Jambalaya is a comfort food for me. I have happy memories of eating it as a kid, it reminds me of home, it's easy to cook and can be a very flexible dish. I taught my husband how to make it for me, in case I ever get sick and can't cook it for myself, and it is a frequent go-to when I have people over or get invited to a potluck. I often get asked to share my recipe, which is flattering but also makes me laugh a bit because I don't think I've ever used a recipe to cook jambalaya in my life. I love cookbooks and I look at recipes for inspiration and guidance all the time, but rarely do I follow one to the letter.
However, I do have a pretty good idea of the ratios I use, and the methods, so I thought I would take some time to write it down. I will also provide a couple of links at the end to recipes that are kind of similar to mine, in case winging it makes you twitchy. Just keep in mind, jambalaya is very forgiving and you can basically tailor it however you want! My favorite is a chicken and sausage jambalaya, but you could use shrimp, duck, or really any combination of proteins you like. I generally chop as I go, but you could just as easily do all the chopping ahead of time if you're worried about time management, and that's how I'm jotting down this recipe. (Fancy term: mis en place.) I put a few notes after the recipe on other things you could do differently. These are compiled from a few years' experience, so there are actually more tips and observations than steps in the recipe!
Please don't be intimidated. The hardest thing about jambalaya is all of the chopping! Once you get that part down, the rest is easy-peasy.
Jambalaya (about 8 servings):
Ingredients:
2lb chicken, cubed
1lb smoked sausage, thinly sliced
olive or peanut oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 bell peppers, any color, diced
2 ribs of celery, diced
2 cups long-grain white rice
4-6 cups of water or chicken stock
salt to taste
pepper (about 2 tsp)
red pepper (about 1T)
garlic powder (about 1T)
paprika (about 1tsp)
(Pre-made cajun seasoning ok)
ground thyme (about 1 tsp)
ground oregano (about 1 tsp)
fresh parsley, chopped to yield 3/4 cup, about 1 bunch
Directions:
1. In a large dutch oven or stock pot, cover bottom of pan with one layer of sausage and turn heat to medium-high. Brown the sausage on both sides; if the sausage is lean and not rendering much fat, add oil to the pan when you stir/flip the sausage. Remove sausage from pot and lay on a plate with paper towels to absorb some of the grease. Continue browning the sausage in batches until it is all done.
2. Season the chicken on all sides with herbs and spices (everything but the parsley) to taste. If you're using stock, be careful of the salt content in this step.
3. In the same pot you used to brown the sausage, check to see if there's enough oil/grease in the pan in which to brown the chicken. If not, add some. Put your burner on medium and add chicken to the pot the same way you did with the sausage, in a single layer. This helps keep the chicken from steaming and getting tough and rubbery. Brown the chicken on all sides; it should be mostly cooked through but you don't have to cook it all the way at this point. Remove the chicken and drain with the sausage.
4. In the same pot, set the heat to medium or medium-low, throw in all the vegetables and sweat until the onion is translucent.
5. Add the sausage, chicken, and rice to the pot, stir, and cook on medium heat for about 2 minutes.
6. Just when the rice starts to stick to the bottom of the pot, add in at least 4 cups of your water or stock. If you're ingredients aren't covered, add more water or stock until they are just barely covered, and bring to a boil.
7. Boil for 3-5 minutes and then stir once to make sure the rice isn't sticking to the bottom of the pot. This also helps scrape up flavors on the bottom of the pot that you got from browning the meats, and make sure it gets integrated into your jambalaya.
8. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes or until rice is done.
9. When the rice is done, remove from heat, uncover, and fold in the fresh parsley. Serve warm.
Notes:
1. On the chicken: You could use a store-bought rotisserie chicken and shred it. Add the chicken to the pot when you add the rice. White or dark meat is okay. I like to mix.
2. On the sausage: Use the best quality smoked sausage you can find. I prefer pork, or a pork blend, but you can also use turkey or chicken sausage. Just know that some kinds of meat render more fat than others. When you're cooking the meat, brown = flavor but burnt means you need to start over! Andouille and tasso are both wonderful in jambalaya, if you can find them. Please don't use kielbasa or chorizo. I mean, you could, but...better just not.
3. On the oil: You can really use any kind of cooking oil you like, but I like olive oil and peanut oil because they have a pretty high smoke point and I generally have large quantities of both on hand anyway. You probably don't need more than a tablespoon or two.
4. On the seasoning: I honestly don't measure things, so I go by sight and smell. I probably use equal amounts of red pepper and garlic powder, and slightly less of each of the others. Those numbers up there are probably a pretty good ballpark for 2lbs of chicken, but I erred on the side of too little rather than too much. If you use Cajun seasoning such as Tony Cachere's (my favorite), Slap Ya Mama (spicier!), or Emeril's, be mindful of salt content as well as spice factor. I like things pretty spicy but when I'm cooking for a crowd I definitely hold back. Typically I will LIBERALLY season one side of the chicken with pre-made stuff, then on the other side I will do everything except salt. Paprika I used mostly for color, but if you used smoked paprika that adds another layer of smoky flavor to the pot! Thyme and oregano are usually included in most pre-made cajun seasonings, but not always. You want a hint of that flavor but not overwhelming. You can substitute fresh herbs during the cooking process for a little more brightness and punch. Other optional items are white pepper, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce and pre-made hot sauce. Your call.
