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Shrimp Jambalaya

[heart_this] · Feb 24, 2014 · 37 Comments

Jambalaya

A tasty Louisiana rice dish with andouille sausage and shrimp.

First up for new recipes for my Mardi Gras feast is jambalaya which is a classic Louisiana rice dish. There a probably about as many different recipes for jambalaya as there are people that make it but it’s base is meat, vegetables and rice and the rice is cooked in the same pot as everything else. One of the nice things about jambalaya is that you can pretty much do whatever you want with it; use whatever meat you want, use whatever vegetables you want, etc. You start by cooking the non-seafood meat, add the holy trinity (onions, celery, pepper), followed by the broth, rice and seasonings and then you let it simmer until the rice has cooked and the sauce thickens before adding the seafood at the end. Jambalaya is definitely one tasty home cooking dish that is pure comfort food!

Jambalaya

Shrimp Jambalaya

Shrimp Jambalaya

Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 40 minutes Total Time: 1 hour Servings: 4

A tasty Louisiana rice dish with andouille sausage and shrimp.

ingredients
  • 1/2 pound shrimp peeled and deveined reserving the shells
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 tablespoon butter or oil
  • 1/2 pound andouille sausage, sliced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 bell pepper, diced
  • 2 stalks celery, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon creole seasoning
  • 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 cup long grained rice
  • salt, pepper and cayenne to taste
  • 4 green onions, sliced
  • hot sauce to taste
directions
  1. Bring the chicken broth and shrimp shells to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until required later.
  2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat, add the sausage and cook until browned on both sides, about 5-7 minutes.
  3. Add the onion, pepper and celery and cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
  4. Add the garlic and creole seasoning and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
  5. Strain the shells from the broth, add the broth, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves and rice to the sausage and vegetables, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the rice is tender and the sauce has reduced and thickened to the desired thickness, about 20-40 minutes.
  6. Add the shrimp and cook until cooked, about 3-5 minutes.
  7. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste and served topped with the green onions and hot sauce on the side.
Note: This recipe benefits from more simmer time so if you have the time simmer it for 40 minutes.
Option: Skip step one.
Option: Option use bacon grease instead of the butter and throw the cooked bacon in as well.
Option: Replace the andouille sausage with kielbasa if you cannot find the andouille.
Option: Add chicken or ham.
Option: Use brown rice. The cooking time and the amount of broth needed will increase, just keep an eye on it and add more broth as needed.
Nutrition Facts: Calories 542, Fat 22g (Saturated 7g, Trans 0), Cholesterol 115mg, Sodium 1105mg, Carbs 61g (Fiber 4g, Sugars 10g), Protein 23g

Nutrition by: Nutritional facts powered by Edamam
Similar Recipes:
Shrimp Creole
Shrimp Etouffee
Shrimp Gumbo
Cajun Red Beans and Rice
Shrimp Creole Soup with Bacon and Cheddar Dumplings
Cheddar Biscuits and Shrimp and Andouille Gravy
Cajun Shrimp and Andouille Cheese Dip

Cajun and Creole, Food, Gluten-free, Main Course, One-Pan, One-Pot, Pork, Recipe, Seafood, Shrimp

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jenny says

    February 24, 2014 at 1:16 pm

    This dinner has my name all over it!

    Reply
  2. Tieghan says

    February 24, 2014 at 1:58 pm

    Even though I just posted gumbo today, I can still go for the cajun flavors. I love them!

    Reply
  3. [email protected] says

    February 24, 2014 at 2:01 pm

    Hi Kevin! My son has been asking me for a long time to make it from scratch. I usually make zattarains from a box! I will make this soon!

    Reply
    • Lauren says

      August 16, 2020 at 6:39 pm

      I just made it. It tastes more like spaghetti than jumbalaya. Still tasty though. I will have to try another recipe until I get something similar to what I’ve had in New Orleans.

      Reply
  4. naomi says

    February 24, 2014 at 2:37 pm

    I want a huge bowl of this!

    Reply
  5. Rachel @ Baked by Rachel says

    February 24, 2014 at 2:40 pm

    This looks amazing!

    Reply
  6. Heather Christo says

    February 24, 2014 at 2:44 pm

    This seriously looks incredible- I love all of the flavors and textures- I am now completely inspired to give this dish a try!

    Reply
  7. Katie says

    February 24, 2014 at 3:03 pm

    Yes please! We love Jambalya in our house!!!

    Reply
  8. Julie @ Table for Two says

    February 24, 2014 at 3:10 pm

    LOVE jambalya!! This is such a perfect meal!

    Reply
  9. Jodee Weiland says

    February 24, 2014 at 3:35 pm

    Looks wonderful, Kevin! Your recipes always look so delicious. From the sounds of the ingredients here, this recipe is a winner and so full of flavor. I love it. Thanks for sharing it with us!

    Reply
  10. marla {Family Fresh Cooking} says

    February 24, 2014 at 4:10 pm

    This looks wonderful Kevin!

    Reply
  11. Julien says

    February 24, 2014 at 5:10 pm

    Yum, jam-ba-la-ya… Ever tried making a Minestrone-Jambalaya? I did once and it was amazing. Follow the same basic principles of a jambalaya, except use minestrone ingredients plus some spicy italian sausages and use pastas (shells, perhaps) instead of rice.

    Reply
  12. kevin says

    February 24, 2014 at 6:23 pm

    Julien: Minestrone-Jambalaya does sound good!

    Reply
  13. We are not Martha says

    February 24, 2014 at 8:26 pm

    I've never made my own Jambalaya and I don't know why… This one looks especially flavorful!

