Brown rice stuffing made with Italian chicken sausage, celery, mushrooms, and onions. Serve this as a gluten-free Thanksgiving side dish or anytime of the year.

Brown Rice Stuffing (Riso Condito)
I love rice, so naturally when I tried my friend Julia’s Sicilian rice dish called Riso Condito I was doing the happy dance! I tweaked her recipe using brown rice and it’s delicious! It’s a great gluten-free alternative and goes great with anything from roasted chicken, to turkey, etc. You can even enjoy this as a meal on it’s own! And if you’re not sure how to make plain brown rice, you’ll love this method: How To Make Brown Rice Perfect Every Time.
I love rice, so naturally I’ve had my eye on this dish from my friend Julia’s blog for quite a while. She’s Sicilian and calls it Riso Condito. I made minor tweaks to her original recipe but for the most part I followed it pretty close. This reheats well the next day so you could make it the night before and heat it up when it’s time to eat.
Use a good quality sweet Italian chicken or turkey sausage for this. If you can’t find one, Julia calls for using two links of Italian pork sausage mixed with ground turkey meat to lighten it up. To serve this as a main dish, double the portion.
Chicken Sausage Brown Rice Stuffing with Celery and Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups brown rice
- 3 1/2 cups water
- 1 chicken bouillon, I used Knorr
- 5 links, 14 oz raw sweet Italian chicken or turkey sausage (I used al fresco)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 6 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 16 oz sliced fresh mushrooms
- salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook brown rice in water and chicken bouillon according to package directions.
- While the rice is cooking, in a large heavy saute pan cook chicken sausage on medium heat, breaking up the meat into small pieces as it cooks until the sausage is cooked through and is browned. Set aside on a dish.
- Add olive oil to the pan and add the onion, sauté one minute, add the celery, salt and pepper to taste; cook about 12 minutes, until celery is soft.
- Add the mushrooms to the pan, more salt and pepper if needed and cook, stirring 5 minutes, then cook covered for 2 minutes, or until the mushrooms have released their juice and are cooked through.
- Add the sausage and the cooked rice to the pan and mix well.
We make this every year for our gluten-free family! Love it!
This dish was very tasty. I cooked 1. 1/2 cups of brown rice and only used half of it. Was it supposed to be a cup and a half of cooked rice? Thanks for a great recipe.
This is sooo delicious!! Made it last night for dinner…had it for lunch today & will be having it again tomorrow ???? Thank you!
Could this be baked stuffed inside the turkey in 350 degree oven for 3 – 31/2 hours?
Love, love your recipes!
Thank you for sharing!:)))
Lilly
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How have people re-heated this dish in the past? In the oven? Time and temp? I’m worried it will get a little dry? Thanks!
Could this be made in a slow cooker?
Are you sure this was only 107 cal. My brown rice box said it was 180 just for the rice for 1 cup?
There’s 14 servings
took my own take on it and cut the recipe in half and stuffed it into some holland peppers to justify eating it as a meal. topped each pepper with some parmesan cheese. delish!
Made for dinner tonight and it was awesome! I used hot Italian sausage which gave it a little kick. Used baby Bella mushrooms and they were amazing in this dish. Thanks for always sharing family pleasing recipes!
I've never stuffed a bird before – how would I do this as an actual stuffing?
Try substituting sweet Italian with chicken apple sausage. I then bake it until I see a slight crust. My wife refuses to eat mushrooms and so I delete them entirely. But it is a hit here.
Hi Gina! If I wanted to substitute quinoa for the rice, do you think I would use the same amount?
Sure!
This looked delish just like most of other stuff you post so I decided to make it. Since my family doesn't like sausage I did with chicken breast. Came out fantastic. The problem was to stop eating lol Thank you very much Gina for another amazing recipe!!
Gina !Another great one I used this for breakfast and was not disappointed ! A little wheat toast and honey great eats. Going for the pasta dish that was at the bottom next.Thanks
I added 2 cloves of garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon of paprika. I am debating adding 1/2 cup red bellpepper to this…hmmmm.
