Jailhouse Rice (Sausage & Rice Casserole)

A family-size comfort food casserole recipe baked with rice, ground beef and sausage. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. JUMP TO RECIPE
2. WHY IS IT CALLED JAILHOUSE RICE?
3. RECIPE VARIATIONS

You’ve got to have pretty thick skin to have any sort of public presence on the internet. You’d think a leelittle ol' food blogger could share a few recipes without getting treated like a fallen Kardashian. But… you’d be wrong.

Social media has made people downright mean, y’all! I mostly just laugh at the stuff I get but I’ve had to stop sharing it with Husband because he gets UPSET when anyone messes with me.

After sharing a particularly nasty comment with him one night he walked so many circles around the living room I thought he was gonna cut a hole in the rug! He looked like Fred Sanford pausing and clutching his chest every third round or so.

Bless his heart.

WHY IS IT CALLED JAILHOUSE RICE?

One night I stumbled onto a pin of my original (old, excuse the photos) Sausage & Rice Casserole on Pinterest and saw that there were over a hundred comments on it.

On a pin?? What the what?! 

When I checked it out I saw that a full-blown debate had broken out. Someone commented saying the recipe looked like prison food.

Then another someone chimed in saying it was one of her favorite recipes and it was nothing like prison food.

And then another one joined in saying he’d been to prison and neither of them knew what they were talking about.

😐

It appears Pinterest was divided on that pin between those who thought the recipe looked awful (like prison food) and those who had tried it and loved it (and were defending it – bless them) with a sprinkling of ex-cons who, evidently, wished they had had some when they were in jail.

Lawzamercy.

I got a good chuckle out of it, even if I did go to bed scratching my head wondering why anyone would think a yummy casserole made with rice and sausage looked like something you’d eat in jail.

I had a house full of people coming over the next weekend and wanted to cook something easy so I decided to make a double batch of the original recipe, add a few tweaks, then have on the ready in case anyone wanted more substance than the nibbles I was serving.

And in honor of the Pinterest debate over the original recipe, I decided to call the big batch version Jailhouse Rice!!

VARIATIONS FOR JAILHOUSE RICE (SAUSAGE & RICE CASSEROLE)

I have tweaked the original recipe six ways from Sunday over the years, just using what I had on-hand. Three main components of the recipe are ground meat, broth and creamed soup which can be switched up dozens of ways. Here, see what I mean…

GROUND MEAT:

• Sausage
• Venison
• Italian Sausage
• Turkey
• Chicken
• Beef
• Pork

BROTH:

• Chicken
• Vegetable
• Beef
• Turkey

CREAMED SOUP:

• Mushroom
• Onion
• Celery
• Chicken
• Broccoli
• Broccoli Cheese
• Asparagus

A FEW OF MAY FAVORITE COMBOS:

• Sage sausage, turkey broth, cream of celery, cream of onion (great side for Thanksgiving!)
• Italian Sausage, beef broth & 2 cream of onion PLUS Italian seasoning blend then top with parmesan cheese the last 15 minutes of cooking.
• Ground chicken, chicken broth, broccoli cheese, cream of chicken PLUS frozen broccoli florets then top with shredded cheddar cheese the last 15 minutes of cooking.
• Ground beef, beef broth, 2 cream of mushroom PLUS sliced mushrooms.
• Ground pork, low sodium beef broth, 2 cream of celery PLUS diced water chestnuts and soy sauce (for a little Asian flare)

OTHER MAIN DISHES MADE WITH RICE

As most of you know, I looooove rice so I cook with it a LOT. Because of our proximity to the Low Country, my neck of the South cooks rice more than most. Here are some recipes I especially love - I hope you'll try some!

Southern Style Crock Pot Chicken & Rice - An easy slow cooker recipe for a Carolina favorite made with tender stewed chicken and long grain rice. 

Better-Than-Bojangles Dirty Rice - A copycat recipe for Bojangles iconic Cajun dirty rice, made with sausage and a favorite throughout Southern states. 

Carolina Chicken Bog - A one-pot recipe of rice, chicken and smoked sausage cooked in a flavorful stock made from slow-cooked chicken. 

Mediterranean Chickpea Rice - A hearty rice recipe with chickpeas (garbanzo beans) flavored with bacon, tomatoes, onion and garlic. 

Country-Style Ribs & Rice - An old-school Southern recipe made with rice cooked in a rich stock made from slowly cooked country-style pork ribs. 

Charleston Red Rice - A Lowcountry recipe popular from Charleston to Savannah, made from rice cooked with bacon and a tomato broth seasoned with peppers and onions. 

Chicken Scampi with Garlic Parmesan Rice - The ORIGINAL quick and easy skillet meal recipe for tender chicken scampi over perfectly cooked buttery, garlic parmesan rice. 

Recipe for Jailhouse Rice (Sausage & Rice Casserole)

Jailhouse Rice

Yield: 10-12 Servings

Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 15 M

A family-size comfort food casserole recipe baked with rice, ground beef and sausage.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 lb. sausage (I use 'Hot')
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 2 cups finely diced celery
• 2 14.5-oz cans chicken broth
• 1 10.5-oz can cream of celery soup
• 1 10.5-oz can cream of onion soup
• 2 cups extra long-grain white rice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 3-quart 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray; set aside.
2. Add ground beef, sausage, salt, pepper and garlic to a large skillet then brown and crumble over medium-high heat.
3. When meat is about half cooked, add onion and celery then continue cooking until meat is cooked through and veggies are tender. Do not drain.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together broth and soups until smooth. Pour soup mixture into skillet, stir then continue cooking until everything starts to bubble.
5. Gently stir in rice then pour everything into prepared baking dish dish. Cover tightly with aluminum foil then bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes. If mixture cools before baking, allow up to 15 additional minutes of cooking time.
6. Remove casserole from oven and let rest, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove foil then fluff rice with a fork before serving.

Notes

• I prefer Jimmy Dean or Swaggerty sausage with this recipe.
• Use uncooked rice.
• Use the condensed soup straight from the can - do not prepare first.
• I don't know if this can be made with Minute rice or brown rice because I've never cooked either type of rice.
• I don't know how this could be converted to a slow cooker recipe. 
• You must cover the dish TIGHTLY with foil to ensure the moisture stays inside to cook the rice through.

https://www.southyourmouth.com/2018/05/jailhouse-rice.html

Images and text © South Your Mouth LLC 2018

ground beef, hamburger, sausage, rice, cream of, onion, celery, covered dish, soup, jailhouse, jail, best, recipe, easy, casserole, southern, dressing, jimmy dean, dirty rice

main dish, main course, potluck

american, southern

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