    Sues

    Reply
  14. Emily says

    February 24, 2014 at 9:35 pm

    I just made jambalaya with chicken and sausage. I wish I had used shrimp. This looks delicious.

    Reply
  15. Jeanette | Jeanette's Healthy Living says

    February 25, 2014 at 1:06 am

    Yah, another New Orleans classic! Looks so flavorful Kevin!

    Reply
  16. Gaby says

    February 25, 2014 at 3:38 am

    This looks so good! Definitely my kind of comfort food!

    Reply
  17. Rajat Kochar says

    February 25, 2014 at 6:11 am

    Again, you've created a so delicious and yummy dish with some of my favourite ingredients thanks for sharing keep it up.

    Reply
  18. Laura @ Laura's Culinary Adventures says

    February 25, 2014 at 2:58 pm

    Drool! Comfort food at its best!

    Reply
  19. Maria Darazs says

    February 25, 2014 at 5:23 pm

    Your pictures are AMAZING!!!!! …….so jealous…..

    Reply
  20. vanillasugarblog says

    February 26, 2014 at 1:12 am

    I agree your photos are always the best.
    I was going through my old blog posts (from 2008) and I saw all the old comments all the old time bloggers used to leave. I so miss those times; times have changed in terms of blogging.

    Reply
  21. Anonymous says

    April 23, 2014 at 6:08 pm

    looks good! would this recipe work with a stock pot?

    Reply
  22. kevin says

    May 3, 2014 at 5:35 pm

    Anonymous: Yes, you can make this in a stock pot!

    Reply
  23. Candance Bise says

    May 6, 2014 at 5:48 pm

    We have made this a few times, and it's quite delicious. Thanks so much. My husband can not have the box mixes, due to the sodium content. We very much enjoy these recipes.

    Reply
  24. Nadine Clayton says

    December 14, 2014 at 7:21 am

    Jambalaya started out as many other Creole dishes did; they were amalgamations of left overs from the plantation house or where ever food could be found, often in the bayou. Meat such as turtle of alligator might be used if that was what could be had. I have been making Jambalaya for years now and it is always well received. I make a roux using bacon grease as my fat, followed by the veggies (onion, celery & pepper) along with a generous helping of minced garlic. Then I add the fish stock (or chicken stock if fish stock is not available). Then I add chopped chicken, Andouille sausage, ham or ham hock (if I have it), chopped crab meat, crawfish tails and shrimp. Added to that is the creole seasoning that I make myself from scratch (paprika, thyme, bay, oregano, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste). I then add a can or two of Rotel diced tomatoes (I prefer the spicy recipe) and then I add a cup or so of long grain white rice. After a nice long simmer, this dish is done to perfection! Nothing I have ever tried is as good as this recipe. I hope you and your followers enjoy it as much as my family has done for years 🙂

    Reply
  25. Anonymous says

    July 31, 2015 at 4:20 pm

    I want to make this, but don't understand Step 1 — what do you do with the shrimp shells?

    Reply
  26. kevin says

    August 3, 2015 at 12:33 pm

    Anonymous: In step 1 you simmer the shrimp shells in the broth to extract the shrimp flavour and infuse it into the broth. Leave it simmering until step 5 where you strain the shells out of the broth and discard them.

    Enjoy!

    Reply
  27. Maria Lat says

    March 21, 2016 at 11:50 pm

    Was I supposed to drain the can if diced tomatoes?

    Reply
  28. kevin says

    March 22, 2016 at 2:10 am

    Maria Lat: No, use everything in the can of diced tomatoes.

    Reply
  29. Jamie says

    July 13, 2016 at 2:44 am

    I made this for dinner tonight. I didn't have creole seasoning so I used cajun(close enough!). I included the bacon step in the recipe, and boiling the shells in the broth. I would never skip those steps, so much flavor!! Yummy. I had some crawfish in my freezer post craw season, so they joined the mix. This was an AMAZING dish and I will make again! A bit of prep, but so worth it! Thank you for an amazing recipe!

    Reply
  30. philip weiss says

    April 16, 2017 at 6:33 pm

    I made this 3 times and each time its a hit!

    Reply
  31. Gina says

    October 28, 2018 at 5:53 pm

    This is the recipe I have been looking for, but I am a little confused. When it says you can skip the first step, do you mean not to use the chicken broth? Or, to not add the shrimp shells? Thanx for your response

    Reply
    • kevin says

      October 29, 2018 at 5:39 pm

      You can skip simmering the shrimp shells in the broth before using the broth. Doing this step will extract more shrimp flavour from the shells into the broth. Enjoy!

      Reply
  32. Sara says

    December 17, 2018 at 9:18 pm

    Hi. I’ve made this a few times now and the flavors are amazing. My question is the rice comes out mushy. Is that normal? It doesnt say to cover and cook so I dont but I have been stirring it occasionally. Could this be the problem? Thanks for posting. The flavors really are the best.

    Reply
    • kevin says

      December 18, 2018 at 10:03 am

      I’m glad you like it! It sounds like you just need to stop cooking as soon as the rice gets tender and before it gets mushy.

      Reply
  33. Lesley Bergman says

    November 13, 2021 at 2:28 pm

    Hi Kevin, This recipe is delicious. I had a good one but lost it. I was so upset but then I found yours. Definitely a keeper. I turn the leftovers into soup and garnish with a Honey Lime Crema and Fried Tortilla Strips. Both are fantastic. Thank you.

    Reply
  34. Liette Rudy says

    February 13, 2023 at 12:27 pm

    Hi Kevin! This looks so good and can’t wait to do it. For the rice ingredient can I use Jasmine rice instead?? If not, what can I substitute the long grain rice for??
    Tks for all the good recipes Kevin.

    Reply

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