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.
  • Saut� 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 saut�eing 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.