This one-pot Authentic Jambalaya Recipe is loaded with bold Cajun flavors, tender sausage, shrimp, and fluffy rice, and is ready in just 1 hour. This dish feels like New Orleans in a bowl with Cajun and Creole seasonings. Easy to customise and perfect for a family dinner.
Recipe Highlights
🕒 Ready in under 1 hour
🍚 Serves 6 generously
🔥 Made in one pot
🍤 Fully customizable with shrimp, chicken, or sausage
Jambalaya is a popular Louisiana Creole dish with influences from Spanish, French, and West African cultures. It is very similar to African Jollof rice with a little twist. My grandmother’s Cajun Jambalaya always began with a dark roux and ended with a dash of Worcestershire sauce; this version skips the roux but retains every bit of bold flavor and is served with easy and juicy lamb chops.
It's very easy to make by creating a deep flavor base using the “Holy Trinity” of onion, bell pepper, and celery. Then, you'll layer in Cajun seasoning, diced tomatoes, and your choice of proteins, such as shrimp, chicken, or andouille sausage. The uncooked rice is simmered right in the same pot, soaking up all the rich flavor as it cooks. No need for separate pans or extra prep.
If you love the deep flavors of Cajun cuisine, like this jambalaya, try our oven-grilled Cajun chicken and juicy Cajun red snapper, or our no-wine shrimp scampi.
Featured Review
This recipe is irresistible
(Bilikis)
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Perfect and tender sausage and shrimp in every bite.
- Customizable: Use your preferred proteins.
- One-pot cleanup, where everything cooks in one pan.
- Jambalaya brings the authentic taste of Creole and Cajun cooking.
- No soaking or overnight rice preparation is required.
- Whether it's a family dinner, special gathering, or a cozy night in, your jambalaya is the ideal dish to impress.
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Jambalaya Recipe Ingredients
- White Rice: Any white rice will do, but I recommend long-grain basmati. NOTE: Different types of rice have different cooking times.
- Meats: This recipe calls for chicken, shrimp, and sausage.
- Veggies: Onion and celery—this combination is divine. You can also add red or green bell peppers.
- Shrimp: Use large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined.
- Seasonings: Cajun seasoning, oregano, thyme, black pepper, and salt. I used the store-bought Cajun.
- Tomato and Tomato Paste: This gives the rice a reddish colour. Diced or crushed tomatoes.
- Chicken Broth: This recipe calls for a mixture of broth and water, with equal parts broth and water. Vegetable or beef broth is also a good option. You can also use my homemade broth recipe.
- Garlic: For flavour.
Substitutions and Variations.
- No shrimp, chicken, and sausage? Use diced pork, duck, turkey, or any smoked sausage you like.
- For vegetarians, skip the meats and use mushrooms, kidney beans, or chickpeas.
- Use brown rice, but increase the cooking time to 15-20 minutes and add more water or broth as needed. Parboiled rice is another option.
- Adjust the heat with cayenne, hot sauce, jalapenos, or chili.
How to Make Authentic Jambalaya
- Cook Meats: In a pot of oil on medium heat, sauté and thoroughly cook the chicken, shrimp, and sausage till brown. Remove and set aside
- Saute the Base: In the same pot, sauté the onions and garlic for 2 minutes. Add seasonings, crushed tomato, celery, and tomato paste. Stir until fragrant.
- Add the washed rice and chicken broth. Cook till tender.
- When the rice is fully cooked, add the cooked chicken, shrimp, and sausage with some green onions. Give a gentle stir.
Tips to Avoid Mushy Rice
- Avoid over-stirring.
- Ensure that some of the water from the tomatoes evaporates during frying before adding the rice.
- Add water in batches to prevent the rice from overcooking.
- This Authentic Jambalaya Recipeplease is loaded with bold flavors, tender sausage, shrimp, and fluffy ri
- Long-grain basmati rice is the best rice, which isn't mushy.
Recipe FAQS
Yes, you can customize your jambalaya with chicken, sausage, shrimp, or even add a combination of proteins to suit your taste.
Absolutely! Yes. Sauté your aromatics and sausage on the stovetop, then transfer them to the rice cooker along with rice and stock.
