Kristen B. Cooks: Jambalaya with Yellow Rice

What time is it? Jambalaya time!

My mother called me yesterday to ask for my jambalaya recipe. And once I got over the shock and pride of my mother wanting my recipe, I was like “ughhhhh”, because I have been meaning to type it up forever and I still haven’t. That is, until right now. As I’ve said at least once before, necessity is the mother of invention. And when your mother has a necessity, you better get inventing. Instead of sending my mother a boring email, I’ll send her a blog post in which she is the star! Hi, Mom!

Bonus points, I get to finally share this recipe with all of you!

Ya’ll, I love Jambalaya so much. It is my absolute favorite meal to eat, as well as my favorite meal to cook. That is because I came up with this recipe all my own.

Here’s a timeline:

1. Kristen B eats some jambalaya at a friend’s house. “Says what is this delicious rice meat dish?” Friend responds, “Jambalaya. I’ll send you recipe.”
2. Kristen B reads the recipe. Does not like some ingredients. Does not know how to do others well. Is sad.
3. Kristen B reads more Jambalaya recipes. Learns Jambalaya is whatever you want it to be. The spirit of Jambalaya was in Kristen B all along.
4. Kristen B makes Jambalaya with only her wits and a vague memory of the 234 recipes she read. It is good.
5. Kristen B makes Jambalaya again, fixing what wasn’t 100% the first time. It is better.
6. Kristen B makes Jambalaya again, perfecting each aspect. It is the best.

Let’s make some jambalaya!

You’ll need: Pot for cooking rice, a large, deep pan for the jambalaya

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chicken
• 1 lb sausage
• 1 lb shrimp
• 1 sweet onion
• 1 14 oz canned petite diced tomatoes
• 1 14 oz canned crushed tomatoes
• 3 tsp butter
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp tumeric
• 1 cup dry rice (I use long grain white, but browns works too!)
• 4 cups chicken stock (get my recipe for homemade chicken stock here)
• Cajun spice Mix (try my blend here)

Start with your yellow rice. Set your pot to medium heat. Drop in the butter.

Once the butter is melted add the minced garlic.

When the pinched garlic is brown, not burned, add the onion powder, salt, and tumeric. Mix.

Add 2 cups of Chicken stock. Wait to reach boil.

At boil, add dry rice. Mix well.

When six mix reaches boil, cover and turn heat to low. Let cook for 20-25 minutes.

Next, heat your large pan on medium.

Cut sausage into chunks. One the pan is heated. Drop sausage chunks in hot pan. Turn over a few times to make sure all sides are browned.

Dice your onion. Drop into hot pan. The fat from the sausage acts as a really nice cooking agent for the onions and tomatoes.

When the onions have cooked for a few minutes and are translucent, add the can of petite diced tomatoes. Add 1/2 tsp of salt over the tomato/onion/sausage.

Dice your chicken. You can also use leftover chicken in this step, if you have some. Throw chicken into the pan, mix well.

If you are good at time management, maybe you’ve already de-tailed your shrimp. If you’re me, you use the time the chicken is cooking to de-tail your shrimp. Once that’s done, go ahead and drop those shrimp in there. Mix well.

Add can of crushed tomato and mix well.

Sprinkle 2 tsps of Cajun Spice mix onto the mixture. Mix again.

Check on your rice. If you’ve hit 20/25 minutes (depending on strength of your stovetop), take the pot off the heat, uncover, and fluff with a fork. Let sit until serving.

Add 2 cups of chicken stock to your jambalaya mix. Give it a taste. For my spice loving folks, sprinkle another tsp atop the mixture and let simmer.

Once you get some bubbling on the surface, turn the heat to low and let jambalaya simmer.

Let simmer for 10 minutes before serving.

Serving suggestions: Serves 4-6, depending on rice distribution

We do 1/2 cup of rice for the kids and 1 cup for the adults. We also do the jambalaya ratio as 2 cups of jambalaya for every one cup of rice. This is all depending on your love of rice and/or jambalaya. Feel free to serve to your family’s preferences.

Well, there ya go, Mom. Hope it works out for you. :)

And I hope it works out for all of you, as well!

What are your thoughts on jambalaya? Any recipe you’ve eaten and just thought, “I need to learn to make this, whatever it is.” Ever had your mom ask for one of your recipes? Tell me all about it in the comments!

Kristen B. is wife to the best Prince around, mama to the spunkiest little princesses, and lover of all things Disney. She started her savings journey three years ago and is now dedicated to making her family’s wishes come true one coupon at a time. She is so excited to take her love of saving to the next level and share her journey with you! Click here to catch up on Kristen’s Savings and join in on your own savings adventure!