The Best Jambalaya

The Best Jambalaya is a flavorful, vibrant dish that originates from Louisiana. It includes tender chicken, spicy sausage and a combination of perfectly steamed rice, onions and celery. Here's another big plus, this recipe makes enough to feed a crowd. Serve it with homemade Potato Rolls for a comforting meal that everyone will love!

🥘 Ingredients

• Chicken breasts, about 3 pounds or shredded rotisserie chicken
• Ground sausage, Jimmy Dean Sage variety
• Beef Smoked Sausage, Hillshire Farm
• Celery
• Green onions
• Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice
• Long-grain white rice
• Better than Bouillon, chicken
• Cavender's seasoning
• Cayenne pepper

⭐ Why You'll Love This Recipe

The Best Jambalaya achieves a beautiful balance between spices, meats, and vegetables. It goes well with Crunchy Cole Slaw or oven-roasted Brussels Sprouts.

The flavors meld together seamlessly, with no single ingredient overpowering the others.

The heat from the spices will vary depending on the variety of spices and sausage you choose.

But that heat is complemented by the natural sweetness of the vegetables and the richness of the savory chicken.

💭Recipe FAQs

⏲️ Time-Saving Tip

The chicken cooks quickly in your large stockpot with celery. But, as an option, and as a (big!) timesaver, buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Remove the skin, dice the chicken meat and you are set.

🍚Steam Before Serving

Probably the most important step in making the perfect pot of jambalaya is allowing time for the ingredients to steam.

Pro Tip: After everything has simmered for about 45 minutes, be sure to allow plenty of time with the heat turned off - at least 15 minutes.

This gives the flavors time to combine and the rice will be perfect.

⭐ The Inspiration

Recipes like this one with a connection to a special region are always best when they are shared by someone who lives there.

I'm proud to say this recipe for the best jambalaya is from my sister-in-law's family and they have a long connection to Louisiana.

I've enjoyed eating this jambalaya for years at family gatherings, and now I get to share it with you!

🍽 Southern Comfort Food

Everyone has a different take on this hearty, southern favorite. Some folks include shrimp, a unique mix of spices or various types of rice.

But whatever the combination, it is always a time-honored version of jambalaya and comfort food at its best.

When someone shares their special family recipe it's quite a thrill. Many thanks to Jack and MeMe Owen for sharing their delicious recipe with the Crinkled Cookbook!

📋Other Dinner Favorites

Here are some other ideas for dinner, all of these recipes also call for chicken as one of the main ingredients.

• Skillet Chicken Tacos, the chicken is seasoned with familiar Mexican spices along with crunchy cabbage, fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice.  So good!
• Tamale Casserole tastes just like your favorite tamales but is ready to eat in much less time.
• Pot Pie, talk about comfort food. Whether you use chicken or turkey to make your pot pie, this recipe is a winner, winner chicken dinner!
• Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese, a creamy and satisfying combination of squash, cheese and pasta.

👩🏻‍🍳More Chicken Recipes

If you tried The Best Jambalaya or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the 📝 comments below.

Recipe

The Best Jambalaya

The Best Jambalaya is a flavorful, vibrant dish that originates from Louisiana. It includes tender chicken, spicy sausage and a combination of perfectly steamed rice, onions and celery.

4.99 from 56 votes

Print Rate Pin Recipe

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 12 people

Calories: 643kcal

Author: Melinda O'Malley Keckler

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 6 chicken breasts about 3 lbs or use one rotisserie chicken
• ▢ 8 cups water enough to cover the chicken
• ▢ 2 pounds ground sausage Jimmy Dean Sage
• ▢ 1, 12 ounce beef smoked sausage sliced and diced (Hillshire Farm, Beef Smoked Sausage)
• ▢ 8 stalks celery diced, about 3 ½ cups, but save the tops
• ▢ 2 bunches green onions diced - about 10 green onions or 2 cups
• ▢ 1, 6 ounce box Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice Including the spice packet
• ▢ 2 ½ cups long grain white rice
• ▢ 6 ½ cups chicken broth I like Better than Bouillon, chicken
• ▢ Cavender's seasoning to taste, about 1 teaspoon to start
• ▢ Cayenne pepper to taste - about ½ teaspoon to start

Instructions

Cook and Dice Chicken

• Place chicken breasts, water and celery tops in a large stockpot with enough water to cover them all, bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes or until fully cooked, then drain off the water.

  Or, if using a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store simply remove the skin and bones from the cooked chicken.

  Dice the chicken and set aside.

Cook Sausage and Veggies

• In the same stockpot, cook the ground sausage, drain and set aside.

  With a little olive oil or butter, brown beef smoked sausage for a few minutes, add diced celery and diced green onions and cook until the veggies are slightly softened.

Combine All Ingredients, Simmer

• Add all the remaining ingredients into the stockpot.

  Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer covered over medium low heat for about 45 minutes.

  Remove from heat, still covered, allow to steam for about 15 minutes.

Serve

• Serves 10-12, or plan to enjoy plenty of leftovers for several days.

Leftovers

• For warming up leftovers, I like to place the jambalaya in a 13" x 9" glass baking dish, cover with foil and let it slowly heat up in a 325° oven for about 45 minutes.

Notes

Pro Tip: After everything has simmered for about 45 minutes, be sure to allow plenty of time with the heat turned off - at least 15 minutes.

This delicious recipe was kindly shared by MeMe and Jack Owen, special contributors to the Crinkled Cookbook. Thank you MeMe and Jack! 

Nutrition

Calories: 643kcalCarbohydrates: 43gProtein: 44gFat: 31gSaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 147mgSodium: 1331mgPotassium: 878mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 123IUVitamin C: 11mgCalcium: 43mgIron: 2mg

Please note, the nutrition details are estimated using a food database and are offered here only as a guideline for informational purposes.

Did you try this recipe? I'd love to see it! Follow @crinkledcookbook on Instagram, snap a photo and tag it #crinkledcookbook