Yes, you can substitute brown rice, but keep in mind that it will take longer to cook, so adjust your cooking time accordingly.
Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days. It can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then reheat in the microwave.
Use long‑grain rice and avoid over‑stirring once you add the rice—let it steam undisturbed.
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Authentic Jambalaya
Ingredients
- 2 cups Long-grain white rice washed and uncooked
- 9-10 Shrimps peeled and deveined
- 10 ounces Sausage smoked or regular
- 1 lb Boneless chicken diced
- 2 ribs Celery chopped
- 1 large Onion chopped
- 2 Green onion chopped
- 1 can Crushed tomatoes 14 or 15 oz.
- 2 tablespoon Tomato paste
- 3-4 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme
- 2 tbsp Cajun seasoning
- 1 teaspoon Oregano
- 3-4 cups Chicken or vegetable broth low sodium
- Pinch Salt and pepper to taste
- Cooking oil
Instructions
- Combine the Cajun seasoning, black pepper, salt, oregano and thyme.1 teaspoon Dried Thyme, 2 tablespoon Cajun seasoning, Pinch Salt and pepper to taste, 1 teaspoon Oregano
To Season Chicken and Shrimps
- Mix and toss the chicken with ½ tablespoon of the above mixed seasoning in a bowl.1 lb Boneless chicken
- Mix and toss the shrimp with 1 teaspoon of the mixed seasonings. Save the rest to cook the rice.
Cook the Chicken, Sausage and Shrimps
- Add 3 tablespoon oil to a pan over medium heat. Cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side until light brown. Remove and set aside on a plate.
- You may add oil to cook the shrimp for 2 minutes on each side. Remove and set aside on a plate.9-10 Shrimps
- Add 1 tablespoon oil to the pan and sauté the sausage for few minutes until brown on both sides. Remove and set aside on a plate.10 ounces Sausage
To Cook the Jambalaya
- Add 4-5 tablespoon oil to the pan and sauté the onion and garlic until fragrant for 1 minute.1 large Onion, 3-4 cloves Garlic
- Add the tomato paste and crushed tomato. Stir occasionally for 3 to 4 minutes till some water dries. This avoids mushy rice.1 can Crushed tomatoes, 2 tablespoon Tomato paste
- Add the remaining mixed seasoning, washed rice, celery, and chicken broth. Stir to combine.2 cups Long-grain white rice, 2 ribs Celery, 3-4 cups Chicken or vegetable broth
- Cover the pan or pot and cook on medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot.
- You may add water or broth if needed. Cook until the rice is tender and fluffy.
- Add the cooked chicken, shrimp and sausage when fully cooked. Gently stir to combine.
- Garnish with chopped green onion and serve.2 Green onion
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Lisa says
Ingredients list calls for crushed tomatoes but directions say diced, which is better or does it matter?
its crushed tomatoes.
Nita says
I saw crushed tomatoes in the ingredients list
Bilikis says
So delicious
Bilikis says
This is irresistible
Bilikis says
This recipe is irresistible
Melanie Mize says
Delicious recipe. We have just spent time in the old South, Arkansas so I took the liberty of using chicken, Italian sausage and ground beef telling our guests that in the Old South I could use squirrel, possum or armadillo so don’t mess with me! They loved it!
hahahahahha so funny, but thanks for the fantastic feedback.
Sandra McCollum says
I am baffles as to why you call this dish Cajun. New Orleans cuisine is Creole. The ingredients you list ate also used in Creole Cuisine. Unless things have drastically changed, no real cook in New Orleans uses andouille sausage. Moreover, jambalaya is West African, introduced by slaves brought to Louisiana to grow rice. Unless you are referencing tomatoes as a Spanish influence, and the Creole seasoning as French, this is an African dish. Even paella was introduced to Spain by Moors who had lived in Africa. I am aware that Louisiana historians confuse this fact as influencing Louisiana cuisine, but it is incorrect. Paella was not a ubiquitous dish in Spain until the reign of Franco. During the time of Spanish colonization of Louisiana, even the Spanish would have been unaware.
Wow, thanks for that information.
Linda Hennebury says
If this is not right, how do you make it?
Collin Twersky says
I like this weblog so much, bookmarked.
Thank you Collins