This homemade instant pot dirty rice is a quick and easy recipe full of delicious Southern flavors. With just the use of your favorite pressure cooker, you can throw it all together in under 30 minutes. Plus, cleanup is a total breeze, making this the absolute best weeknight side dish!
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📋 About the Recipe
- This instant pot dirty rice recipe is healthy, filling, and delicious. It's made from scratch with fresh ingredients, like celery, yellow onions, and green bell peppers, as well as lean ground beef.
- With the help of your instant pot or pressure cooker, it's also a quick and easy one pot recipe. Cooking takes only about 20 minutes, while the prep work takes less than 10. It's a great side dish made in under 30 minutes!
- This homemade version of traditional dirty rice, includes simple ingredients. Instead of pork sausage and chicken livers, this recipe calls for ground beef, bacon, and chicken broth.
- The rice comes out fluffy and fragrant, while the other ingredients really kick the flavor of boring white basmati rice up a notch. It's savory, slightly smoky, a touch spicy, and super hearty.
- It's the perfect cajun side dish to your favorite creole dishes. Serve with cajun steak bites, chicken wings, chicken patties, corn on the cob, or Louisiana-style red beans.
🛒 Ingredients
A few notes about the ingredients:
- Ground beef - ground beef adds flavor and fat to the rice. I use 90% lean 10% fat so it doesn't get too greasy. Beef gives the rice that perfect "dirty" look and makes this side dish extra filling!
- Celery, onion, green bell peppers, garlic, jalapeños - these vegetables enhance the flavor of the rice, giving it the perfect balance between savory and spicy.
- Bacon - bacon adds flavor and fat to the rice as well. It gives the rice a slightly smoky taste, while providing a small amount of grease to help cook down the rest of the ingredients.
- Basmati rice - I like to use basmati rice for it's texture and flavor. It is a fragrant, long-grain white rice that holds it's shape well with the rest of the heavier ingredients. It comes out fluffy and perfectly cooked.
- Chicken broth - instead of cooking the rice with water, the chicken broth adds even more flavor as the rice absorbs it while cooking. Opt for a low-sodium broth or adjust the salt accordingly.
- Bay leaf - the addition of the bay leaf creates a subtle black pepper flavor that steeps into the rice. This helps in lightening up the dish by infusing nuances of flavor throughout.
- Fresh parsley - fresh parsley adds a bright herbaceous flavor to the heavier rice. If you don't like parsley, you can leave it out, but it is a nice addition to the cooked rice.
- Dried oregano, thyme, chili powder, salt, pepper, cayenne - these spices and herbs help in seasoning the dish. Chili powder adds a slight smokiness, while the sprinkle of cayenne provides a hint of spiciness.
📓 Instructions
1. On the sauté setting of your instant pot, cook bacon until crispy. Remove to a clean plate covered with a paper towel to absorb any extra grease. Set aside.
2. With the sauté setting still on, add the ground beef and worcestershire sauce to the pot and cook the beef in the bacon grease until almost cooked through.
3. Add onion, celery, green pepper, garlic, and jalapeño (if using) to the beef. Stir to combine and cook until the onion becomes soft and slightly translucent.
4. While, the vegetables are cooking, crumble the bacon into small pieces.
5. Add bacon to the pot, along with the rice, chicken broth, bay leaf, oregano, thyme, chili powder, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Stir to combine.
6. Cover with the lid, place the valve in the sealing position, and pressure cook on high for 4 minutes.
7. When the time is up, allow the dirty rice to naturally release for 15 minutes before switching the valve to the venting position and manually releasing the rest of the pressure.
8. Fluff rice with a fork, remove the bay leaf, and mix in freshly chopped parsley before serving.
⁉️ Substitutions and Alterations
Instead of ground beef: you can swap the beef for the more traditional ground pork sausage.
Instead of green bell pepper: you can use red, yellow, or orange bell peppers.
Instead of basmati rice: you can use brown or jasmine rice, but you'll need to adjust the cook time. For brown rice, pressure cook on high for 15 minutes. For jasmine rice, pressure cook on high for 3 minutes.
Instead of chicken broth: you can also use vegetable broth. You can try using beef broth or water. However, beef broth might make the dish pretty heavy, while water may not provide as much flavor.
❄️ How to Store
To store: Allow the rice to cool completely before scooping it into an airtight container and storing it in the refrigerator. Store leftover dirty rice up to 5 days.
