What comfort food do you crave?
What food cheers your soul after a long day, reminds you of childhood, or transports you back to a beloved place?
Jambalaya always hits the spot for me.
I harken it back to the Cajun restaurant that opened right when I got my first post-university job and my own apartment. I’d never experienced Cajun flavors or textures, but from my very first visit, the restaurant seemed to typify the exuberance I felt in my new-found independence in bona fide adulthood.
On my lunch break from work, I’d cross the street to order gumbo and jambalaya, and on free beignet days, I’d stop for a sweet treat on my way to the office. On summer days after work, my co-workers and I would gather on their lawn for the crawdad feast and gorge ourselves silly on crayfish.
What once had been a foreign cuisine altogether became soul food.
So, every once in a while, the comfort food I crave is jambalaya.
Note: I usually make jambalaya rather than gumbo merely because it’s super easy to approximate the proper flavors of jambalaya without any flour-based roux or even a flour substitute (it doesn’t need one!). Gumbo, on the other hand, relies more heavily on a thickener of some sort. Despite my deep, deep love of gumbo, jambalaya thus more easily fits into a traditional or real food diet.
As you prepare this recipe for your family and friends, I hope it will provide you with the same joy that it has provided me for many years!
Easy Jambalaya In The Crock Pot
Easy and delicious comfort food! Serves 6 to 8.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds pastured chicken cut up
- 1 coil andouille sausage cooked, or any smoked sausage (about 1 pound)
- 3 to 4 cups canned tomatoes or stewed
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 large green pepper diced
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 4 cloves garlic coarsely chopped
- 3 tablespoons Cajun seasoning *
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- few dashes hot sauce optional
- 2 cups uncooked rice **any variety (red, brown, basmati, etc.)
- 1 cup chopped okra
- 1 to 2 pounds raw shrimp peeled and deveined
Instructions
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Add all ingredients except rice, okra, and shrimp to slow cooker or Crock Pot.
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Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours.
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If cooking on high, add the rice 2 hours before serving and the okra and shrimp 45 minutes before serving.
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If cooking on low, add the rice 3 hours before serving and the okra and shrimp 1 hour before serving.
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If it's not possible to add the rice (say, you'll be away for the day), you may use precooked rice and just stir it together when you serve. (In that case, reduce the chicken stock by half and use only 1-1/2 cups.)
Recipe Notes
- *See how to make Cajun seasoning here.
- **For Paleo or grain-free version, use cauliflower rice instead. Simply place cauliflower florets from 1 medium cauliflower in a food processor and pulse until the consistency of rice. Stir this cauliflower rice in at the same time as okra and shrimp. And make sure to use only 1-1/2 cups of chicken stock at the beginning since cauliflower doesn't soak up liquid in the same way that rice does.
Enjoy! Have you ever made jambalaya in the Crock Pot?
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We like jambalaya too! I should think to prepare it more often. I have a quick and easy recipe but slow cooker would be great.
I don’t do much cooking anymore, as my eyesight is poor, but I do crave pickles. I do not buy they as they have unhealthy ingredients. My question is does it take much time to make your fermented pickles? I would love to make them if you have a simple recipe.
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Please give me some help,or suggestions in this matter.
Thank you, and God bless you.
Betty Wiebe
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This may be a tasty stew but it is not authentic Jambayala. Much of the flavor is garnered from caramelizing the veggies for a long time. It has scant spices, okra is for gumbo and rice needs to be very Al dente.
I do find comments on wheat flour in gumbo to be interesting. Have read various cooks discuss which flour such as millet or almond is close to the browning and thickening properties of wheat. I generally cheat and use wheat flour on the rare occasions I make it but I am not celiac.
I generally make a rabbit and Tasso ham Jambayala with 4 1/2 cups of onions, celery and bell peppers. The highly spiced Tasso provides red pepper, and I add hot pepper sauce, a little tomato paste and rabbit or chicken or rabbit broth towards the end. Cup less rice than broth at end and only cook 15 minutes. Take lid off to prevent overcoming rice!
In many ways you’re right and I couldn’t agree with you more, as many many many classic Cajun dishes highlight those gorgeous flavors that come only with long and slow caramelization. Even traditional roux capitalizes on that technique.
However, sometimes convenience trumps perfection and a “tasty stew” that closely approximates the flavor is a welcome substitute. 🙂
(Oh, and a note about the okra – I call for it in this version because it helps thicken the jambalaya – and because it’s yummy!)
The tasso and rabbit version you describe sounds delicious! Thanks for the suggestion.
My slowcooker Jambalaya destroys red beans overnight. No chicken, just sausage or bits of pork cooked down. use the bean paste as a thickener and add V8 spicy (12 oz can) and water about 30 min before adding rice. No hassle, very inexpensive main course. My flour alternative for gumbo is dehydrated eggplant through a food processor.