20 Jambalaya Recipes to Spice Up Your Life (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to a good jambalaya? ›

The richness of the stock, the slow build of Creole spices, and the way the meat is cooked — in this case, caramelizing the sausage, which coaxes out more flavor and adds that appealing browned finish — also contribute to the deep, complex layers of this dish.

The Holy Trinity is the Cajun and Creole counterpart to this trio, consisting of onion, celery, and rather than carrot, green bell peppers. Just like mirepoix, the Holy Trinity is one of the first things to hit the pan, acting as an aromatic base for dishes like Gumbo, Jambalaya, and Crawfish Étouffée.

P.S. just remember for every 5 lbs of meat you feed 20 people jambalaya. So for 100 people you should use 20 lbs of meat and half that (10lbs) of rice. You can use the proportion of pork to sausage as 75/25. So for 100 people you would use 15 lbs of pork and 5 lbs of sausage, 10 lbs of rice.

One of the biggest complaints when making jambalaya is that the rice ends up mushy. And there's two main culprits of this – choosing the wrong type of rice and over-stirring. For this recipe, you want long-grain white rice, like basmati or jasmine. Don't use short-grain rice.

Add a different kind of spice

Generally, jambalaya can be made with little more than salt, pepper, and a few extra things, like garlic or red pepper. This is because the dish gets most of its flavor from other components, like sausage. But if you really want your jambalaya to stand out, reach for the spice rack.

Cajun vs.

Creole jambalaya, also known as red jambalaya, contains tomatoes. Cajun or brown jambalaya does not. Jambalaya isn't thickened with roux, although some cooks do include a little skillet-browned flour.

So, what's the difference between these two cuisines? While they are very similar, they do utilize different ingredients. Cajun food is typically spicier than Creole food, and it also contains more pork and crawfish. Creole food utilizes more ingredients like tomatoes, shrimp, oysters, and crab.

The start of many Creole and Cajun dishes calls for the Holy Trinity. This seasoning base is the Louisiana version of the traditional mirepoix and is a combination of three aromatic ingredients: onions, bell pepper, and celery.

The Cajun trinity playfully nods to Louisiana's Catholic heritage — some people even call garlic the pope! But most of all, the name implies how essential celery, bell pepper, and onion are to Cajun cooking.

Feeding a Crowd

This jambalaya serves about 50 portions. We make it in a 5 gallon cast iron pot. Go big or go home, right? This dish serves a big crowd and is great for parties.

What is the water to rice ratio for jambalaya? ›

That's also the biggest reason not to be intimidated; if you can cook rice, you can cook jambalaya. Whether you just toss it in an electric cooker with a 2:1 water ratio, or gussy it up in on a stove top, jambalaya is just rice. Cooked with meat, sausage and seasonings.

Because gumbo and jambalaya have bold flavorings, they overshadow the subtle fragrance and taste of the specialty rices. Best to stick with parboiled for these dishes, Anne said. And you never add rice to gumbo. Instead, you put a scoop of rice in a dish and ladle the gumbo over it, she told us.

Sauté the onion, bell pepper, celery, jalapeño and garlic until soft. Add rice, liquids and seasonings. Add in the uncooked rice, chicken stock, crushed tomatoes, Cajun/Creole seasoning, thyme, cayenne and bay leaf. Give everything a good stir.

If you don't rinse it away, the starch creates a gluey film as the rice cooks. Rinse away the extra starch and the rice will be sticky enough to fluff up, but not too gummy. If you've been having trouble achieving the “just right” texture with your rice, try adding the rinsing step to your prep.

The one ingredient that seems to be fairly constant in all Jambalaya preparations though is some kind of sausage, and preferably a smoked one. Andouille, a spicy smoked sausage native to Louisiana, is the traditional choice.

Cajun jambalaya usually has a brown colour due to the meat dissolving in the broth. It also has a smokier flavour because of the meat being allowed to brown first.

A cajun jambalaya, I'm reliably informed, should be somewhat dry, even slightly browned on the bottom, which rules out the soupier, wetter texture of those creole versions using tomatoes (Oliver advises cooks to aim for a “porridgey” consistency).

Two main categories of jambalaya exist: Creole (or red) jambalaya, which is associated with the city of New Orleans and contains tomato, and Cajun (or brown) jambalaya, which contains no tomato and is more common in other parts of Louisiana. The recipe I'm focusing on here is the former, with tomato.