Name: Cajun Squirrel Dirty Rice
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 65 min
Ingredients: Boned meat from two squirrels; Hearts and livers from two squirrels; 1.5 cups of long grain and wild rice blend; 1 yellow onion, diced; 1 bell pepper, diced; 1 stalk celery, chopped; 1 clove garlic, minced; 4 cups chicken stock; 2 cups water; 2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning; 1 teaspoon ground thyme; 2 bay leaves

Cajun Squirrel Dirty Rice

30 Min

Prep Time

35 Min

Cook Time

3-5

Servings

Medium

Difficulty

Dirty rice is one of my favorite side dishes. The earthy flavor of the traditional chicken livers ties in nicely with the spicy Cajun seasoning blend. We have made the dish with chicken, chicken livers, smoked sausage, or just about any leftover meats that might be found in the fridge.

Add boned squirrel meat, along with squirrel hearts and livers or chicken livers, to this dish for extra flavor. Images by author

The recipe is great with just about any meat, but one of the best is squirrel. Since you pre-cook the squirrel until tender then debone it, this is a great way to use up older squirrels that might be a little to tough to fry. You can simmer the squirrel all day in the slow cooker, or do like we did and cook it in the Instant Pot or similar pressure cookers. The pressure cooker method cuts the cooking time from all day to under a half-hour.

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You can make the recipe with just the squirrel meat and a couple of diced chicken livers, or you can really ratchet up the flavor by saving your squirrel hearts and livers for the dish.

All good dirty rice recipes include liver. You can use chicken liver from the grocery store or save the heart and liver from your squirrels.

Cook the squirrel (not the hearts and livers) in either a slow cooker for 5-7 hours, or an Instant-Pot for 25 minutes. Allow to cool and strip the meat from the bones.

Dice the raw hearts and livers then set them aside. Give the peppers, onion and celery a rough chop.

Chop the pepper, onion and celery.

In a large heavy pot over medium-high heat, sauté the green pepper, onion and celery for 7-10 minutes or until the onions are soft and cooked through. Add the garlic and diced hearts and livers. Cook another 3-5 minutes.

Brown the pepper, onion and celery, then add the boned out squirrel meat to the pot.

Add the rice, stock, boned-out squirrel meat, and water. Add the Cajun seasoning and thyme. Stir well. Toss in the bay leaves.

Add the liquid, spices and rice, then simmer until the rice is done.

Bring the mixture to a low boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 25-30 minutes until the rice is done. Fluff with fork before serving.

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