Better-Than-Bojangles Dirty Rice

A copycat recipe for Bojangles iconic Cajun dirty rice, made with sausage and a favorite throughout Southern states, especially the Carolinas!

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I ain’t never EVER been as tickled with myself as I am over this recipe. If you knew me, and knew how full of it I usually am, you’d know that is saying A LOT.

When I tell you this tastes like Bojangles Dirty Rice, I don’t mean it comes close or it’s about right, I mean the flavor is a dead ringer! This is it. Periodt.

OK, first let me tell you this: I love Bojangles Dirty Rice. I mean, like I loooooooove it. If I order a meal there that comes with two sides, I get two servings of dirty rice. That rice and Captain D’s fried fish are my two fast-food obsessions. I could live the whole rest of my life and never eat another thing from a fast-food restaurant except those two.

Being that I love the rice so much, I’ve spent a fair amount of time studying it over the years. Two things are obvious to me. One, they use the same sausage patties they use on the sausage biscuits. And two, they use red bell peppers. And I’m OK with both of those!

Bojangles sausage has a fine texture which makes it very tender (a gozillion times better than those rubber discs under the golden arches). It’s also seasoned very well. One of the seasonings I can pick up on is sage. Sage isn’t uncommon in breakfast sausage but it’s pretty pronounced in Bojangles’ so I add rubbed sage to my dirty rice recipe to nudge it over even closer to the real deal. 

I think Jimmy Dean and Swaggerty's breakfast sausage come the closest to the fine, tender texture of Bojangles sausage, so I like them best. In this recipe and in general. Side note… I buy cases of Swaggerty's sausage patties and keep them in the freezer. They cook from frozen beautifully – just place a few frozen patties in a skillet, cover with a lid, heat on low for a few minutes to defrost, then remove the lid and cook as usual.

I know traditional dirty rice is made with chicken livers. But seeing as how I don’t like chicken livers and I want dirty rice that tastes like Bojangles’, I never even considered using chicken livers. But, sage has a very earthy, pungent flavor that reminds me of liver so, there’s reason #2 that I use sage in this recipe.

Like most restaurants, Bojangles uses converted rice which is rice that’s parboiled in the husk, dried then “shucked” to remove the husk. It’s more nutritious but I’ve never liked the texture so I used traditional uncooked long-grain white rice.

A lot of dirty rice recipes use plain cooked rice then mix it in with the savory ingredients but I just can’t imagine the original, traditional recipes were made this way. The South has hundreds of rice dishes cooked in the broth or stock of cooked meat so I’m sure the first recipes for dirty rice were made the same way.

Do I really think this is “better than Bojangles” dirty rice? Yes and no. I titled the recipe this way because I didn’t want to outright call it 'Bojangles Dirty Rice' because it isn’t technically the exact same recipe so I think it would be misleading to imply that it is.

To say my recipe is better seems almost sacrilegious to me since Bojangles’ dirty rice is somewhat of an iconic institution of the culinary South but… yeah, I think my recipe is better. But only in the sense that theirs is intended as a side dish and made from fewer ingredients. 

This recipe has layers of flavor and is intended to be more of a feature, if not the main dish. And well, this one has forty-plus years of my love and adoration poured into it. I wanted to get it right so I called on everything I knew about cajun cooking and rice making and made something that's a little better than a fast-food side dish.

You can serve this as a main dish or as a side and it would be amazing to bring to a potluck dinner or covered dish event. If you’re having this as a main dish, consider serving it with a traditional Southern vegetable (plus a plate of fresh sliced tomatoes and homemade buttermilk biscuits!). If you’re having it as a side, it would go great with any slow-cooked or braised main course meats.

SOUTHERN VEGETABLES TO PAIR WITH BOJANGLES DIRTY RICE:

• Southern-Style Canned Green Beans The trick to making perfectly cooked Southern-style green beans with canned beans - the beans don’t fall apart but taste like they’ve cooked all day!
• Country-Style Baby Lima Beans A no-fail Southern recipe for tender baby lima beans (butterbeans) cooked low and slow with bacon.
• Collard Greens A step-by-step recipe for cooking the best authentic Southern collard greens.
• Southern-Style Black-Eyed Peas A slow-cooked recipe for traditional Southern black-eyed peas with ham hocks (or ham bone).
• Green Beans & Potatoes Fresh green beans and potatoes cooked low and slow the Southern way with bacon and onion - recipe includes both stove-top and crock pot instructions.
• Southern Cooked Cabbage A simple recipe for cabbage cooked the Southern way by sautéing in bacon grease then slowly cooking until tender - sometimes called Fried Cabbage.
• Slow Cooker Pinto Beans Dried pintos beans cook up creamy and tender with a smoky, silky sauce that's perfect with cornbread. Recipe includes instructions for crock pot and stove top preparation.

