Healthy Jambalaya Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What rice is best for jambalaya? ›

One of the biggest complaints when making jambalaya is that the rice ends up mushy. And there's two main culprits of this – choosing the wrong type of rice and over-stirring. For this recipe, you want long-grain white rice, like basmati or jasmine. Don't use short-grain rice.

Creole jambalaya includes tomatoes—possibly a sub for paella's saffron (a once out-of-reach ingredient for southern Louisianans). Cajun jambalaya, found more frequently further outside of New Orleans, omits tomatoes, yielding distinctly cooked grains, garnished with chicken, sausage, and later, spring onions.

Whereas the seasoning combination of onion, celery, bell pepper, cayenne pepper and thyme give jambalaya its Creole/Cajun flavors, paella has a Mediterranean flavor profile owing to lemon, paprika, saffron and olives.

Jambalaya With Meat And Rice, Chicken And Sausage Jambalaya (1 cup) contains 22.7g total carbs, 21.4g net carbs, 21.2g fat, 26.1g protein, and 393 calories.

A cajun jambalaya, I'm reliably informed, should be somewhat dry, even slightly browned on the bottom, which rules out the soupier, wetter texture of those creole versions using tomatoes (Oliver advises cooks to aim for a “porridgey” consistency).

Either jasmine or basmati rice is perfect coz they're long-grain and don't get clumpy when cooked. If you want to use brown rice instead, make sure that you parboil it first since it takes longer to cook. You may swap Andouille sausage with kielbasa sausage, smoked beef sausage, or Chinese chorizo.

Two main categories of jambalaya exist: Creole (or red) jambalaya, which is associated with the city of New Orleans and contains tomato, and Cajun (or brown) jambalaya, which contains no tomato and is more common in other parts of Louisiana.

Jambalaya is a true Louisiana staple and perfect for the week of Mardis Gras! A hearty blend of rice, meats, vegetables, and lots of seasoning, jambalaya is a cold-weather comfort food that is sure to please everyone. There are two types of jambalaya: Cajun and Creole.

How To Serve Jambalaya. Immediately divvy your pot of hot jambalaya into individual bowls, or serve it at the table family-style in a large serving dish. Top it with fresh sliced green onions, chives, or chopped parsley. If you'd like, add hot sauce and a loaf of warm, crusty bread.

Is jambalaya supposed to be thick or runny? ›

Jambalaya, on the other hand, is a rice dish. Your average recipe contains about double the amount of liquid to rice, but the liquid cooks down. Jambalaya shouldn't turn out watery or mushy. Recipes with tomato sauce will turn out a little wetter, however, almost as wet as risotto, and that's totally normal.

Jambalaya with meat and rice contains 5.4 g of saturated fat and 142 mg of cholesterol per serving. 244 g of Jambalaya with meat and rice contains 19.52 mcg vitamin A, 15.6 mg vitamin C, 0.49 mcg vitamin D as well as 2.73 mg of iron, 58.56 mg of calcium, 588 mg of potassium.

Absolutely! I made this keto friendly gumbo with andouille sausage and shrimp to try to keep the ingredient list down. (Let's face it, Southern cuisine is not known for few ingredients.

For jambalaya, you want a 1:1:1 ratio for rice, meat and sausage. 1:1:1 ratio for rice, meat and sausage. Working with a half-cup of rice? Half pound of meat, half pound of sausage.

Jasmine and basmati rice are two types of aromatic long-grain rice. Jasmine has a more floral fragrance and slightly sweet flavor, while basmati has a nutty flavor and aroma. Jasmine is also slightly softer and stickier than basmati rice.

Don't be tempted to stir too much. Also, overcooking rice can lead to mushy rice. You want the water to be mostly absorbed, then remove it from the heat and let it steam to make the perfectly sauced rice.

For purposes of this discussion, we will limit our focus to plain old polished white rice. Even then, it comes in different sizes — short, long and medium grain. I prefer medium grain rice in a gumbo, because the grains puff up, the perfect medium for a gumbo. The thick gumbo juice sticks to the grains just right.

If the heat is too high, the water evaporates before the rice has a chance to fully cook. If you don't add enough water, the rice ends up dry and crunchy.