One Pot Chicken and Dirty Rice

Three years complete. One hundred and fifty-six weeks. I am twenty-nine years old, turning thirty in October. I have two children who are growing faster than I can track. I have a marriage that is imperfect and ongoing and worth the work. I have a mother who taught me to taste. I have a father who is teaching me to endure. I have a grill, a smoker, a cast-iron skillet, and a kitchen that smells like garlic and coconut oil because my wife does hair in the same room where I make food. I have a basketball team that finished second and a community center where I stand on a court and give the game back to kids who need it. I cook now. I really cook. Not Mama-level. Not Miss Doris-level. But DeShawn-level, which is its own level, and it is rising. My food tastes like effort and love and the two years of learning that turned a man who ate cereal for dinner into a man who smokes brisket and makes gumbo and fries chicken and bakes banana bread and stands on a balcony in Detroit watching smoke rise into the sky. Brianna and I had a quiet Sunday together. I grilled chicken. She made a salad. The kids played in the living room. The music was low. The sun was coming through the window of the apartment that we have made into a home, a salon, a kitchen, a place where people eat and grow and argue and love and start over. Mama's Sunday dinner was red beans and rice. The meal that started everything — the recipe carried north from Louisiana, the tradition of Monday beans, the taste of home. I ate two bowls and looked at the table: Mama at the head, Dad in his chair, Keisha, Darius with DJ on his lap, Marc making everyone laugh, Brianna next to me, Aiden between us, Zaria in her high chair. The table is fuller now. Fuller than it was three years ago, when I started this story. New people. New food. New versions of old people. The table holds. It always holds. And the food is always good.

Mama’s red beans and rice started it all — that Louisiana recipe carried north, that Sunday meal that taught me what a table is supposed to feel like. I can’t make her version yet. But I can make this: one pot chicken and dirty rice, same holy trinity of onion and celery and bell pepper, same low-and-slow patience, same smell that makes the whole apartment feel like home. I made it the week after that Sunday dinner, standing at the stove thinking about a table that keeps getting fuller — and about how the food is always, always good.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 lb ground pork or ground chicken livers (traditional dirty rice base)
1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp Cajun or Creole seasoning, divided
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 green onions, thinly sliced
Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

Season the chicken. Pat chicken pieces dry and toss with 1 tbsp Cajun seasoning, a pinch of salt, and black pepper. Set aside while you prep the vegetables.
Sear the chicken. Heat vegetable oil in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chicken in a single layer and sear 3–4 minutes without moving until golden brown. Flip and cook 2 more minutes. Remove chicken and set aside — it does not need to be cooked through yet.
Brown the ground meat. In the same pan over medium heat, add the ground pork. Cook 4–5 minutes, breaking it up, until browned. Drain excess fat if needed, leaving about 1 tbsp in the pan.
Build the base. Add onion, bell pepper, and celery to the pan. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and fragrant. Add garlic and cook 1 more minute until golden.
Toast the rice. Stir in the uncooked rice along with the remaining 1 tbsp Cajun seasoning, smoked paprika, and dried thyme. Stir constantly for 1–2 minutes to toast the rice and coat it in the seasoning.
Simmer together. Pour in the chicken broth and stir to combine. Nestle the seared chicken pieces on top. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover tightly, and cook 25–30 minutes until the rice is tender and has absorbed the broth and the chicken registers 165°F internally.
Rest and finish. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork, taste for seasoning, and top with sliced green onions. Serve hot, family-style, straight from the pot.

Nutrition (per serving)

One Pot Chicken and Dirty Rice — Mama’s Louisiana Table, Carried North