One-Pot Cajun Sausage and Rice is one of my pantry/freezer recipes, aka “back pocket”. On nights when I really don’t feel like cooking I can just throw it all in one pan using items I keep in my pantry and fridge. The only chopping required is cutting the sausage into rounds, which takes minutes.

one-pot cajun sausage and rice prepared dish

This Cajun Sausage and Rice recipe is super simple and satisfying, especially if you like a little spice. It’s one of those recipes that keeps us from ordering take-out since I keep all the ingredients on hand and it takes so little prep work. To make it a bit healthier, I use and recommend the reduced sodium rice mix and chicken sausage.

Key Ingredients for Cajun Sausage and Rice

Zatarain’s reduced sodium Jambalaya Rice Mix: this is probably the most important ingredient to making this an easy recipe since it includes the rice and all the spices. I recommend the reduced sodium version to make it a bit healthier but you can use the original version if you prefer.
Fully cooked sausage: We like Andouille chicken sausage or smoked turkey sausage.
Ro-Tel diced tomatoes: I keep several cans of Ro-Tel in my pantry. These tomatoes add even more flavor to the dish.
Pasta sauce: I keep a can of Hunt’s Traditional pasta sauce on hand just for this recipe. It’s very inexpensive compared to other pasta sauces and it works great for this Cajun Sausage and Rice, probably because the other flavors are so powerful and you need it more for sauciness than for flavor.

one-pot cajun sausage and rice key ingredients

Note: Make sure to check recipe card for full list of ingredients

Preparation Steps for One-Pot Cajun Sausage and Rice

Slice sausage into 1/2″ rounds
Combine everything in a deep skillet and stir
Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer about 20-25 minutes

That’s it! I love recipes where you can just dump everything in one pan and let it cook, with an occasional stir.

Substitutions

Any 8 oz box of Zatarain’s rice mixes will work in this recipe
You can use any kind of sausage in this, just make sure it’s fully cooked/smoked. Be aware that the level of spiciness for Andouille sausage can vary widely between brands!
You can use regular diced tomatoes in place of the Ro-Tel
Any kind of pasta sauce will work, or even regular tomato sauce
You can experiment to get this to the right level of spiciness for you. I’d start with using regular smoked sausage instead of the Andouille and regular diced tomatoes.

Time Breakdown

Total Time	30 minutes
Hands ON time	5 minutes
Hands OFF time	25 minutes

BEST FOR:

Nights when you want to spend very little time and effort on preparation, but have a little bit of time before you need to eat. You can spend time while it’s cooking preparing any side dishes.

My Ratings

Taste
Effort
Nutrition
Overall

SUMMARY:

This recipe tastes good and requires very little effort, which is a huge plus for burnt out cooks. The packaged rice mix has a pretty high sodium content, even using the low sodium version, so it’s not the healthiest meal you can make. This one-pot Cajun Sausage and Rice recipe is great when you just want to get a meal on the table using ingredients on hand, but I only make it every few months.

Serve with

I like a vegetable with this dish since it already includes a protein and starch. To keep it simple and use items on hand, I’ll usually roast frozen vegetables in the air fryer or steam them in the instant pot, or throw together a quick salad.

You can also make a vegetarian version! This Cajun Beans and Rice recipe uses kidney beans in place of the sausage for a tasty vegetarian dinner.