Every year my family looks forward to my grandmother’s Creole Rice Dressing for the holidays. This recipe has been in our family for decades.

It is the kind of dish that when you look at it you’re not sure what to think because it is filled with delicious meats, savory spices and scrumptious vegetables, diced just right for the tasting.

I know there is a dish out there called dirty rice, Please, do not call it that in front of my Grandmother! That is an insult to her cooking.

When my grandmother was making this rice dressing, she would work for hours perfecting her savory rice with love. She wanted each batch to be the best one of all!

I remember every Thanksgiving I would cook right alongside my Grandmother. She taught me how to dice the garlic, chop the celery, and mince the parsley.

chopped the bell pepper, jalapeno pepper and green onion just so, all for the rice dressing.  She put scores of her wisdom and her Creole heritage into her cooking.

Rice dressing love

My grandmother’s cooking was truly a labor of love. I am so glad that she took the time to pass her creole cooking heritage down to me. Thanksgiving was one of her favorite holidays because she could cook the foods that she loved to share with her grandkids, man do I miss her!

I know why she put so much effort into preparing the rice dressing because she loved seeing the joy on our faces when we knew that it was time to eat it! She talked about our greediness and it made her laugh to see our antics.

We would rush to the kitchen with our plates in hand and our mouths watering for the rice dressing, turkey, ham, cornbread stuffing, and all of the foods!

My brother Ricky and I raced each other getting to the table.

Boy, my mouth is watering right now just remembering her cooking.

It was a sacred time cooking Rice Dressing for the holidays because my grandmother put her time, money and heart into her cooking. She did not play when it came to preparing this rice dressing.

It had 3 to 4 different types of meat, Campbell’s cream of chicken & cream of mushroom soups, and a combination of herbs & spices.   There were so many different meats diced so tiny and mixed in, that the taste was unbelievable.

One sad story about Rice Dressing

When my Grandmother made rice dressing, she put oysters in it. I can remember my grandmother working all night one Thanksgiving, preparing her famous rice dressing, oysters included.

For some reason, the whole entire pot spoiled. She was heartbroken. That was money down the drain, and it meant we would not have rice dressing that year.

I do not understand what happened at that time but it taught me to never use oysters when I prepared rice dressing.

Yet, it didn’t stop her from cooking it the next holiday

This rice dressing is the kind of dish that you do not cook any other time except for Thanksgiving. But she cooked such a large enough amount that she would freeze packages for Christmas and Easter.

Cooking Rice dressing for the holidays is so special and it will be a centerpiece at your Thanksgiving feast, I promise you!

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