Is this good to freeze in portions for lunches ??
Sure
I used ground chicken and spiced it up to give it a sausage taste using paprika, garlice powder, fennel seed, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Absolutely wonderful! Thank you Gina!
This recipe is just delicious!!!!!
Just made this tonight. It was DELICIOUS! Didn't change anything from the recipe. I had no idea healthy could taste so good!
I am so desperate to try this but I'm in Australia and finding the sausage meat will be difficult. Could you recommend any herbs/spices I could just throw in with some ground chicken or turkey. (debbie – email: chajamabi@hotmail.com)
Would you consider this to be the main dish? If so, or if not, what else would you have to accompany this?
Also, would you need any kind of liquid to not make dry, or is not dry?
ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! I absolutely hate celery but this was delicious! I used Turkey sausage and it came out wonderful! Definitely a staple to our menu from now on!
I just made this last night (my first Skinny Taste recipe too!)but really needed to doctor this up. I have to have garlic in everything so I added that with the veggies, along with crushed fennel and rosemary. I also added 1 shredded zucchini,, (to up the veggies)and a handful of shredded carrot for color. I also deglazed the pan with a little white wine to punch up the flavor and a tad of lite soy to beef up the mushroom flavor. Then before i added in the rice, I decided I wanted more liquid so I threw in a can of diced tomatoes. I loved the brown rice and also the fact that I didn't eat pasta with my sausage for a change. Sorry……it was just OK.
This is my first Skinny taste recipe. A friend instisted I make this, i didnt think it even looked good, but it was Amazing!! Cant wait to try more recipes.
I just made this last night and it was delicious! Since it's just my roommate and me at home, we had tons of leftovers and I was able to bring the rest to work with me to share with my fellow teachers for lunch today. It ended up tasting even better reheated!
Excellent recipe, a big it at our house…again! Every time I make something from your website, it goes over well.
I tried this for supper. It was delicious!!!
Thanks for such a good and tasty recipe
Do you think apples would be a good addition, maybe take out the mushrooms?
This was really good! I couldn't wait to eat the leftovers. I am going to try it with quicker cooking rice next time.
Made this again tonight for about the 3rd time since I saw it! I added some salad olives about 1/4 cup at the end when it was time to mix it all together. Added some good flavor and color. This is such a good meal!! Thanks again Gina
This recipe is AMAZING!!! My family gobbled it up and now keep begging me to make it again & again!!
OMG!!! I just made this and it is absolutely delicious, I hope I get to see more recipes with brown rice,i'm going to freeze this in 1-cup portions if not i'll eat it all, thanks Gina
I made this, super good of course. The next time I am going try it by replacing half of the celery with chopped fennel or in place of. I am not a huge celery fan, but couldn't even taste it.
Judy, whatever works for you!
lol, glad you liked it Raquel!!
INSANE!!!!!! I have no other words!!!! This recipe CANNOT be improved on so don't waste any time trying please!!! Enjoy this savory dish as is!!! I had to get off the phone with Gina so I could focus on eating this without distraction! So simple to make and definitely plan for leftovers as it makes a good amount (and I used only half the amount of rice)! Home run!!!
I took the easy way out and cooked up some Uncle Bens Cook in Bag brown rice. It is 2 cups cooked. I still go by the higher points for the verison with more rice rather than figure it all out myself. I just cooked it in some veggie broth I had left over and used it. Second time I have made it. It is better the second day!
I don't recall, funny because I did measure. I want to guess 3 cups but it may be more.
How many cups of cooked rice does the 1.5 cups dry yield? I'm going to take the easy way and just use a frozen steam bag of brown rice. Thanks for another yummy recipe to add to my collection 🙂
That looks delicious & easy! Can't wait to try!
I made it wrong and it was still delicious! I didn't catch that you were supposed to add the bouillon in so I actually made a cup of broth and added most of the broth at the end, it wasn't overly moist at all. I used sundried tomato and basil chicken sausage and I added sage. It was good without the sage, but I just can't make anything with only salt & pepper. Glad I ran past it!