5. On the liquid: If you use water, amp up the seasoning on your chicken. Taste the jambalaya liquid midway through simmering time to see if it's salty and spicy enough. Remember, you can always add salt later but you can't remove it! If you use stock, particularly store bought stock, be mindful that it will probably carry enough salt for the whole dish. You can use turkey stock (it will be richer) or vegetable stock, if you prefer.
6. On tomatoes: People from Louisiana have very strong opinions about whether or not to put tomatoes in jambalaya. I think it's more of a New Orleans thing, but you can add in crushed or diced tomatoes or even a can of Rotel if you like. This will add a nice pop of red color. Alternately, you could add a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste while you are sweating the vegetables or to the broth. This could help thicken the broth a bit and will add a little depth of flavor and a darker color to the final product, but you don't want to overdo it as too much will make your jambalaya more acidic than you want it to be.
7. On the rice: I usually rinse my rice before I cook it in jambalaya to get rid of some of the starch. This helps keep the dish from being too sticky. I prefer long-grain or extra-long grain white rice. If you swap in brown rice, you might want more liquid and a slightly longer cooking time. I recently tried out arborio rice in a batch of jambalaya for the first time and that also worked out nicely. For whichever rice you pick, just read the package directions first to make sure you have an idea of how much liquid you need. At this point, I don't even measure my liquids, I just add in enough to barely cover my ingredients and it usually works out okay. If you accidentally have too much, you can always uncover the pot to help cook it off, but then you risk your jambalaya being mushy and your rice being overcooked. It will still TASTE good, just have a less pleasant texture. Some people add rice last, AFTER the liquid has come to a rolling boil. They say the rice cooks better that way and is more likely to be fluffy instead of sticky. I've done it both ways and since I rinse my rice first, I don't worry about that step. I like to throw it in with the veggies and meat first so that it starts absorbing those flavors before it starts absorbing the cooking liquid.
8. Parsley: You could skip adding fresh parsley at the end, but why? It's so fresh and tasty! Instead of adding it straight to the pot, you could set a little dish to the side and add it to the top of each individual serving. I sometimes use green onions as a garnish to jambalaya, too, and if you have them on hand you could add them to your veggie mix. Speaking of which...
9. On the vegetables: My general rule of thumb is equal parts onion to bell pepper to celery. It's hard to go wrong here. I often throw in extra onion because I like onion. Or extra celery to use it up because I hate eating it fresh so I might as well transform it into something I like. Or extra bell peppers because I want to use all three colors for the visual effect. I generally lean toward green bell peppers because red and yellow are a little sweeter. Usually though, I just go with whatever I have on hand. You could also add in green onions, shallots, or purple onions, but purple onions tend to lose their color when you cook with them anyway. You could saute the vegetables instead of sweating them, and they will have more color to them but disappear into the dish in terms of texture. If you want to add okra, add it in about halfway through the cooking process. You don't want it to get too slimy. If you want a little more kick, especially something maybe a little more slow-burning than cayenne, you could add in a couple of minced jalapenos. Or spicier pepper if you want.
10. On garlic: A lot of people add fresh garlic, but I find it easier to use ground. Mostly because I have a tendency to burn it (whoops) and I think it integrates better if you use the powdered kind. It's a matter of personal preference. If you use fresh, I think pressing the garlic will work better than mincing, to release more oil. Add the garlic to the vegetables after they've been sweating a couple of minutes, as it won't take as long and you want to avoid burning it like I do.
11. On shrimp: If you want shrimp jambalaya, add the shrimp toward the end of the cooking process. They don't take nearly as long to cook as the rice and the last thing you want in your jambalaya is a rubbery shrimp! You could pre-season them but I don't think they really need it if you hit the seasoning right the first go-round.
12: On the cooking method: Supposedly you can do this in the crockpot or in the oven, though I've never tried either method. If you survey a hundred cooks in Louisiana, you'd probably get a different recipe from each, but I'm guessing the vast majority will do it stovetop. For events and such you often see it cooked outside in a big cast iron pot. And by big I mean giant, syrup-making cast iron pot. Those things are epic. If you wanted to make this recipe even easier, don't drain the meat. Just keep adding ingredients and follow the steps.
13: On texture: Steer clear of any recipe that makes jambalaya sound like a soup or stew. It shouldn't be so wet that you need to eat it with a spoon. It is a rice dish with stuff in it.
Recipes:
2. This recipe, originally published by Cooking Light magazine, seems pretty simple, straightforward, and health conscious. It looks to create about half of what my recipe yields.
