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!
Shrimp Jambalaya
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
- Bring the chicken broth and shrimp shells to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until required later.
- 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.
- Add the onion, pepper and celery and cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the garlic and creole seasoning and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
- 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.
- Add the shrimp and cook until cooked, about 3-5 minutes.
- Season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste and served topped with the green onions and hot sauce on the side.
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.
This dinner has my name all over it!
Even though I just posted gumbo today, I can still go for the cajun flavors. I love them!
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!
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.
I want a huge bowl of this!
This looks amazing!
This seriously looks incredible- I love all of the flavors and textures- I am now completely inspired to give this dish a try!
Yes please! We love Jambalya in our house!!!
LOVE jambalya!! This is such a perfect meal!
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!
This looks wonderful Kevin!
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.
Julien: Minestrone-Jambalaya does sound good!
I've never made my own Jambalaya and I don't know why… This one looks especially flavorful!
Sues
I just made jambalaya with chicken and sausage. I wish I had used shrimp. This looks delicious.
Yah, another New Orleans classic! Looks so flavorful Kevin!
This looks so good! Definitely my kind of comfort food!
Again, you've created a so delicious and yummy dish with some of my favourite ingredients thanks for sharing keep it up.
Drool! Comfort food at its best!
Your pictures are AMAZING!!!!! …….so jealous…..
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.
looks good! would this recipe work with a stock pot?
Anonymous: Yes, you can make this in a stock pot!
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.
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 🙂
I want to make this, but don't understand Step 1 — what do you do with the shrimp shells?
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!
Was I supposed to drain the can if diced tomatoes?
Maria Lat: No, use everything in the can of diced tomatoes.
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!
I made this 3 times and each time its a hit!
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
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.