This spicy chicken sausage and rice recipe is a one pot meal packed full of zesty flavors, perfect for a weeknight dinner meal. Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free too.
I just spent the last week in Florida having hands down the time of my life. I was there meeting up with three of my closest friends in the entire world and we spent the week, eating, drinking, tanning, swimming, and just running around.
I look forward to these get togethers every single year and it never ceases to amaze me how quickly a week can fly by. Time seems to only be speeding up as we get older and I always seem to feel like I just got there when I am heading back to the airport to fly back home.
Are you with me? Time’s flying for you too right?
After a week of delicious eating and drinking, and yes now that we’re all older we’ve upgraded from PBRs and buffalo wings to fancy martinis and grilled octopus salads (though we did manage to squeeze in a few cheap beers and pub food) it’s time to get back into the kitchen.
Since I’ve been out of the cooking loop for a bit I’m going to ease myself back into it with a simple one pot meal. Doing the dishes might just be the single worst chore out there so if you can minimize the pots and pans used to make dinner you’re more likely to look forward to the whole process. Am I right? That’s always my mentality and way of thinking – especially if I do not have a kitchen assistant to help with the clean up. One pot recipes are the best when you can’t be bothered to do much cleaning up but still want to enjoy a home cooked meal.
And so this spicy chicken sausage and rice recipe came to be. In all my years of cooking somehow, making rice in a pot by itself always seems to come out a bit off. Undercooked or overcooked, or slightly crunchy or a bit too moist — why is it that rice is more difficult to perfect than so many other more complex dishes?
Am I the only person with rice cooking issues?
My secret is to toast the rice first and cook it with other ingredients. When I’m making a rice pilaf type dish, as I consider this spicy chicken sausage dish to be, the rice is perfectly cooked every single time. Every single time. When the rice is toasted in oil something magical just happens and the rice becomes way more forgiving of the way it is cooked.
With this chicken sausage and rice recipe you’ve got the spiceness from the chicken sausage and the burst of fresh flavors from the arugula, cilantro and lime juice and the smooth creamy chicken broth soaked rice. I love cooking rice in chicken broth – I find that it adds so much flavor to the rice with a super easy replacement and substitute for water. If you have home made chicken broth – even better, but store bought will suffice too.
You’ve seriously got to toast the rice and cook it in chicken broth instead of water. It makes a world of difference I tell ya.
So for a one pot weeknight dinner meal with minimal clean up yet all the food groups covered in one dish, you can’t go wrong with this one pot spicy chicken sausage and rice recipe.
Let me know what you think of my chicken sausage and rice recipe in the comments below!
This spicy chicken sausage and rice recipe is a one pot meal packed full of zesty flavors, perfect for a weeknight dinner meal. Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free too.
- 12 oz spicy chicken sausage cooked, havled and quartered, thinly sliced
- 2 large shallots diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup rice
- 2- 2.5 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups baby arugula
- 1/2 -1 cup cilantro
- salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 lime zest and juice
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Heat pan oven medium heat and add oil. Cook chicken sausage over medium heat until browned, add onion, garlic and continue to cook for a few minutes.
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Add rice, and lightly toast, mixing everything together.
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Add chicken broth, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered until rice is cooked through (around 15-20 minutes). Add salt to taste.
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Add arugula, lime zest and juice, and cilantro. Toss until combined.
christine says
This is my kind of meal. Easy and full of flavor. Thanks for sharing it at The Wednesday Roundup. Pinning!
Julia says
What a flavourful dish! I’m ready to taste it now!
Miz Helen says
I just love a one pot meal, this looks delicious! Thanks so much for sharing your awesome post with Full Plate Thursday. Have a great week and come back soon!
Miz Helen
peter @feedyoursoultoo says
I like your clean recipes. I am definitely going more that way in my cooking. Now I have a great place to find new ideas. I love Cajun and this recipe feels very familiar to me. I need to try more of the gluten free products. Thx for sharing.
Vicky says
Thanks so much! I too love Cajun spiced recipes – a great blend of flavors!
Angi @ SchneiderPeeps says
oh, how I wish we were neighbors! This looks like a great easy fall dinner – pinning for later. Thanks for sharing at Simple Lives Thursday; hope to see you again this week.
Vicky says
Haha if we were I would definitely bring over a batch of this soup! For sure!
Katie Mae @ Nourishing Simplicity says
Can I just say that this looks amazing! I can’t wait to make it sometime soon. Thank you for sharing it with Simple Meals Friday. It will be featured as one of our favourites in the morning!
Vicky says
Thanks so much! So flattered you’ll be featuring the recipe! : ))
Leslie says
I went to culinary school, and I have issues with cooking rice as well. Some days it’s perfect, other days it turns out mushy in some areas and crunchy in others. It doesn’t matter the method either. I could do it the same way every time, and it will still mess up once in a while. The best method I have found is to bring the water to a boil, put the rice in, stir for a second and let boil at a full rolling boil for about 7 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover it with a lid, and let it steam the rest of the time. This tends to work, for white rice at least.
Vicky says
Thanks for sharing your way of making rice. I’ll definitely try it your way next time — I’ve heard of adding rice to boiling water but never heard of boiling it at a full boil for 7 mins before turning it off. I’m intrigued and will definitely try it this way!!
Cindy (Vegetarian Mamma) says
I love one pot meals! Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest! 🙂 I can’t wait to see what you share this week! Its LIVE!
Cindy
Vicky says
Thanks for sharing! One pot meals are great on busy weeknights!