Servings: 8 Prep: 30 min Cook: 1 hr Total: 1 hr 30 min
A chicken jambalaya recipe is whole big thing. It’s this and that, with a touch of the other. It’s a big gurgling hot cauldron of anything from alligator and rabbit to ham, shrimp and tomatoes. It’s got its roots in the Caribbean, Africa, Spain, France and/or The Southern United States, etc. depending who you ask … There is literally no end to the way this can be made. No set combination of ingredients is defined as “Jambalaya”. It’s more a concept … and a delicious one, at that!
Mine is a rice-free Creole tilting taste sensation. It’s really quite simple to prepare and mostly just involves waiting for it to cook and for the flavors to meld together into a mind blowing, spicy, hot and wonderful mélange of French Quarter goodness!
Note: Because Jambalaya normally has the rice mixed into it, it’s a thicker meal. This version is more like a stew, which can be served with rice, or a rice substitute (I know people that love it on pasta, too!). Because of this, you can add a little guar and xanthan gums, which will thicken it, slightly. This is totally optional, but a nice way to throw a little more viscosity at it. I usually add it, but would understand why someone might not.
In the photos, it is served atop Cauli-Rice.
Ham, Andouille, Shrimp and Chicken Jambalaya Recipe
Print RateIngredients
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter or ghee
- 1 medium onion diced
- 4 each garlic clove peeled
- 1 each celery rib diced
- 1 small green bell pepper diced
- 2 cups chicken stock or broth
- 2 each large ripe tomatoes coursely chopped
- 1 lb ham diced
- 3 each bay leaves
- 4 each andouille links (or other creole/cajon smoked sausage (I often use Spanish Chorizo)) sliced into thick rings
- 1 1/2 lb whole boneless chicken breasts (or equivalent thigh meat skin optional)
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp fresh thyme chopped
- 16 each large shrimp peel and deveined
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, over medium heat, add the butter to melt.
- Add the onions and garlic. Stir until onions and garlic are translucent, about 3 minutes.
- Add celery and bell pepper and stir for a further 3 minutes.
- Add chicken stock, tomatoes, ham and bay leaves.
- Place a large sauté pan on high heat on the stove, to begin heating.
- While the pan heats, in a mixing bowl, mix together the chili powder, thyme, some salt and pepper. Dredge your chicken breasts in this mixture and coat evenly. Set aside.
- Add your slices of sausage to the pan, so that they evenly cover the bottom of the pan, and that the cut surfaces are face down and cleanly touching the bottom of the pan. This will add a nice color and flavor to the face of the sausage and will also pull some of the fat out of it, for the pan.
- When the edges of the sausage start to look nice and browned, flip each slice and brown the other side of each sausage ring.
- When the sausages are cooked, remove the sausages and add them to the soup pot.
- Immediately (don't let the empty sauté pan with the sausage fat burn!) add the chicken breasts to the hot sauté pan and cook them in the fat left behind by the sausages.
- Brown both sides of the chicken and then add the seared, but mostly raw, chicken to the soup pot.
- Adjust the temperature of the soup pot, to maintain a low and slow simmer. Cover the soup pot and allow to simmer for about 45 minutes.
- Check the chicken breasts with a fork. You will know the chicken is done when it tears easily with a fork.
- When the chicken is ready, add the shrimp to the hot mixture. Stir them in.
- With a fork, break the chicken into large chunks, within the soup pot.
- Cover, and let simmer for 5 more minutes.
- Adjust seasoning, check that the shrimp has been cooked through, then serve!
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Hiya!
This sounds absolutely gorgeous! Definitely something I would like to try.
I have a question:
I have xanthan gum and agar agar, could I just use these or is the guar a must if decided to use the thickeners? Can I just double the xanthan otherwise or does that make the texture odd??
Thanks!
I’ll try to source some beef sausage as hubby gets well ill when using pork :(, shouldn’t be a problem…just remembered I passed a Polish foods store a while ago….they MUST have an assortment of sausage, right?
Greetings from finally sunny Amsterdam!!
Hi Nikki! You can just double the xanthan. Technically, it’s optional. It’s just for texture, really. It’ll thicken it up, but it doesn’t really impact the taste. Doubling the xanthan is totally fine. Regarding the sausage … a polish foods store will almost certainly have sausage, but the flavor profiles will be a bit off. In the polish store, you could find a "Kielbasa czosnkowa", which "might" work, but in Amsterdam, can you find Spanish sausages? Maybe a fresh Spanish Chorizo? I think that’s a MUCH better bet, if you can track that down you’ll be much happier! Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
DJ, I love this recipe! Do you think cauliflower rice would be too strong of a flavor to serve this over, as opposed to regular rice? I am lucky to have a local butcher who makes andouille! Woohoo!!! Thanks bunches!
Hahahaha! OMG… I had not completely read your blog. I see that you DO use cauli-rice as the base. I am so blonde! {{blush}} Thanks, DJ!
Hi Lin, I know some people are very sensitive to the taste/aroma of cauliflower. I don’t happen to be one of them, but … you can try looking at my miracle cauli-rice, which would fall in line with your thinking, plus you’d get a bigger bed of rice! Don’t fret … I’m a blond, too! 😉
I made this tonight- super YUM!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Jessica. It’s a favorite of mine, to be sure!
southernjambalaya has okra in it to thicken it.
having lived deep in the heart of Louisiana, and eaten lots of jambalaya and gumbo, I feel that this recipe might be more properly called gumbo. Gumbo is a stew like the above recipe, which is served over rice (in this case cauliflower), sometimes, but not always, thickened with okra or file powder. Jambalaya is always a dry dish. This is only a quibble concerning the name, the recipe looks quite good, but is not jambalaya.
—Reply posted by DJ on 5/30/2015
Hi Sandy, I’m typically pretty thorough in my research. I’ve done a good deal of reading and comparing notes against other recipes by that name, from that region and I feel comfortable that my representation is reasonable. Where you’ve got me beat is in having lived there, when I’ve never even been. So, there is a very solid chance that you’re correct and that the real beating pulse of this recipe can only be found on the streets of deep Louisiana, but in terms of information readily available online, in cookbooks and a quick search through Google images … I’m in the ballpark. In all cases, it’s a tasty recipe … whatever you wanna call it! 😉
I’m from New Orleans and I’ve NEVER EVER EVER heard of a jambalaya w/o rice, EVER. This recipe is most confusing.
—Reply posted by DJ on 11/29/2015
Hi Terri, my website is a low-carb website. You won’t find rice, here. I substituted it with riced cauliflower. I hope that makes sense, now. Sorry for the confusion! :-/
Love this recipe. Made it several times. Very tasty. I make in large batches, cool and freeze into “couple-sized” servings. Great for a quick meal. Just thaw slowly and reheat. My whole family loves it served over cauli-rice.