Jambalaya

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.