The Dirty rice is a traditional Creole dish from Louisiana consisting of: white rice that gets a “dirty” color as it is cooked with small pieces of meat (pork, beef, or chicken), green bell pepper, celery, and onion, and seasoned with Cayenne pepper.

It can be found in other American states as “chicken and rice,” “Cajun rice,” or “rice dressing“.

The “dirtiness” mentioned in the name of the dish is likely due to the choice of meat traditionally included in the dish.

Enslaved people were given the “undesirable” cuts of meat that would otherwise be thrown away by plantation owners. This generally included intestines, neck, feet, head, ears, rib cage, tail, and tongue of pigs, cows, and chickens. Enslaved people adapted by creating meals.

The rice, combined with the offal provided by the slave owners, were the main components of Dirty rice.

Often, the dish was prepared using the hearts, livers, kidneys, gizzards, ribs, and feet of livestock. The meat was first cooked, then chopped into fine pieces while the rice cooked.

Then, the rice was mixed with this meat mixture, and the broth-like “gravy” formed by the meat gave the rice its “dirty” appearance.

After the abolition of slavery in the late 1800s, the dish remained a traditional meal among the freed African Americans due to its affordable price and ease of preparation.

Subsequently, it was adopted as a “poor man’s meal” by impoverished white and Acadian “Cajun” immigrants who also populated the lower class of southern Louisiana.

However, as immigrants later acquired more wealth and access to better ingredients, the recipe saw the inclusion of more expensive additions, such as Andouille sausage and ground meat instead of chicken livers and pork intestines. And additional spices, such as bay leaves, garlic, and Cayenne pepper.

The dish is served both as a main course and as a side dish, and is often served alongside other traditional Louisiana dishes, including gumbo.

A well-known variant of this rice dish is another Cajun staple: