Hurricane Rice with Shrimp & Sausage

A hearty Cajun-style skillet filled with shrimp, sausage and brown rice cooked in beer, packed with flavor and texture and dinner goodness that'll have you lickin' your chops and thinking about a second helping.

Approachable, Homestyle Whole Food, Fast & Casual, Hearty & Filling. Little Effort, Big Taste. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. One-Pot Meal. High Protein. Naturally Gluten Free. Mere Minutes to the Table. Another Quick Supper, a Kitchen Parade Specialty. High Protein. Naturally Gluten Free.

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On My Mind: Extreme Weather

This recipe was first published in 2005 as the U.S. grappled with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, devastation and destruction along the Gulf Coast and especially in New Orleans.

Ever since, whenever a big storm looms, I turn to Hurricane Rice.

Just in the last month, Hurricane Hilary rained down on Southern California; wind swept fire across the Hawaiian island of Maui, destroying the historic town of Lahaina; the Canadian capital city evacuated as raging wildfire approached.

My own Texas family endured weeks of 100+ temperatures, peaking so far at 110F. During our own few days of 100+ temperatures last week, the dog struggled to understand why we wouldn't even step outside, even dark early, even after dark.

And that's just in the past couple of weeks.

Even this very day, as this recipe goes live, Hurricane Idalia is thrashing the Big Bend Gulf coast of Florida as a Category 4, up-ending the lives of millions. God speed, y'all ...

Extreme weather in 2023, it's one intense event after another, so many, so devastating but still, so easily forgotten.

"This too shall pass."

My parents' wisdom offers calm before (and during) a life storm but cannot match extreme weather caused by climate change. It's our new normal. It's going to worsen before it improves.

Will it pass? Possibly but not likely in our lifetimes and not unless we continue taking serious action.

And yet, life does go on, at least for those able to protect our families and homes from tragedy, cope with and adapt to adversity.

I claim no solution, no special wisdom.

I just know that Hurricane Rice helps. It bows to extreme weather. It feeds my family and for a short while, my soul.

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About This Recipe

• Hurricane Rice is a one-skillet meal with Cajun vibes, a combination of cooked brown rice, shrimp and sausage plus a few vegetables.
• Distinctive Ingredients = brown rice cooked in beer + bites of shrimp & sausage
• Short Ingredient List = all the above + the Cajun "trinity" of onion & green pepper & celery + adobo sauce + Cajun seasoning of oregano & basil & thyme + sweet corn + okra + tomato
• The three main ingredients are already cooked, so it's easy to put Hurricane Rice on the table in under 30 minutes.
• The recipe yields four generous servings.
• For an all-plant version of Hurricane Rice, consider Cajun Dirty Rice with Eggplant.
• Not quite what you're looking for but still craving something Cajun? Check out my other Cajun & Creole recipes.

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How About Some Fun Side Dishes & a Sweet Finish?

~ Big Cajun Chopped Salad ~
~ Cucumber-Mango Salad ~
~ Bourbon Pralines ~

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How do you save and share favorite recipes? recipes that fit your personal cooking style? a particular recipe your mom or daughter or best friend would just love? If this recipe for a Cajun-inspired quick supper inspires you, please do save and share! I'd be honored ...

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HURRICAN RICE with SHRIMP & SAUSAGE

Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Time-to-table: 25 minutes
Serves 4

The recipe calls for cooked rice, cooked shrimp and cooked sausage. The rice, especially, needs a good head start, allow at least an hour.

• 1 tablespoon bacon grease or another fat
• 1/2 large yellow onion, diced small
• 1/2 large green pepper, diced small
• 1 rib celery, diced small
• Salt


• 8 ounces (225g) cooked sausage (see ALANNA's TIPS), cut into small bites
• 2 ears sweet corn, optional, cut cross-wise into thin rounds or kernels sliced off the cob (see How to Cut Corn Off the Cob, Keeping All Ten Fingers, Capturing Every Delicious Kernel and Every Drop of Sweet Corn "Milk")
• 8 ounces (225g) small, fresh okra, optional, stem ends trimmed
• 1-1/2 cups cooked rice (preferably brown rice cooked in beer, see TIPS)
• 2 teaspoons adobo sauce (see TIPS) stirred with 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• Sprinkle cayenne
• Plenty of pepper


• 8 ounces (225g) cooked shrimp, cut into bite-size pieces (if you like, keep a few whole for garnish)
• 8 ounces (225g) cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered

GARNISH
• Cooked whole shrimp, optional

PREP If needed, cook the rice about an hour before beginning to start. Any uncooked shrimp or uncooked sausage can be roasted in the same oven.

COOK In a large heavy skillet, heat the bacon grease on medium heat until shimmery. Stir in the chopped onion, pepper and celery at the same time, dust with salt and let barely cook, just until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the cooked sausage and let cook, stirring occasionally, until the edges begin to crisp up. Stir in the corn and okra, let cook just until beginning to warm up, they'll finish with the rice and shrimp.

Stir in the rice, adobo sauce stirred with water and spices. Heat through, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the cooked shrimp and heat through. Stir in the tomatoes and heat through.

Test the corn and okra for doneness, if needed, cook just until tender.

Garnish the whole shrimp and serve hot. It's time to dig in!

LEFTOVERS reheat beautifully.

LEFTOVERS freeze beautifully too. Just pack the mixture (fully cooked, mostly cooled) into a freezer container, Press a double layer of waxed paper onto the surface to prevent freezer burn. Cover tightly, removing as much air as possible. It won't last forever, best to eat within three months.

ALANNA's TIPS
SAUSAGE In Cajun cuisine, andouille sausage would be traditional here. But two things. We have to go out of our way to find andouille and then to our taste, it's way-way too spicy. So instead, we turn to a milder cooked sausage like summer sausage, something with lots of flavor that won't leave our mouths burning and gasping for a big swallow of cold beer. FYI my husband is the master of texture, he'd definitely brown the sausage pieces separately so that they get really crispy without overcooking the vegetables. RICE Must you use brown rice cooked in beer? No but the pair really do add an unexpected edge. For Hurricane Rice, I follow this recipe, Oven-Baked Brown Rice, just substituting beer for water. To our taste, a lighter beer works better than a stronger beer. Allow a good hour to cook the rice. For some-faster cooking for brown rice, use Perfect Stovetop Brown Rice. For white rice, here's How to Cook White Rice. CHIPOTLE IN ADOBO Look for small cans of "chipotle in adobo sauce" in the Mexico aisle at the grocery store, super easy to find. Inside you'll find small chipotle (once dried, jalapeños are called chipotle) that are wet with a brown-colored adobo sauce. It's the sauce you're after for this dish, just a couple of teaspoons for lovely smoky flavor, not spicy. That said, when I open a can, I always purée the chipotle and adobo sauce together, it keeps for months in the fridge, ready to use whenever. Because the chipotles have been mixed in, the combined mixture is much spicier, you'll use less, say 1 teaspoon plus more to taste. Swoosh either one with some water, this distributes the flavor throughout the rice without any unexpected hot 'n' spicy spots. SHRIMP To yield 8oz/225g cooked shrimp, you'll need to buy a good pound of unshelled shrimp. I like to keep the pieces of shrimp quite big, so you know you're seeing and eating shrimp. For most shrimp, that means each shrimp is cut into 2 or 3 pieces.

FOR MORE INFO If you "skipped straight to the recipe," please scroll back to the top of this page for ingredient information, ingredient substitutions, tips and more. If you print this recipe, you'll want to check the recipe online for even more tips and extra information about ingredient substitutions, best results and more. See https://www.kitchenparade.com/2023/08/hurricane-rice-with-shrimp-sausage.html .

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Serving: 399 Calories; 19g Tot Fat; 8g Sat Fat; 154mg Cholesterol; 1381mg Sodium; 25g Carb; 3g Fiber; 3g Sugar; 24g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 9 & PointsPlus 10 & SmartPoints 12 & Freestyle 11 & myWW green 11 & blue 11 & purple 9 & future WW points

RECIPE HISTORY Hurricane Rice was first published in 2005 at A Veggie Venture, my food blog about vegetables. It was my contribution to an early food blogger effort to recognize the humanitarian crisis in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. I'd never cooked N'awlins but a tablespoon of research yielded a whole cup of self-confidence. The common objective was to create an original recipe with a handful of New Orleans-inspired ingredients, beer, shrimp, sausage and tomato. I cooked under the influence of NPR's Fresh Aid with music from New Orleans greats Dr John, Harry Connick Jr and Allen Toussaint. FYI, I just created a playlist with all three segments. I cooked with gratitude, knowing my own family was safe and sound and dry. I cooked with recognition that I was in a position to help those who'd been left with little more than their lives. Since then, not only has the recipe has come to have much personal significance but it's also a meal I return to over and over again, especially during hurricane season. So I decided to move it here to Kitchen Parade where it's better suited.

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Seasonal Cooking: Late-Summer Across the Years

Chicken a la King Naked Peach Cobbler Grilled Pepper Salads Potato Bites with Smoked Salmon Cantaloupe Smoothies (Creamy or Frosty) Creamy Ricotta with Tomato-Cucumber-Corn Salad Jerusalem Turkey Burgers with Zucchini BATTLE Sandwiches Oil Tanker Burgers Simple Sliced Peaches

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More Rice:Less Meat in Tasty Skillets & Casseroles

• THE RECIPE Black Beans & Rice Skillet Casserole with Smoked Chicken Simple comfort food with smoky flavors.
• ANOTHER TAKE Red Beans & Rice Slow-cooked Creole comfort food. (PIN This)

• THE RECIPE Afghan Chicken & Rice Casserole (Kabeli Palau) Unusual, amazing combination of ingredients. (PIN This)
• SERVE WITH Afghan Eggplant & Tomato Casserole (Borani Banjan) An explosion of tastes and textures and temperatures.

• THE RECIPE Cauliflower Risotto Easier, more delicious than you think.
• ANOTHER TAKE Spiced Chicken Tagine with Roasted Cauliflower A one-pot supper with warm spices. (PIN This)

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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ rice ~
~ bell pepper recipes ~
~ tomato recipes ~
~ corn recipes ~
~ okra recipes ~
~ shrimp ~
~ sausage ~
~ chipotle in adobo sauce ~

~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail, you'll find my current address in the FAQs. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, for more scratch cooking recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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