Jambalaya is a deliciously flavorful one pot dish consisting of vegetables, rice, and various proteins. This recipe is a Creole Style Jambalaya recipe with tomatoes, smoked sausage, and shrimp. The dish comes together in about 35 minutes, including prep time. Jambalaya is amazing for busy weeknight meals, the recipe is the ultimate one pot, fridge clean out, meal prepping meal. The dish is great for reheating for up to 2-3 days making it a fantastic meal for bulk prepping.
The dish’s origins are from Louisiana, and although everyone has a slightly different recipe, there are two main variations: Cajun and Creole. The main distinction is the color, Cajun Jambalaya has an earthy tone while the Creole variation is red, which comes from the addition of tomatoes.
How to Make Jambalaya
There are countless different recipes for Jambalaya, and yours should be made to suit your tastes and what you have available to you.
Step 1: Add Andouille Chicken Sausage to a cast iron pot and brown on both sides, then remove from the pot.
Step 2: Add chopped onion, celery, and bell pepper and sauté until softened. Add crushed garlic and mix for 2-3 minutes.
Step 3: Add sausage back to the pot, as well as tomatoes and spices, mix well. Add rice and water, mix and allow to come to a boil then lower heat and cover with a lid.
Step 4: After 10 minutes add shrimp to the pot then cover again.
Step 5: After 10 more minutes or once the rice and shrimp are fully cooked through, remove from heat, add chopped parsley and serve.
That’s it! 5 steps for a delicious dinner that anyone would love.
Customize your Jambalaya Recipe
As stated earlier, Jambalaya recipes can vary greatly from person to person, and I encourage you to make it your own. The beauty of Jambalaya is that it was created to be an inexpensive but delicious way to feed a family, as well as an easy way to use what’s available. There are plenty of simple swaps or additions that can be made to suit your needs and tastes.
Sausage: This recipe features an Andouille Chicken sausage, however the traditional sausage in Jambalaya is an Andouille Pork sausage. Both options are delicious, I just prefer the chicken sausage. If neither option can be found any smoked sausage or cajun style sausage will work perfectly fine, or the sausage can be omitted altogether.
Protein: Other commonly found proteins used in Jambalaya include chicken breast or chicken thighs, crab meat, and white fish.
Veggies: The most commonly used vegetables in Jambalayas are onion, celery, and bell pepper, or “the trinity”. Creole style Jambalaya also includes tomatoes. However any vegetables on hand can easily be added to this recipe. Mushrooms, broccoli, or any harder vegetable can be added in at the beginning when softening vegetables. Leafy greens can be added closer to the end of cooking.
Jambalaya Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1½ tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1½ tsp Dried Oregano
- ½ tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1 tsp Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 Andouille Chicken Sausages sliced
- 1 Red Bell Pepper diced
- 2 Celery Sticks diced
- ½ White Onion diced
- 4 Garlic Cloves minced
- 2 Small Tomatoes or 1 large tomato diced
- 2 cups Long Grain White Rice
- 4 cups Water
- ½ lb Medium Shrimp peeled and deveined
- ¼ cup Parsley finely chopped
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Add the smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, cayenne pepper, and black pepper to a small bowl, mix and set aside.
- Heat a medium sized pot on medium high and then add 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Add the sliced sausages to the pot and brown each side for 2-3 minutes then remove from the pot.
- Add 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil then add the diced onion, red bell pepper, and celery and saute for 5-7 minutes until softened.
- Add garlic and saute for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
- Add the sausage back to the pan, as well as the diced tomatoes, spices, and rice. Mix for about 2 minutes then add the 4 cups of water and mix. Add a generous pinch of salt.
- Allow to come to a boil then reduce heat to low and cover with a lid.
- After 15 minutes check on the jambalaya, when about half the water has been absorbed give everything a mix and add the shrimp to the top and cover again with a lid for another 10-15 minutes or until the rice and shrimp is cooked all the way through.
- Remove from heat and mix in chopped parsley.
- Serve and enjoy!
