "VENTING". Be very careful not to have your hand over the valve because it will release steam and burn your hand.
What to serve with?
Green beans, like Cajun Green Beans (Quick & Easy!), or a simple green salad topped with Seasoned Whole Wheat Croutons work really with dirty rice! Need an easy recipe for salad dressing? Check out Refreshing Honey Lemon Vinaigrette!
Other veggies that work well with instant pot dirty rice:
- Sauteed or roasted zucchini in the oven
- Cabbage
- Greens (mustard, turnip or collards)
- Sauteed kale
If you'd like to add a side of bread like Easy Garlic Bread Sourdough. Or you can do cornbread or hoecakes (How to Make Hoecakes Healthy + Delish).
Substitutions
- Choice of ground meat
- Ground turkey
- I recommend purchasing ground turkey without antibiotics, 93% lean
- Ground beef
- The best choice is grass-fed with no antibiotics or hormones, at least 85% lean
- Ground chicken
- Half ‘n half: You can do half turkey/half ground beef
- Ground turkey
- Use brown rice
- I recommend using Ben’s Brown rice. It cooks up well for this dish!
Variations
- Make it vegan
- Swap the meat for beans
- Use unsalted vegetable broth
- Make it less spicy
- Don’t add both of the peppers or just add one of them
Check out One Pot Vegetarian Dirty Rice!
Storage
Good for 3-4 days in the fridge.
Nutrition Tip
Use unsalted beef broth to keep the sodium reduced for this recipe.
FAQ
You’ll want to brown and cook your ground meat first in the instant pot. Remove the cooked meat and set it aside. Once you add your other ingredients, then you can add rice along with broth (for more flavor) and then let it all cook together.
Instant Pot Dirty Rice
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ cup diced vidalia onion
- ¾ cup diced green bell pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic or 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
- 2 cup beef broth unsalted
- 1 tablespoon cajun seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon Worchestire sauce
- 2 bay leaves dry or fresh
- 1 cup parboiled rice
- 1 lb ground turkey
Garnish
- chopped green onion optional, but it tastes really good sprinkled on top
Instructions
- Turn the instant pot on to "Saute" mode on high and begin to saute the ground turkey. Once done drain all the fat.
- Saute onion and bell pepper in 1 tablespoon of olive. Cook for 5 minutes. Then add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add a few splashes of broth to deglaze Instant Pot.*Deglazing is using a wooden (or silicone) spatula or spoon to scrape the food from the bottom of the pan. Adding a small amount of liquid helps to make this easier.
- Add both peppers, Worchestire sauce, cajun seasoning, ground turkey and stir well. Add bay leaves, rice and the rest of the broth. Stir.
- Place lid on instant pot and turn valve to "sealing". Cook on HIGH pressure for 4 minutes. Then let instant pot natural release for 5 minutes once cook time is up.
- Use a pot holder or long utensil to turn the valve to "VENTING". Be very careful not to have your hand over the valve because it will release steam and burn your hand.
- Carefully remove the lid, stir and serve hot!
Notes
- Use unsalted beef broth
- Reduce cajun seasoning to 2 or 2, ½ teaspoons
Nutrition
Food safety
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!