Homemade Jambalaya, a great family recipe, made from scratch. All in one rice dish with ham, smoked sausage, tomatoes and heaps of flavor. Serve as a dinner or pot lucks, parties.
What is Jambalaya?
Jambalaya is a Creole rice dish of West African, French, and Spanish influence, consisting mainly of meat and vegetables mixed with rice.
Traditionally, the meat includes sausage of some sort, often a smoked meat such as andouille, along with pork or chicken and seafood, such as crawfish or shrimp.
It's a traditional dish found all over New Orleans. There are Cajun influences and you will find that there are many many variations of jambalaya, and also gumbo, and sometimes a fusion of the two!
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This recipe below is a homemade jambalaya recipe, with many of the traditional seasonings and ingredients.
What to Serve With Jambalaya
- Cornbread. Corn is a staple in Louisiana Creole cuisine
- Corn on the Cob
- Cheddar Biscuits.
- Hush Puppies.
- Green Salad.
- Cucumber Tomato Salad.
- Grilled Oysters.
- Chard or Collard Greens.
- Caesar Salad
What kind of meat is in jambalaya?
The most common meat used in jambalaya is smoked pork sausage (such as andouille), which is often paired with chicken.
It's not uncommon to find a jambalaya that includes diced ham (such as the heavily spiced and smoked Cajun tasso) or seafood (such as shrimp, crawfish or crabmeat).
Recipe by Sally Hall
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
60 minutes
Yield
6 - 8 Persons
Ingredients
- Butter
- Rice (cooked)
- Ham Steak (about ½” thick)
- Smoked Sausage
- Garlic Puree/or Minced
- Celery, chopped
- Beef Broth
- Chicken Broth
- Tomatoes
- Tomato Paste
- Water
- Shrimp
The Flavourings
- Tabasco
- Celery Flakes
- Red/White/Black Pepper
- Celery Salt
- Sweet Basil
- Thyme
- Onion Salt
- Garlic Powder
- Bay Leaves
- Minced Onion
- Bell Pepper Flakes
- Sweet Pepper Flakes
- Dried Shallots
- Scallions, chopped
See the recipe card below for quantities.
Instructions
1. In a large pan (like a Dutch oven) – spray with Pam or non stick spray and melt butter on low heat.
2. Cube ham steak and thinly slice the smoked sausage.
Add this to the melted butter, minced garlic and chopped celery and cook on medium heat for 15-20 minutes.
You can assemble the spices and measure into a small bowl while this is cooking.
3. Add the spices, tomatoes, broth and water; stir and simmer for another 15-20 minutes.
4. You can pre-cook the rice or do so now.
When the rice is fully cooked, add to the above mixture.
After you add the rice, add the shrimp and simmer for 10-20 minutes more to let the rice take on the flavor and spices of the Jambalaya.
Sprinkle with chopped scallions then serve.
We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our post. Did you make any changes or add some other goodies? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!
Sally’s Notes :
This mixture should be thick, not watery; you can add more rice or more water to fix the mix.
Keep in mind that this tends to be salty, due to the meats and also some of the seasonings. If it’s too much for your taste, add a large raw potato cut into 4 pieces to absorb the excess- remove before serving.
Recipe Card
Homemade Jambalaya
Homemade Jambalaya, a great family recipe, made from scratch. All in one rice dish with ham, smoked sausage, tomatoes and heaps of flavor. Serve as a dinner or pot lucks, parties
Ingredients
- 1 stick Butter
- 4-6 cups Rice, cooked
- 1 Ham Steak, about ½” thick
- 1 pkg. Smoked Sausage
- 2 cups Shrimp
- 1 tsp Garlic Puree/or Minced
- 1 Stalk Celery
- 2 cans Beef Broth
- 1 can Chicken Broth
- 2 cans Tomatoes
- 1 small can Tomato Paste
- 2 cans Water
The Flavourings:
- 10-20 shakes of Tabasco
- 1 Tbsp . Celery Flakes
- 1 tsp . Red/White/Black Pepper
- 1 tsp . Celery Salt
- 1 tsp . Sweet Basil
- ½ tsp . Thyme
- ½ tsp . Onion Salt
- ½ tsp . Garlic Powder
- 3 Leaves Bay
- 1 Tbsp . Minced Onion
- 1 Tbsp . Bell Pepper Flakes
- 1 Tbsp . Sweet Pepper Flakes
- 1 Tbsp . Dried Shallots
- 1 Scallion, chopped
Instructions
- In a large pan (like a Dutch oven) – spray with Pam or non stick spray and melt butter on low heat.
- Cube ham steak and thinly slice the smoked sausage. Add this to the melted butter, together with the garlic and chopped celery stalk and cook on medium heat for 15-20 minutes.
- You can assemble the spices and measure into a small bowl while this is cooking.
- Add the spices, tomatoes, broth and water; stir and simmer for another 15-20 minutes.
- You can pre-cook the rice or do so now.
- When the rice is fully cooked, add to the above mixture.
- After you add the rice, add the shrimp and simmer for 10-20 minutes more to let the rice take on the flavor and spices of the Jambalaya.
- Sprinkle with chopped scallions then serve.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 809Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 114mgSodium: 1083mgCarbohydrates: 136gFiber: 2gSugar: 2gProtein: 25g
Nutrition information isn’t always accurate
Main meals for Parties
Here's a selection of delicious recipes suitable for parties
Taco Pizza, delicious homemade pizza dough with toppings of a taco! Tasty seasoned ground beef, onions, garlic, olives, tomato sauce, topped with cheese, sour cream and lettuce.
Spinach and Feta Galette, a delicious open pastry savory pie filled with Greek feta cheese creamy spinach and tomatoes, then baked until set. Great served warm or chilled.
Beef and rice stuffed peppers are deliciously oven-roasted and filled with a mix of ground meat, rice, garlic, and seasonings making for a perfect lunch or supper.
Classic Spanish Seafood Paella.
In this version of the classic Spanish dish, chicken, chorizo sausage, and shrimp combine with rice simmered in broth and flavored with saffron threads, garlic
Delicious Corned Beef Dinner. A very easy recipe for stovetop, oven, or slow cooker, you choose! Perfect for St Patrick's Day or Easter
Chicken Party Salad. This is a great family recipe, quick & easy to make using leftover cooked chicken. Simple ingredients with lots of flavor. Perfect for parties, lunch or supper
Roast Pork and Crackling, let me show you the easy trick to getting a nice crispy crackling PLUS tender juicy meat! Cook times for roasting pork. This is an easy step-by-step guide to show you how to roast a joint of pork, perfect for a Sunday Roast dinner!
Brown Sugar Roasted Pork Loin with Cream Cheese Stuffing. This is a lovely recipe using tender pork loin, stuffed with peppers, cream cheese, spinach and garlic then rolled with a delicious Brown sugared spice rub. Oven roasted, this joint of meat comes out nice and juicy and full of flavor.
Balsamic Glazed Slow Cooked Pork . Wonderful flavours and of course very delicious!
Courtney
says:As someone born and raised in Louisians i can tell you that this is not jambalaya. The rice should be added raw and then cooked. This looks like some kind of of stew. Also true jambalaya does not have tomatoes. New Orleans jambalaya does but it’ classified as creole.