This looks like an awesome stuffing, and gluten-free as well if you get the right broth and sausages.
Made this last night…BIG hit with the whole fam. I used shitake mushrooms instead of plain jane…holy cow. YUMMY!!
Every recipe I have tried of yours has been a hit and this is no exception. Thank you so much for enabling my love for cooking be compatible with losing weight. With three weeks on WW and your recipes I have lost 8.4 lbs and I don't feel deprived.
OMGGGG!!!!! Just made this and it is ABSOULTELY delicious!!!!! Sooooo good. .Will be making this one again!!!!!!
Sounds like a seriously awesome thanksgiving side dish…yum 🙂
Yes, that is uncooked rice.
I too loved it and I thought it was a great way to prepare brown rice.
Fantastic Dish! I made it last night for my whole family and it was a hit! I did add a Tbsp of Italian Seasoning while cooking the veggies to give it a depth of flavor and I also added a cup of quartered seedless grapes after I removed it from the heat. Delicious!
Hi Gina,
Just to be clear, this is 1 and 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice, correct?
Thanks,
Glori Of Food
http://glorioffood.com/
Gina – Great recipe! Even my kids who hate brown rice loved it and went back for seconds. Every recipe I have tried from your site has been perfect and loved by family. The only change I made to this recipe was fresh garlic with the mushrooms! Yum!!!
Just wanted to chime in and say that I made this over the weekend and divided into servings for lunches this week. Delicious!
I knew you would all like this, Julia never steers me wrong with her Mom's Sicilian recipes!!
Judy, I am so glad you like ziplist!! Isn't it great!
Simone, I bet it would be great in a stuffed pepper!
Craig, my friend Julia uses 2 pork sausage links and makes up the rest with ground turkey, smart idea!
This was a huge success at my family dinner last night. I had just come back from a long weekend getaway and found this very easy to make and super delicious.
Thanks for another addition to my recipe book, Gina!
This mushroom hater loves my mom's (very similar) stuffing recipe. I just cut everything really small. Thanks for sharing, Gina! Rice stuffing is often overlooked at thanksgiving, but it's my fave 🙂
I have been cooking light for myself and my husband is not usually as happy with my meals as I am, however, he absolutely loved this dish!!!
Looks great Gina. Can you suggest what to add to make up the missing sausageyness if I was to just use ground turkey?
Their is a shop called Penzey’s and on web and they sell spices. They make a sausage spice and it is good. I live near St.Louis and they have a big store there and the spices are to die for. Give it a try.
Would this taste good with turkey or chicken sausage.
Just finished making and eating this for dinner. One word–awesome…pretty easy to make and very, very easy to eat. A big hit and will defintely be on the regular dinner menu rotation. Got the applesauce in the crockpot and it smells heavenly…thanks Gina!!
I can't help but think this would be amazing stuffed into bell peppers as a main dish! Looks great – I can't wait to try it!!
It could also be added to a poblano pepper with some cheese and made into a chili relleno (sp?).
Stuffed peppers – brilliant!
I just found your website and I am BEYOND excited!!! I find healthy cooking a challenge and I'm currently calorie counting to lose a little weight. Your website just made it so much easier for me. I'm not a great cook, but your recipes look relatively simple and I'm very pumped to try and cook healthy meals for my family this week where we can feel satisfied!! Thank you SO MUCH!!!
Gina, making this for dinner tonight…I also love the option of adding this to ziplist. I signed up for it when you posted it on FB but I thought I had search for your recipies on there to get them into my receipie box. Pleasantly surprised to see that when I wanted to save this it went to ziplist…yeah! Makes things so much easier, even shopping!!!
This looks like a great meal for planovers. I don't like Italian sausage that much so I may just use ground turkey breast.
Gina – so far we are loving your recipes! Just wish I had found them sooner…can't decide which one is next. I'm on WW, my son is not but he has enjoyed everything, just bigger portions.
YUM, I love how healthy this is and feel like it would be a great side dish even to some simple chicken!
oh a BTW- the celery and mushrooms taste really good in this… i don't like celery as well, but all the other flavors from the sausage and onions hide it! and i agree, celery plays a big role in this dish! simply delicious!
this is AMAZING!!!! best rice recipe I have ever had!! thanks!