To reheat: Reheat leftover rice by drizzling a small amount of water over top, then microwave for a minute or until the rice is warmed through.
To freeze: Freezing is not recommended.
🔍 FAQs
The term "dirty rice" comes from the rice's appearance after it is cooked. With the browned meat, spices, and vegetables, the white rice turns speckled and brown.
There are many variations of dirty rice. But traditionally, the southern cajun recipe typically calls for ground pork sausage and chicken livers. Often, celery, green bell pepper, onion, garlic, jalapeño, and creole or cajun seasonings are also added.
To make this recipe a bit more attainable for the home cook, I swapped the ground sausage for ground beef and the chicken livers for bacon and chicken broth.
If you don't have an instant pot or pressure cooker, you can make this recipe on the stovetop instead.
To make beef and bacon dirty rice on the stove, follow the directions in the same order, but use a large stock pot and increase the chicken broth to about 4 cups.
After sautéing the bacon, beef, and vegetables according to the recipe instructions, bring the rice, broth, and other ingredients to a boil.
Cover with a tight lid and turn the heat to low. Simmer 15 to 20 minutes before removing from the heat and fluffing with a fork.
💭 One More Tip
To prevent the homemade beef and bacon dirty rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot, fluff it with a fork right after it's cooked, making sure to gently scrape any bits from the bottom of the pot.
Don't let the cooked rice sit in the pot for very long. Instead, remove it entirely from the instant pot and serve it out of a large serving bowl or platter.
🍴 Related Recipes
Share your cooking with me! If you make this recipe, I'd love to know! Tag @yourhomemadehealthy on Instagram or leave a comment with a rating and some feedback at the bottom of this page!
📖 Recipe
Homemade Beef and Bacon Instant Pot Dirty Rice
Equipment
- instant pot or pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 2 strips of bacon
- 1 lb ground beef (90/10)
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 3 celery stalks chopped
- 1 green bell pepper seeded and chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 jalapeño, optional seeded and chopped
- 2 cups basmati rice
- 2 ⅓ cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- a dash of cayenne
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon dried parsley chopped
Instructions
- On the sauté setting of your instant pot, cook bacon until crispy. Remove to a clean plate covered with a paper towel to absorb any extra grease. Set aside.
- With the sauté setting still on, add the ground beef and worcestershire sauce to the pot and cook the beef in the bacon grease until almost cooked through.
- Add onion, celery, green pepper, garlic, and jalapeño (if using) to the beef. Stir to combine and cook until the onion becomes soft and slightly translucent.
- While, the vegetables are cooking, crumble the bacon into small pieces.
- Add bacon to the pot, along with the rice, chicken broth, bay leaf, oregano, thyme, chili powder, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Stir to combine.
- Cover with the lid, place the valve in the sealing position, and pressure cook on high for 4 minutes.
- When the time is up, allow the dirty rice to naturally release for 15 minutes before switching the valve to the venting position and manually releasing the rest of the pressure.
- Fluff rice with a fork, remove the bay leaf, and mix in freshly chopped parsley before serving.
Storage
- To store: Allow the rice to cool completely before scooping it into an airtight container and storing it in the refrigerator. Store leftover dirty rice up to 5 days.To reheat: Reheat leftover rice by drizzling a small amount of water over top, then microwave for a minute or until the rice is warmed through.To freeze: Freezing is not recommended.
Notes
- If you don't have an instant pot or pressure cooker, you can make this recipe on the stovetop instead. To make beef and bacon dirty rice on the stove, follow the directions in the same order, but use a large stock pot and increase the chicken broth to about 4 cups. After sautéing the bacon, beef, and vegetables according to the recipe instructions, bring the rice, broth, and other ingredients to a boil. Cover with a tight lid and turn the heat to low. Simmer 15 to 20 minutes before removing from the heat and fluffing with a fork.
- To prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot, fluff it with a fork right after it's cooked, making sure to gently scrape any bits from the bottom of the pot. Don't let the cooked rice sit in the pot for very long. Instead, remove it entirely from the instant pot and serve it out of a large serving bowl or platter.
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Anna
Love this recipe! The instant pot makes it so quick and easy. Plus the rice came out perfectly.
Alana Lieberman
I'm definitely a huge fan of the instant pot too. Glad you enjoyed it!