Jambalaya is a Louisiana rice dish cooked in one pot: meat and vegetables are browned, stock goes in, and the raw rice cooks in that broth until it has absorbed all of it. Nearly all the work happens before the pot gets hot. Dice the onion, celery and green bell pepper to about half an inch, slice the andouille into coins, cut chicken thighs into bite-size pieces, and mince the garlic. With everything cut and waiting, the cooking takes care of itself.
Mardi Gras falls on February 9 in 2027. A big pot of jambalaya is one of the easiest ways to feed a Carnival crowd, because it is one dish, it scales up without fuss, and it holds on the stove while people come and go.
Red or brown
There are two main styles, and they use the same knife work.
Creole jambalaya, sometimes called red jambalaya, includes tomatoes. It is found mostly in and around New Orleans.
Cajun jambalaya, from rural south-central and southwestern Louisiana, has no tomatoes. Its brown color comes from the bits of meat that brown and stick to the bottom of the pot before anything else goes in.
The base for both is the trinity of Cajun and Creole cooking: onion, celery and green bell pepper. The usual meats are smoked sausage, most often andouille, with chicken or pork, and less often seafood such as shrimp.
Gonzales, Louisiana, takes the dish seriously enough that Governor John McKeithen proclaimed it the jambalaya capital of the world in 1968. The town holds a Jambalaya Festival every spring.
Prep order matters
Jambalaya brings raw chicken and vegetables onto the same board, so the order you cut them in is a food safety decision as well as a practical one.
- Vegetables first, while the board is clean.
- Garlic next, then move it to a small dish.
- Sausage, which is usually smoked and ready to slice.
- Raw chicken last.
- Shrimp, if you are using them, peeled and kept in their own bowl in the refrigerator until the end.
The FDA advises using one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for raw meat, poultry and seafood. If you have only one board, cut the vegetables first, set them aside, and wash the board with hot, soapy water after the raw chicken before it touches anything else.
The trinity, cut a little larger
For gumbo, the trinity is diced small so it melts into the roux. In jambalaya, the vegetables should stay visible among the rice, so cut them to about half an inch.
- Onion: halve it through the root, peel it, and make vertical then horizontal cuts toward the root before slicing across.
- Celery: split each rib lengthwise into half-inch strips, line them up and cut across.
- Green bell pepper: cut the four flat sides off the core, lay each skin side down, cut half-inch strips and then cut across.
A common ratio is two parts onion to one part each of celery and pepper. The holy trinity for gumbo goes into the ratio and each cut in more detail.
Garlic
Mince four to six cloves, depending on how much garlic your crowd likes, and keep them apart from the trinity. Garlic burns faster than onion, so it goes into the pot a minute after the vegetables, not with them. How to mince garlic covers the rocking cut and the paste.
The andouille
Louisiana andouille is a coarse-grained smoked pork sausage, and in jambalaya it is as much a seasoning as a meat. Its fat renders into the pot and flavors the rice.
Slice the links into coins about a quarter inch thick. For a dish that will be eaten with a spoon or on a paper plate, cut thick links in half lengthwise first and then slice them into half-moons, which spread more evenly through the rice.
A sharp knife matters with smoked sausage. A dull one squashes the casing before it cuts through. Brown the slices first in the empty pot, then lift them out and leave the fat behind.
The chicken
Boneless, skinless thighs are the usual choice. They stay moist through the long simmer in a way breast meat does not.
Trim away any large pieces of fat, then cut the thighs into pieces about an inch across. Even pieces cook at the same rate, so none are dry while others are underdone. How to cut chicken thighs shows how to trim and cube them.
Season the pieces, brown them in the sausage fat, and remember the number that matters: chicken is safe at an internal temperature of 165°F. It will finish cooking along with the rice, but check a few of the largest pieces with a thermometer before serving.
If you add shrimp, put them in for the last few minutes, laid over the top of the rice and covered. They are done when the flesh is pearly and opaque.
Bringing it together
With the board work done, the pot goes in a set order. Brown the sausage and lift it out. Brown the chicken in the fat. Add the trinity, cook until soft, then the garlic for a minute.
For a Creole pot, add the tomatoes now. Return the meat, add stock and seasoning, then stir in the rice.
Cover, lower the heat and let the rice cook in the broth without stirring too often. Stirring breaks the grains and turns the pot gummy.
The board needs room for all of it. The WONAMU. bamboo cutting board is 12 by 9 inches, enough to line up onion, celery and pepper in separate rows, and its perimeter juice groove catches the juices the raw chicken releases as you cube it. Wash it with hot, soapy water once the chicken is cut and before anything else goes on it.
Feeding a crowd safely
A pot of jambalaya on the stove is meant to be served from for a while, but cooked food should not sit out indefinitely. Refrigerate leftovers within two hours of cooking, or within one hour if it is above 90°F, which is worth remembering at an outdoor parade gathering on a warm day. Keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below, and reheat leftovers to 165°F.
Spread leftovers in shallow containers so the rice cools fast rather than holding warmth in the middle of a deep pot.
The short version
Cut everything before you heat the pot. Dice the onion, celery and green bell pepper to half an inch, mince the garlic, slice the andouille into quarter-inch coins or half-moons, and cut boneless chicken thighs into one-inch pieces, in that order.
Cut the raw chicken last and wash the board right after. Chicken is done at 165°F, shrimp when pearly and opaque, and leftovers go into the refrigerator within two hours.
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WONAMU. makes a bamboo cutting board designed for daily prep, 12 × 9 inches, bamboo, with a perimeter juice groove. Available on Amazon.
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