MAIN COURSE MEAT RECIPES TO PAIR WITH BOJANGLES DIRTY RICE:

• Butter-Braised Slow Cooker Pork Roast A fork-tender pork loin drenched in sizzling butter seasoned with Cajun spices cooked to crispy perfection in the crock pot.
• Drunken Chicken with 40’leven Cloves of Garlic Beer brined chicken marinated with whole garlic cloves and simple spices roasted or grilled for a super juicy chicken recipe with incredible flavor that’s seasoned from the inside out!
• Nanny's Sticky Chicken Southern Sticky Chicken slow cooks in an easy sauce in a cast iron skillet. The chicken braises in a slightly sweet tangy sauce and is fall-off-the-bone tender.
• Crock Pot Pulled Pork Tender, juicy pulled pork recipe seasoned with a delicious but simple dry rub recipe then cooked to perfection in a slow cooker.
• Baked Country-Style Ribs A no-fail recipe for tender country-style ribs baked low and slow in the oven over a bed of onions.

Recipe for Better-Than-Bojangles Dirty Rice

NOTES ABOUT COOKING BETTER-THAN-BOJANGLES DIRTY RICE

• Jimmy Dean or Swaggerty's breakfast sausage is my favorite in this recipe.
• You can use Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage in this recipe and omit the 1/2 teaspoon of rubbed sage.
• I don’t know how to convert this recipe to make it with instant rice or brown rice.
• Substitute 1/4 teaspoon ground sage for the 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage if needed.
• Substitute 1 tablespoon dried parsley for the 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley if needed.

Better Than Bojangles Dirty Rice

Yield: 6 Servings

Author: Mandy Rivers | South Your Mouth

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 35 Min

A copycat recipe for Bojangles iconic Cajun dirty rice, made with sausage and a favorite throughout Southern states, especially the Carolinas!

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground pork sausage
• 1 1/2 cups finely diced celery
• 1 small red bell pepper, finely diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/3 cup butter
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 cups uncooked extra long-grain rice
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Cook and crumble sausage in a wide skillet or pan (you will need to use something with a tight fitting lid) until sausage is nicely browned. Remove sausage from pan using a slotted spoon; set aside.
2. Add celery, bell pepper, onion and butter to pan then cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.
3. Add broth, garlic, salt, sage, thyme, pepper, cayenne and cooked sausage then bring to a boil. Once boiling, add rice and parsley.
4. Return to a gentle boil then cover, reduce heat to low or medium-low (wherever your dial gives you a gentle simmer) then cook for 20-25 minutes or until rice is tender.
5. Stir rice once or twice with a fork to ensure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot but don’t overwork the rice. Don’t stir the rice or open the lid the last 5 minutes of cooking.
6. Remove from heat then let rest, covered, for 10 minutes.

Notes

• Jimmy Dean or Swaggerty's breakfast sausage is my favorite in this recipe.
• You can use Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage in this recipe and omit the 1/2 teaspoon of rubbed sage.
• I don’t know how to convert this recipe to make it with instant rice or brown rice.
• Substitute 1/4 teaspoon ground sage for the 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage if needed.
• Substitute 1 tablespoon dried parsley for the 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley if needed.

https://www.southyourmouth.com/2022/01/better-than-bojangles-dirty-rice.html

Images and text © South Your Mouth LLC 2022

dirty rice, copycat, bojangles, cajun, sausage, jimmy dean, how to, best, southern, side dish, potluck, rice, famous, recipe, copy cat

dinner, side, supper

american, southern, cajun

Are you a Bojangles fan? If so, you know ALL ABOUT their Bo-Berry Biscuits and you will want to have this recipe for BLUEBERRY BUTTER SWIM BISCUITS from The Country Cook!

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