Dirty Rice is a New Orleans dish loaded with sausage and butter. A woman I used to work with named Monica adapted this recipe, which is one of the hubby’s faves. I tend to make it when I have celery to use up, as it’s one of my only recipes that calls for celery leaves. This freezes beautifully in single-serving containers for lunch.

The renovation: Monica did the heavy lifting. I have made it meatless by using soy chorizo instead of turkey bacon and ground turkey, and I always use brown rice (or a brown/wild rice mix) for more fiber and nutrition.

Suitable for:
vegan, gluten-free, reduced-sugar diets

Not for:
low-sodium or migraine diets

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Dirty rice for Meatless Monday on Recipe Renovator

Dirty rice: Meatless Monday

5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 2 bell peppers red
  • 4 stalks celery with leaves
  • 1 bunch kale Swiss chard
  • 1 onions large, white, brown, yellow
  • 2 cloves garlic peeled and minced
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp hot sauce Tabasco, El Tapatio, Frank's
  • 1 tsp cumin (dried)
  • 1 tsp oregano (dried)
  • 6 ounces soy chorizo (or quinrizo) quinrizo, see notes
  • 2 cups vegetable stock (low-sodium)
  • 1 cup brown rice (225 g)

Instructions
 

  • Wash and dice the peppers, celery, and greens.
  • Peel the onion and dice it into 1/2" pieces.
  • Sauté the onions and celery 10 minutes over medium-high heat in a large nonstick pan with a lid.
  • Add the peppers, greens, and spices and cook for 5 minutes more. Add the soy chorizo and stock and bring to a simmer.
  • Rinse and drain 1 cup of rice (jasmine, basmati, or brown). Add the rinsed rice and cook until the rice is done (20 minutes for white rice, 45 minutes for brown.)

Notes

Per serving:
  • 164 calories
  • 5 g fat
  • 1 g saturated fat
  • 0 g monounsaturated fat
  • 0 g polyunsaturated fat
  • 0 g trans fat
  • 0 g cholesterol
  • 533 mg sodium (reduce sodium by using quinrizo & salt-free broth)
  • 550 mg potassium
  • 25 g carbohydrate
  • 5 g fiber
  • 5 g sugars
  • 8 g protein
  • 4 Weight Watchers Points Plus
I use 1/2 package of soy chorizo, because it is very spicy, and I don't add cayenne or tabasco. If I used a less spicy soy chorizo, I would use the whole package and add the cayenne and hot sauce. You can also make this using one cup of TVP soaked in 1 C. of water, plus a bit of tomato sauce and some additional spice to taste, or my quinrizo to make it soy-free.
Meat-eaters can use one 16 oz. package (450 g) ground turkey, plus up to 6 strips of turkey bacon or one link of spicy turkey sausage. Cook the meat first, drain the fat and wipe out the pan with a paper towel, set the meat aside, then begin cooking the veggies in the same pan.
To speed things up: Start the brown rice in a separate saucepan with the broth while you're prepping and sautéeing the vegetables. Then add the rice to the pan once the veggies are ready, cover, and finish cooking for the total time the brown rice requires.