Vegan Red Rice
This vegan red rice is a southern-style dish made with vegan sausage, tomato paste, and spicy hot sauce. It’s sometimes referred to as Charleston red rice or southern red rice. It’s one of the easiest meals that you can make plus it’s filling and delicious!
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❤️ Why make this recipe
This dish was a staple in my house when I was a kid and once I made it myself for the first time, I see why my mother made it a lot. It uses up leftover rice in the fridge, it can be made in about 15 minutes, plus it’s cheap and filling for a hungry family!
🧾 Ingredients and substitutions
- Rice – you can use any leftover rice that you have in the fridge. It works best if it’s cold leftover rice, but you can also use freshly made rice. I always use Basmati rice in this dish. (My mother always makes this dish with minute rice to make it super easy.)
- Vegan Sausage – any vegan sausage will work like Beyond sausage links, Tofurky sausages, seitan sausage links, or vegan sausage crumbles.
- Tomato Paste – a small can of tomato paste to give it its red color and a tomatoey flavor. You could also use crushed tomatoes if you don’t have tomato paste.
- Hot Sauce – Frank’s Red Hot or an equivalent hot sauce. You can add more or less of the hot sauce to adjust the level of spice that you desire.
- Herbs – green onions and/or cilantro sprinkled on top give the rice a little extra flavor, color, and texture.
🔪 Helpful tools
- A Large Frying Pan – to saute the sausage and rice in.
🥄 Instructions
Step 1 – Saute vegan sausages of choice in 2 tablespoons of cooking oil of choice over medium heat for about 5 minutes. (If you use Beyond sausages you can break them into bite-sized pieces as you cook them. If you use a seitan-based sausage, cut them into small pieces before cooking.)
Step 2 – Add 6 cups of cooked rice, 1 (6 oz) container of tomato paste, and 1/3 cup of hot sauce.
Step 3 – Stir well until all of the tomato paste and hot sauce is combined and heated through. (It will take a lot of stirring to get the rice evenly coated in the tomato paste and hot sauce.)
Step 4 – Turn off the heat and sprinkle with fresh herbs like green onions, cilantro, or parsley if desired.
👩🏻‍🍳 Pro Tips
- You can use any leftover rice that you have in this dish. I usually use basmati rice, but you can also use brown rice, minute rice, or even cooked quinoa.
- If you don’t have any leftover rice, you can make a fresh batch of rice. It works best if you let it cool with the lid off for about 20 minutes before adding it to the sausage.
- Add more or less hot sauce to adjust the level of spice.
- This is supposed to be a rice dish that is on the dry side. It will take a lot of stirring to get the tomato paste and hot sauce well mixed. However, you can add a few tablespoons of water if your rice is too dry.
âť“ Frequently asked questions?
To make this dish gluten-free simply use a gluten-free vegan sausage like Beyond sausage. You can also use my homemade TVP sausage crumbles or gluten-free vegan sausage links.
Cold leftover rice fries up a little better than hot freshly-made rice. However, if you want to make this dish and you don’t have any rice in the fridge, you can use fresh. Just cook your rice completely, then allow it to sit with the lid off for about 20 minutes allowing all the steam to escape. This will dry out the rice a little and make it fry better.
🥡 Storage and reheating
Refrigerate: This vegan red rice will keep well in the fridge for 3 – 5 days in an airtight container.
Freeze: Red rice well and can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
Reheating: Reheat the vegan sausage and rice in the microwave for about 3 minutes or add a few tablespoons of water and reheat it in a saucepan on the stovetop.
🌟 More easy vegan meals
- Vegan Mexican Rice
- Tofu Fried Rice
- Buffalo Cauliflower
- Vegan Sausage Pasta
- Lemon Rice
- Vegan Sausage Jambalaya
đź“Ś Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for new vegan recipes!
Vegan Red Rice
Ingredients
- 6 cups cooked rice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cups vegan sausage, (I package of 4 sausage links) us GF if needed
- 1 6 oz container tomato paste
- 1/3 cup hot sauce, (like Frank's red hot or equilivant) use 1/4 cup for less spicy rice and 1/2 cup for spicier rice.
Instructions
- Saute vegan sausages of choice in 2 tablespoons of cooking oil of choice over medium heat for about 5 minutes. (If you use Beyond sausages you can break them into bite-sized pieces as you cook them. If you use a seitan-based sausage, cut them into small pieces before cooking.)
- Add 6 cups of cooked rice, 1 (4 oz) container of tomato paste, and 1/3 cup of hot sauce.
- Stir well until all of the tomato paste and hot sauce is combined and heated through. (It will take a lot of stirring to get the rice evenly coated in the tomato paste and hot sauce.)
- Turn off the heat and sprinkle with fresh herbs like green onions, cilantro, or parsley if desired. (Serve with extra hot sauce on the side for those who like it spicier.)
Notes
- You can use any leftover rice that you have in this dish. I usually use basmati rice, but you can also use brown rice, minute rice, or even cooked quinoa.
- If you don’t have any leftover rice, you can make a fresh batch of rice. It works best if you let it cool with the lid off for about 20 minutes before adding it to the sausage.
- Add more or less hot sauce to adjust the level of spice.
- This is supposed to be a rice dish that is on the dry side and it will take a lot of stirring to get the tomato paste and hot sauce well mixed. However, you can add a few tablespoons of water if your rice is too dry.
Did you make this recipe?Please leave a star rating and review below!
I make a similar dish by adding some (depends on ones tolerance for heat) Soyrizo that I keep frozen and just cut off what I want. It kicks Mexican rice up a bit!
Sounds delicious! Soyrizo is a good alternative to regular vegan sausage in this.
This was delicious!
Glad that you liked it, Jim! 🙂
I enjoy your site, you may enjoy mine too. Its about plants 🙂 Have a wonderful day!
Thanks! I’ll look for yours! 🙂
My sister had given me a cauliflower and rice dish recipe that is so great to use up veggies that I have that need to be salvaged. I think this recipe can be combined with hers–which also has hot sauce
and tomato paste but now I am going to try adding the vegan sausage to make a more substantial dish for dinner. Thanks so much!
That sounds like a perfect combo! I hope that you love the recipe as much as we do! 🙂