A friend of ours from Atlanta texted me awhile back asking for my jambalaya recipe. She said her husband was still raving about it 4 years later and was asking her to make some. I had made it for a football party, and I guess it was that good! 😀 I always take for granted some of the amazing dishes we have down here in New Orleans!!!
Anyway, I had to tell her that I don’t cook from recipes – it’s just memory, sight and taste. I promised her I would make a batch soon and write down the recipe as I cooked. That got me thinking that other people might want this recipe and it inspired me to share it with all of you.
It’s such a great recipe … pretty easy overall, makes a ton, reheats well and is appealing to all ages 🙂 The other fantastic thing about my recipe is that it isn’t spicy! it’s still flavorful as it should be but not loaded down with spices in a way that the little kiddos can’t eat it, too. That’s something you can sometimes struggle to find with traditional New Orleans’ recipes. Overall, I don’t like spicy food or black pepper; but I still want very flavorful food … and something can totally still be flavorful without being spicy!
Without further ado … the recipe for The Best Family-Style Authentic New Orleans Jambalaya:
To start off, the pot you choose is very important. You want a large pot that browns/sautees well. The first thing you’re going to do is put a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a stick of butter on the bottom of the pot. Once the oil/butter is hot, you’re going to add your bell peppers and onions. And don’t cheat by leaving out the butter … it just won’t be as good – I promise (I tried to be extra healthy at one point in my life, and that was just no fun!). Now – you can do this next step the easy way or the hard way. I always choose the easy way now that I’ve found it! You can either buy fresh individual bell peppers and onion and chop them up, or you can buy a frozen bag mix. Honestly, they don’t taste any different to me, save me tonsss of time chopping, and I have them on the ready in my freezer!
Once those peppers and onions have sauteed well (maybe 6-10 minutes depending on your heat), you’ll want to add in the chopped sausage. I always chop my sausage while sauteeing so that I’m still standing there watching to make sure nothing burns. I sprinkle the season all over the sausage while it browns off. Once the sausage is close to finishing up, I add in my minced garlic. Garlic cooks quickly, so that’s why I wait until the end. After the garlic gets added and spooned around, I add my broken up rotisserie chicken. I do break up my rotisserie chicken ahead of time so that my hands are clean during the remainder of the cooking process!
Once I give the chicken and garlic a few minutes and the divine smell has taken over the kitchen, I add in the chicken stock. I turn the heat up because I’m going to want to bring this to a boil. I add another pinch of seasonall, some garlic powder, onion powder and white pepper. I add in the rice, stir thoroughly and cover. At this point, I’m sort of following the directions on that package though I’m going to let it cook much longer.
Once the rice has absorbed all of the water and it has a good consistency, I add in the can of peas. They are basically cooked and just need to heat up. This is a dish where I would not recommend using frozen peas.
This recipe makes a lot, which is how I like it, but feel free to half it 🙂
Recipe: The Best Family-Style Authentic New Orleans Jambalaya
Prep Time – 15 min
Active Cook Time – 30 min
Total Cook Time – approx 75 min (but the longer it can sit, the better)
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 stick butter
1 22 oz, bag 3 pepper & onion blend (I’ve been having good luck with the Pictsweet Farms brand) – OR – 1 green bell pepper, 1 red bp, 1 yellow bp, & 1 yellow onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 package smoked sausage (I usually use the Hillshire Farm brand)
4 cups rotisserie chicken (mix the white and dark meat)
2 32 oz chicken stock
3 10 oz bags yellow rice (I usually use either the Mahatma or Vigo brand)
1 15 oz can peas
3 tablespoons Season-All
1 tablespoon Garlic powder
1 tablespoon Onion powder
1 tablespoon White pepper
Instructions
- Pick apart rotisserie chicken -> get the dirty work out of the way first!
- In a large pot, drizzle oil and melt butter. Add in peppers and onions to saute.
- While that’s browning, cut the sausage into bite-sized pieces.
- Just before adding the sausage, add minced garlic and stir around for a minute or two.
- Brown off sausage and sprinkle with Season-All. Once finished, add in the chicken,
- Add the chicken stock and remaining seasonings then turn the heat up so it comes to a boil.
- Once boiling, add in the rice. Stir, simmer and cover pot.
- Give the rice at least 20 minutes to fluff up, stirring occasionally.
- If you need a little more liquid, just add in a little water. If you have too much liquid, turn the heat up to boil it off (just stir frequently so your rice doesn’t burn!).
- Add in the peas and let it sit a little longer if you have time. This is one of those dishes that just gets better with time!!
Enjoy 🙂
