Cajun Jambalaya was one of my favorite dishes growing up. It follows the common pattern for Cajun style cooking, using the “trinity” of onions, bell pepper and celery for the flavor base. The great thing about Cajun style cooking is that most of the ingredients are probably sitting around in your refrigerator or pantry already.
This recipe uses spicy andouille sausage, but it can easily be replaced with smoked sausage to reduce the spicy quotient. Leaving out the cayenne pepper will provide a milder dish as well.
- ¾ medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped
- 8 ounces chicken, diced into ½" cubes
- 1 lb. Andouille sausage (or smoked/spicy sausage of choice) sliced ¼" thick
- 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning (similar to Slap Ya Mama or Zatarain's)
- ½ cup olive oil (or as needed for sauteeing)
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- ¼ cup green bell pepper, chopped
- ¼ cup red bell pepper, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 2 tablespoons garlic, chopped
- 2 scallions, chopped into ½" pieces
- ½ cup chopped tomatoes
- 4 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 cups long grain rice
- 4 cups chicken stock
- Hot sauce to taste
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Chives for garnish
- In a small sauce pan, combine bacon drippings and flour over medium low heat to make a roux. Monitor carefully, stirring frequently until it is a dark, nutty brown (30-45 minutes). If you smell the flour begin to burn, lower the heat slightly. The roux should bubble a bit at the edges as it cooks, but not burn. Use the time while tending the roux to prep the vegetables and meat for cooking.
- Preheat a cast iron or heavy dutch oven over medium heat. Add olive oil for sauteeing.
- Pre-season the chicken and shrimp lightly with Cajun seasoning.
- Separately, brown the andouille sausage, chicken and shrimp. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Add enough olive oil to the dutch oven to cover the bottom. Cook the onions until crisp brown on the edges and about 50% through (about 5-8 minutes). Note: keep the heat up here and plenty of oil in the pan, we're trying to crisp and brown the onions, not caramelize them.
- Add the bell pepper and celery and cook down until wilted (about 3 minutes).
- Add the garlic and cook about 30 seconds.
- Add the tomato paste, chopped tomatoes and scallions and cook for about 1-2 minutes, or until tomatoes and scallions soften.
- Add the roux and rice, stirring for about a minute.
- Add the chicken stock, worcestershire, cayenne pepper and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Cover and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes.
- At the 10 minute mark, remove the cover quickly and add the chicken. Replace cover and monitor heat to ensure it remains at a simmer.
- At the 18 minute mark, remove the cover and add the shrimp and sausage. Replace the cover and allow to simmer.
- Remove from the heat at 20 minutes, keep covered and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
- Plate, garnish with chives and serve with hot sauce on the side.
- Enjoy and Cheers, my friends!
Cajun Jambalaya
Prep the ingredients while making the roux.
Sautee the sausage until browned
Brown the chicken
Brown the shrimp
Brown and crisp the onions
Add the bellpeppers and celery and cook down
Add the rice, bring the broth and veggies to a boil, then allow to simmer 20 minutes or until rice is cooked.
Gabbi says
March 6, 2022 at 11:34 amThank you for this i kept seeing recipes with no roux and it didn’t sit well with me 🤣 I made some changes like soy instead of Worcestershire, using brown rice, and thyme instead of bay leaves (grocery store shortage) but it was delicious none the less! Oh and I forgot to get tomatoes so I only had tomato paste. All my meat was seasoned with salt and pepper and then the shrimp was done with s&p plus cayenne and paprika. Because of the brown rice I had to cook it longer and watch it closer but I loveddddd this recipe 💖
Sylvia says
August 28, 2023 at 1:11 pmIf you’re adding tomatoes it’s Creole not Cajun
Shannie says
August 25, 2025 at 9:03 pmExactly I totally agree with you 💯