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.
Dani says
I make this alot and it is always a hit, however I am wondering if I can add scallops in as I have some to use up in the freezer?
Tressa says
Terrific recipe and very flavorful. My husband and kids absolutely loved this dish. Thank you so much
Chelsea says
This recipe was delicious! A few notes though:
Many folks in the reviews says it’s too spicy if made according to the recipe… if you like spicy food, it definitely isn’t! If your sensitive to heat, start slow and add seasoning at the end.
Frozen okra works just fine and you can add it at the same time it says to add raw okra.
The ratio of rice to other ingredients is just a liiittle heavy in my opinion. If I made it again, I would do a cup of rice and 2 cups broth instead.
I don’t know how anyone could finish this recipe in 45 minutes! I started at 4 and it wasn’t ready until 5:45.
Stephen Peters says
Absolutely AWESOME! I had to make a last minute trip to New Orleans last week for a family emergency. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to check out the local cuisine. Made this instead and I was NOT disappointed! Thank you!
One other question. I live alone and this recipe made a HUGE pot full! Can it be frozen to save some for later?
Lindsay says
Wow! This recipe is amazing! So for some context I found this recipe and my husband prepared it- he followed the recipe and directions as they were written. We have never made jambalaya and I was extremely suspicious that things would not all be cooked properly. WOW WAS I WRONG! The chicken was cooked so perfectly and the shrimp was perfect too nothing was over done or underdone. The vegetables had firmness while still being soft. And the rice was perfect too! Mind blown – absolutely awesome recipe! Thank you thank you! This one is a keeper😁
Tom L says
This was a really good recipe, everybody liked it. My wife, who thinks everything is too spicy, thought it was too spicy but enjoyed it anyway.
It took longer than she says to prepare – probably closer to an hour and a half total – but I do a lot of Spanish, French, and Italian cooking so I probably spent more time in the early stages of the cooking process to develop the flavors.
I used chicken thighs, and I think their higher fat helped everything vs. chicken breast so I’d suggest it. I mixed my own cajun spice seasoning using a recipe on “Gimme Some Oven”, as I hate using random premixed spice mixes, which tend to have a lot of fillers, msg, etc.
My only minor process change is that the recipe says to add the rice and the broth at the same time, after all the other ingredients, but that seems like a wasted opportunity to develop more flavor. Taking a cue from Spanish paella recipes and French and Italian rice recipes, I added the rice right after the tomatoes and let it cook for several minutes in the (quite dry) other ingredients and start to change color before adding the broth. This does add a few minutes cooking time and you have to pay attention not to burn the rice, but it develops more flavor.
Anyway, it was a definite success, we’ll use this recipe again.
Ron says
Was looking for a new jambalaya recipe (mine was just too boring) found many recipes online, but this one just seemed to make me hungry after reading the ingredients. I used wild turkey instead of chicken and it turned out fantastic. The best I have made and one of the best I have eaten. This one is saved in my document file now.
Mrs. Stuart says
Delicious recipe. Easy to make. My husband is already ready for me to make it again. Adjust seasnojg to your preference. As recommended. I cut the Slap yo Mama in half.
Thanks for sharing your delicious recipe!
Alyssa D says
WOW! My husband requested something different than we normally do for dinner and wanted jambalaya. I have never had it before and he used to order it a long time ago on our date nights. I found this recipe and I’m so glad I did. It’s by far the best thing I’ve ever made. This will be in our monthly rotation from now on. Absolutely DELICIOUS!
I couldn’t find okra or file seasoning so I omitted that but followed everything else to a T.
I added some extra crystal Louisiana hot sauce to my bowl and made corn bread on the side.
Thank you! Okay, now time to go back for seconds.
Tiann Stewart says
This was actually SO good. I was hankering for some jambalaya but no one around me has good authentic jambalaya. This hit the spot! I didn’t put okra in it though, as I’m not a huge fan. It didn’t disappoint!!