Popeye’s Cajun Rice is the perfect copycat recipe for the popular side with ground beef, gizzards, seasoned rice and bold cajun spices in 30 minutes.
We love Copycat Recipes on the site, especially side dishes you can recreate at home to enjoy with fried chicken like our Original Recipe KFC Chicken and Chick-fil-A Nuggets.
POPEYES CAJUN RICE COPYCAT
Popeye’s Cajun Rice is the perfect crazy popular side dish you either love at Popeye’s or may have never heard of before. The Cajun Rice is one of the few fast food side dishes you can order with meat in it, this dish is hearty enough to be a main course (this is how we enjoy it sometimes!).
Thanks to the addition of chicken gizzards in the recipe it tastes like a cross between a turkey rice stuffing made with turkey gizzards and a beefy rice recipe.
Let me tell you, for those of you who are discovering this recipe for the first time, you’re in for a treat. To those of you who got here because you wanted this copycat recipe for a dish you already love, I am excited to share some ideas with you below on how we like to enjoy this recipe in more ways than as a side.
MORE POPULAR RESTAURANT COPYCAT SIDE DISHES:
KFC Coleslaw (Copycat)
KFC Potato Wedges (Copycat)
Boston Market Mac and Cheese (Copycat)
El Pollo Loco BBQ Black Beans (Copycat)
HOW TO MAKE POPEYES CAJUN RICE:
- Rinse your rice well then add to a dutch oven with your beef broth.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium low heat.
- Cover and cook for 20 minutes.
- While the rice is cooking add the vegetable oil, ground beef, chicken gizzards, bell pepper, onion to a large cast iron skillet on medium high heat, breaking it apart as you cook them.
- Add in the garlic powder, celery seed, creole seasoning, cayenne and black pepper along with the water and stir well.
- Add the rice to the mixture, stir well to combine and serve.
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WAYS TO ENJOY POPEYES CAJUN RICE
- Serve with additional vegetables sautéed into the mixture. The more bulk you can add in the more this dish becomes a main course. Adding the remaining halves of the green bell pepper and onion, cut them larger and carrots would be a good addition.
- If you have leftovers, this mixture would make a delicious burrito filling. If you’re making it fresh as a filling, cook the moisture out of it a bit more than the recipe calls for and double the amount of beef and in the recipe and add 50% more spices.
- Use the rice mixture as a filling in a Stuffed Pepper Recipe and bake per the instructions in that recipe.
- Skip the rice portion of the recipe and make the ground beef mixture that you can stuff into pasta shells and bake like in my super popular Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Shells Recipe.
MORE DELICIOUS RICE RECIPES:
Easy Wild Rice
Spanish Rice (Mexican Rice)
Chinese Fried Rice (10 Minutes!)
Stick of Butter Rice
How to Serve and Store Popeye’s Cajun Rice:
- Serve: You can leave this at room temperature for up to 2 hours maximum, but preferably less than 1 hour.
- Store: Stored in an airtight container this recipe is good for 3 days in a refrigerator. Always let the rice cool down to room temperature completely before you put it away.
- Freeze: You can freeze Cajun Rice for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Thaw before reheating in a microwave on half power to avoid drying out the beef.
Popeye's Cajun Rice Recipe (Copycat)
Ingredients
- 2 cups long grain rice
- 4 cups beef broth
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 pound ground beef (85/15)
- 1/2 cup chicken gizzards minced
- 1/2 green bell pepper minced
- 1/2 yellow onion minced
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 teaspoon creole seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Rinse your rice well then add to a dutch oven with your beef broth.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium low heat.
Cover and cook for 20 minutes.
While the rice is cooking add the vegetable oil, ground beef, chicken gizzards, bell pepper, onion to a large cast iron skillet on medium high heat, breaking it apart as you cook them, for about 6-8 minutes.
- Add in the garlic powder, celery seed, creole seasoning, cayenne and black pepper along with the water and stir well.
- Add the rice to the mixture, stir well to combine and serve.
I love Popeye’s Cajun Rice! Thou it taste more like a chicken liver than gizzard. Trying this recipe! Needed to get some of the ingredients that I don’t have right now.
I hope you enjoy it!
Are the chicken gizzards cooked before you mince them or do you add them raw? Thank you
You’ll add them in raw and they get cooked in the skillet. Enjoy!
In the recipe you have listed garlic salt, but in the instructions it says add the garlic powder. Which one do i use? Thank You.
Thank you for catching that. It should be garlic powder. I’ve adjusted the recipe card to read correctly now. Enjoy!
How can I print this recipe?
In the recipe card (below the photo) is a print button.
Where can I find chicken gizzards?
You can usually find them in the grocery store next to where chicken is sold. I know Purdue and Tyson have them at Walmart. You can always ask your local butcher as well. Good luck!
I’ve been eating at Popeyes since the first one opened in New Orleans in the 70s and I can tell you this recipes tastes almost 100% like the original.
Thank you so much!
I love Popeye’s Cajun Rice! And its a rice dish my husband will eat. Lol. What can i use besides the dutch oven?
Any large stock pot would work too. Enjoy!
I’ve never had Popeye’s cajun rice but this looks sooo flavorful and delicious!
You’ve definitely got to try it!
I am loving all the flavours going on in this rice.
Thank you, Dannii.
I have never tried Popeye’s Cajun rice but it sounds seriously flavourful! On my to-make list!
This might just become your new go-to rice recipe.
This dish was PERFECT! It tasted exactly like the real thing – can’t wait to make it again, this time a double batch!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the 5 stars.
Awesome recipe! This is delicious, down to earth good food. Thanks very much. My family will be SO excited.
Yay!! I hope you all enjoy it.
In thought it had chicken livers and jalapeno peppers
Could you tell me if you have a conversion for Instant Pot?
Sauté function and sauté beef with oil. Once done add chicken gizzards 5 minutes.
Add veggies and seasoning and cook for about 2 minutes, add rinsed rice and broth. Stir well. Hit cancel, cover with lid, make sure valve it set to sealing. Cook on high 6 minutes. Allow natural release for 10 minutes. Then manual release and switch valve to venting. Open the lid. Fluff the rice.
Let me know how it turns out 🙂
What could I substitute for gizzards? Looks like a very tasty dish.
The gizzards are essential to making this a true copycat, so if you substitute them or leave them out it won’t taste spot on. You can always leave them out or substitute chicken livers if you don’t want to use gizzard and don’t mind it tasting different.
Can I substitute something for the gizards?
Because it’s a copycat recipe, the gizzards are essential to getting that taste. BUT if you want to leave them out or substitute chicken liver, you can – it just won’t taste like Popeyes.