It just so happens that I have italian chicken sausages in the fridge and no plan for dinner…BINGO!
I believe it's about 13.4 oz of sausage. I no longer have the label. Package comes with 6 links.
I really felt the celery was crucial to this dish, maybe I would do fennel in it's place? It would change the flavor a bit but I could see it being tasty.
You could leave the mushrooms out if you really don't like them, but you'll have to adjust the n.i.
Fennel will give it a great taste. Use in mt stuffing every year since I don't like celery.
P.S. love your recipes. Just tried another one tonight and the family raved.
I usually double my celery and half the onion in most recipes as a preference, but for someone above who wanted a replacement for celery I suggested they try for crunch water chestnuts or even toasted nuts. Personally I think chopped cashews would be really good in this if you mix it in last before serving so they maintain their crunch. Just no real substitute for mushrooms.
I know it might seem a little odd or crazy but in place of celery too you might consider adding chopped radishes or daikon. Cooked they turn milder but add a peppery taste and crunch.
This looks amazing but I don't like mushrooms. Is there another veggie that would work to replace them?
I'm going to buy the alfresco and just slit the casing to remove the sausage to crumble.
I have two links of sausage and some celery in my fridge I need to use, so I'll have to try this! Sounds – and looks – delicious!
I've been looking for a one-pan comfort food meal. I cannot wait to try this! One question, if I want to use loose (crumbled) sausage, how much should I use that translates to 5 links? 1 lb?
Click "print friendly" under the last picture, then another page will come up and there will be a box that you can click to print without images.
Will someone please tell me how to print out this recipe, I don't need all the pictures. PLEASE
i just did a lot of "copying and pasting" with this. i pre-opened my Word Document, then went back and forth with copying and pasting to the document. it got a little tricky since the whole thing (pix and all) wanted to "highlight" but i just worked my way DOWN with each sentence and now it is all on a word doc. i see you asked this question a while ago so you may have already figured it out, but thought i would tell ya anyway. good luck and enjoy! :O)
Anonymous11/4/11 9:01 AM
Click "print friendly" under the last picture, then another page will come up and there will be a box that you can click to print without images.
What a great recipe! I love chicken sausage and rice together! This would make a great side for Thanksgiving, just skip the stuffing, well I don't know if I could do that! 🙂 Have a great weekend!
Mmmmmm… a store opened up near me that makes their own sausage (including chicken sausage) I have yet to have a real reason to buy any when I visit but now I must! Yay!!
I made this for dinner and we loved it. I used a rice medley (brown/wild/heirloom red) that is from costco. I also used mild italian turkey sausages which is all the grocery store had. It was very delicious as a full meal. Thanks for sharing this:)
This looks fantastic! I love the thought of making it as an entire meal (not just a side dish) in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving…it will definitely get me in the holiday spirit 🙂
I love cooking with turkey sausage – the lightness is right for me – even if my Grandmother is admonishing me in my dreams. I am going to give chicken sausage a whirl – could be fun to mix it up and I love this with the rice and vegetables. Comforting without all the calories…
Is there something that would be easily substituted for the celery? It's one of three things that hubby refuses to eat. (I pick my battles) 🙂
For the crunch try water chestnuts or even some chopped nuts.
I love this recipe. I've made it before but added some chopped chicken with the sausage. Family loved it.
Good heavens, nevermind Thanksgiving – this is MY definition of comfort food!
I will so have to try this. And try not to eat the entire thing all by myself.
And now, off to clean up this pile of drool on my keyboard …
Your recipes are amazing Gina, thanks so much.
I'm in Ireland and Italian chicken/turkey sausages aren't freely available Could you use Chorizo and turkey mince instead of the italian sausage?How many grams of each?
Sure, I don't see why not!
Oh.my.yumminess.
The only problem…how do I not eat the whole pan??? 🙂
I AGREE lISA I WAS GREAT….AND THE KIDS LOVES IT 2!