Jambalaya is a quintessential one pot recipe with chicken, sausage, shrimp and rice! Coming to you from New Orleans!
An easy Jambalaya recipe is pure comfort food, filled to the brim with flavour. The aromatic trinity of Cajun/Creole cooking: onion, celery, and bell peppers (capsicums), sautéed in andouille drippings with garlic, herbs and Cajun spices!
Adding chicken and shrimp to this pot of tomato rice is what gives the dish its authentic flavours, kind of like adding muscles and calamari to a seafood Paella. This jambalaya recipe is so unbelievably easy to whip up and all from the comfort of your own home.
WHAT IS IN JAMBALAYA?
Louisiana’s favourite one-pot dish varies from kitchen to kitchen, depending on the cook and the recipes passed down from older generations. Jambalaya traditionally contains any of the following meats:
- Chicken or pork
- Sausage — andouille, chorizo or smoked sausage.
- Seafoods — crawfish or shrimp are the favourite choices.
If you’re a fan of our Browned Butter Honey Lime Shrimp or our Tomato Garlic Butter Shrimp, I suggest adding shrimp to your jambalaya recipe.
A soffritto-like trinity of onion, bell peppers and celery are also included, along with rice, chili’s, seasonings and broth. Everything cooks together in the one pot, emanating flavour into the rice.
There are two kinds of Jambalaya: Creole and Cajun. This recipe is the tomato-based Creole version.
WHAT IS A SUBSTITUTE FOR ANDOUILLE SAUSAGE?
- Mexican chorizo sausage (comes close to andouille in flavour, but not in texture)
- Kielbasa
- Any Polish smoked sausage
CAJUN VS CREOLE
Creole cooks traditionally make a ‘red jambalaya’ using tomatoes, whereas Cajun cooks do not. Another difference is the order in which the ingredients are prepared. Trying both while testing, I decided to create a hybrid, combining both techniques in this jambalaya recipe. I first sauté the sausage to release drippings into the pot for the ‘soffritto’. We found doing this produced the best flavour!
JAMBALAYA VS PAELLA
Even though Jambalaya is very similar to a Paella and includes pretty much the same list of key ingredients, the spices and seasonings are different. Saffron is the main spice component used in Paella, and Paella is milder than Jambalaya in the heat department.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GUMBO AND JAMBALAYA?
Gumbo is a stew or soup usually made with a roux to thicken it, whereas Jambalaya is a rice based dish. Okra is normally used in Gumbo to help thicken the stew and add a wonderful flavour. I use it in this Jambalaya recipe for the same reason! If you don’t like okra, you can use File Powder.
WHAT IS THE BEST RICE FOR JAMBALAYA?
I use both long grain and short grain white rice. You could also use brown rice, but you will need to add more liquid and cook it longer than white.
BEST WINES TO PAIR WITH JAMBALAYA
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Vouvray
- Riesling
- Pinot Gris
- Pinot Noir
WHAT TO SERVE WITH JAMBALAYA
Jambalaya is the perfect one-pot meal, packed full of filling ingredients. This being said, you really don’t need to serve it with anything other than perhaps a slice of Cornbread, fresh baguette, or a salad with a simple dressing like our Easy Tomato Salad, so to not over-power all of the spices in the Jambalaya.
Love one pot meals? Try these!
One Pan Tomato Basil Chicken & Rice
One Pot Ravioli in a Creamy Tomato Beef Sauce
Jambalaya Recipe (Creole)
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons cooking oil divided
- 2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning adjust to suit your tastes/heat preference
- 10 ounces andouille sausage sliced into rounds
- 1 pound skinless chicken breasts or thighs, boneless, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 onion diced
- 1 small green bell pepper seeded and diced
- 1 small red bell pepper seeded and diced
- 2 celery stalks chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 14 ounces crushed tomatoes canned
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes or ¼ teaspoon Cayenne powder
- ½ teaspoon hot pepper sauce
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 cup okra thinly sliced, or 1 teaspoon file powder
- 1 ½ cups uncooked white rice short grain or long grain
- 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 pound raw shrimp tails on or off, peeled and deveined
- ½ teaspoon green onions sliced to garnish
- ½ teaspoon parsley chopped to garnish
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Season the sausage and chicken pieces with half of the Cajun seasoning.
- Brown sausage in the hot oil; remove with slotted spoon and set aside. Add remaining oil to the pot and sauté chicken until lightly browned. Remove with slotted spoon; set aside.
- Sauté the onion, bell pepper and celery until onion is soft and transparent. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant (30 seconds).
- Stir in the tomatoes; season with salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, red pepper flakes (or Cayenne powder), hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and the remaining Cajun seasoning. Stir in the okra slices (or file powder), chicken and sausage. Cook for 5 minutes, while stirring occasionally.
- Add in the rice and chicken broth, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low-medium. Cover and let simmer for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked, while stirring occasionally.
- Place the shrimp on top of the Jambalaya mixture, stir through gently and cover with lid. Allow to simmer while stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are cooked through and pink (about 5-6 minutes, depending on the size/thickness of the shrimp being used).
- Season with a little extra salt and pepper if needed and remove from heat. Adjust heat with extra hot sauce, Cayenne pepper or Cajun seasoning. Serve immediately with sliced green onions and parsley.
Jerry says
This is my goto Jambalaya receipe. Only change I make is to reduce the Cajun seasoning by half. I use Slap ya mamma seasoning. The andouille sausage is spicy enough. And I can always Sean to taste as needed instead of making the whole pot over spicy. Family loves this recovery time I make it.
Jane says
My fav!
Online Sunshine says
For the Cajum seasoning, I used an equal mix of Tony Chachere’s More Spice Creole Seasoning and the No Salt version. I used Hillshire Farm Cajun Style Andouille Smoked Sausage. For the shrimp, I used wild caught Argentine Red Shrimp (cut in half, seasoned with extra Creole seasoning, and sautéed in a separate pan). I used chicken tenderloins and sliced them about 1/2 inch thick. Instead of chicken broth, I used 3 teaspoons of Better Than Bouillon-Chicken and 3 1/2 cups water. I reduced the thyme to 1/2 tsp. I did not add salt, okra, hot pepper sauce, green onions, or parsley. Also, it took me about an hour and a half to make, but I am slow. Lol
This was by far the best Jambalaya I’ve ever had! My husband was raving about how good it was. Thank you for a great recipe!
Julie says
My family loves it. I used 1chorizo regular sausage and 1 hot Portuguese chorizo sausage. Perfect spice for us. I precook the chicken and sausage earlier in the day so when it’s time to cook it’s so easy.