I love me some authentic jambalaya but ain’t nobody got time for that. I’m showing y’all how to do it easy with this one skillet recipe. We season up the chicken, add in sausage, veggies and so much more with a pre-loaded jambalaya rice mix to cut down the work. And trust me, it may be low fuss but it ain’t low of flavor.
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How to Make Easy Jambalaya
Step 1: Season sliced chicken with blackened seasoning, cover, and marinate 10 minutes to 3 hours. Let come to room temp, then cook in hot oil over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, turning until done. Remove and keep warm.
Step 2: Add the sliced smoked sausage to the pot. Brown the sausage for 2-3 minutes then remove half and add to the platter to stay warm.
Step 3: Add the diced onion, bell pepper, and celery to the pot. Sauté the veggies for 2 minutes, or until they appear glossy.
Step 4: Next, add the diced tomatoes to the pot. Sauté them with the rest of the ingredients for 2 minutes more.
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Step 5: Stir the entire pouch of jambalaya rice mix into the pot, ensuring that you incorporate the grains of rice and spice mixture completely. Pour the stock (or water) into the pot and stir well. Bring the liquid in the pot up to a boil.
Once the liquid comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Simmer the jambalaya for 25 minutes.
Step 6: After 25 minutes, turn the heat off completely. Allow the pot to sit on the warm burner for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, fluff the jambalaya, top with the sliced chicken thighs and remaining sausage, along with some parsley, and serve.
Easy Jambalaya Recipe
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Ingredients
- 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs sliced
- 2 tsp blackened seasoning
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 14 oz andouille smoked sausage sliced 1/2-inch thick
- 1/2 cup yellow onion diced
- 1/2 cup green bell peppers diced
- 1/2 cup celery diced
- 1 cup roma tomatoes 2 medium, diced
- 12 oz Jambalaya Rice Dinner Mix I used Zatarain’s Family Size
- 3 3/4 cup chicken stock or broth or water
- parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Add the sliced chicken to a mixing bowl and season with blackened seasoning. Toss the chicken in the spice blend to thoroughly combine. Place in the bowl in the refrigerator covered and allow the chicken to marinate anywhere from 10 minutes (slight heat) to 3 hours (insane major heat!).
- When ready to cook, remove from the refrigerator and allow it to come back to room temperature.
- In a 4-quart dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the chicken to the pot. Cook the chicken for 5 minutes, turning occasionally, until cooked through. Remove from the pan and keep warm on a platter.
- Add the sliced andouille smoked sausage to the pot. Brown the sausage for 2-3 minutes then remove half and add to the platter to stay warm.
- Add the diced onion, bell pepper, and celery to the pot. Sauté the veggies for 2 minutes, or until they appear glossy.
- Next, add the diced tomatoes to the pot. Sauté them with the rest of the ingredients for 2 minutes more.
- Stir the entire pouch of jambalaya mix into the pot, ensuring that you incorporate the grains of rice and spice mixture completely.
- Pour the chicken stock (or water) into the pot and stir well. Bring the liquid in the pot up to a boil.
- Once the liquid comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Simmer the jambalaya for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes, turn the heat off completely. Allow the pot to sit on the warm burner for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, fluff the jambalaya, top with the sliced chicken thighs and remaining sausage, along with some parsley, and serve.
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This was so delish! I made some changes due to my cooking skill level and it still turned out great. I cooked my sausage 2-3 minutes like stated but at the end I noticed the pic and it looks like it was cooked a lot longer. I used canned diced tomatoes (drained) and didn’t remove any of the chicken or sausage and cooked it the whole time. We will definitely be making this again!
If you have timid palates in your home, be aware that the Blackened Seasoning and Andouille Sausage have the potential to add a lot of heat to the dish. You can cut down on this by (1) substituting a good quality pure smoked pork sausage such as Polish Kielbasa, which is recommended as a suitable substitute in the Poorman’s Jambalaya recipe published in Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen and (2) reducing the amount of Blackened Seasoning added to the chicken.
If you have never made jambalaya, this recipe is a good place to start. It works well using Zatarain’s Jambalaya Mix and Jocelyn’s addition of “trinity” (onions, bell peppers and celery) elevates the dish and yields a more authentic result. Perhaps using the mix adds some degree of convenience and gives confidence to the inexperienced cook; however, making jambalaya from scratch is just as easy. Since the vegetables, sausage, and chicken need to be cut up anyway and the chicken stock needs to be measured, the only additional tasks with a scratch recipe are measuring the converted rice and adding commercial Creole seasoning to the mixture. If you are feeling really ambitious, you can mix up a batch of your own (Chef Paul’s mixture contains bay leaves, salt, white pepper, dry mustard, ground red pepper (cayenne), gumbo filé powder, black pepper, dried thyme leaves, cumin).
For heart-health reasons, we’re avoiding red meat. Can you suggest an adaption that omits the andouille but preserves the flavor?
There are turkey and chicken andouille available. I think the brand Amylou is what i grabbed last time
I’m always hungry for good southern recipes! This flavorful skillet is filled with so many delicious tastes and textures. It’s a comfort-food favorite!
This was a huge hit for dinner last night! Will definitely make it again!
I have never tried Zatarain’s seasoning mix before, but will def be trying for some of that spiciness I love!
For a better variation- mix the jumbolaya mix and the gumbo mix. Follow direction for gumbo
This jambalaya is bursting with flavors indeed! I love that it’s so doable, too!
Jambalaya is such a comforting dish…this sounds and looks absolutely marvelous. We’re snowed in here at the moment, so this would a a perfect meal for the family over the weekend!