Instant Pot Jambalaya (Easy and Quick IP Rice Recipe) (2024)

You will love this instant pot jambalaya! This quick and easy one-pot jambalaya made with smoked sausage, shrimp, and chicken is packed full of flavors and utterly delicious.

Instant pot one pot dish

Have you ever wondered if you can make jambalaya in your instant pot without getting the horror BURN notice? Well, you can and today I am sharing with you how to make it and it is fool proof too.

This one pot New Orleans pressure cooker chicken and rice recipe is rustic and packed full of delicious flavours.

It is similar to my popular instant pot rice and chicken recipe, super easy and quick but with bold flavours. Jambalaya evolved from the rice dishes like the almighty Jollof rice and Gumbo of West Africa.

The process of making this Louisiana favorite rice dish on the stove top is similar to the instant pot. With the pressure cooker, you do not have to babysit the food and it can be ready under 30 minutes. Let me show you how to make it in easy steps.

Related recipe: Cajun chicken and chorizo jambalaya and instant pot pork chops and rice.

Why this is a great recipe

It is flavourful, bold and spicy. Perfect for a weeknight dinner, a date night or when feeding a crowd.

It is easily customisable. I used chicken, shrimps and sausages but you can use any other protein of choice. It can be made vegetarian and vegan if you swap the meat for vegetables like mushrooms, zucchini or even jack fruit.

If you love rice and chicken or even tomato rice then you are in for a treat. This is the recipe for you, every bite is packed full of goodness and bursting with flavours.

It is a comfort food that is perfect any time of the year.

It is a complete dish that does not necessarily need any sides. Well, apart from a very good red wine.

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What goes in instant pot jambalaya

To make this delicious instant pot rice recipe, you will need the following

Smoked sausages: the traditional smoked sausages used is called andouille but in the absence of this, feel free to use other types of cured smoked sausage available to use. You can also swap for chorizo, I must say it is not as smoky as smoked sausages but it would still do the job.

Chicken breast: substitute with chicken thighs

Shrimps (prawns/crawfish): I used raw cleaned and deveined shrimp, but you can substitute with cooked prawns. It saves you another 2 to 3 minutes of sauteing

Homemade Cajun seasoning: This can be substituted with Creole spice mix (they use similar ingredients and not too different in taste)

The holy trinity of Cajun/Creole cooking: celery, bell peppers and onions

Garlic

Salt and black pepper

Olive oil

Crushed tomatoes

Dried thyme

Red pepper flakes: substitute for jalapeno or cayenne pepper

Worcestershire sauce

Chicken broth

Raw uncooked rice: The traditional recipe calls for long-grain rice but I eat basmati rice 90% of the time and I have used it for this recipe and it never failed.

Green onions and parsley to garnish

Let’s talk about andouille sausages

I live in the UK and I am yet to come across smoked sausages labeled andouille sausages. In fact, if you googled andouille sausages, the results you are going to get are Kielbasa, Krakus, or fresh andouille from specialty stores. Smoked sausages are available in most supermarket and it is stocked in the Polish/international aisle.

Related post: Southern Carolina chicken bog

How to make instant pot jambalaya that is quick and easy

Prep the ingredients: slice the sausages to smaller round coin shape, finely chop the celery, onions and garlic. Cut the bell peppers and chicken breast to bite size chunks. Clean and devein the shrimps if you haven’t already done so.

Sauté the veggies and proteins: Using the sauté function of the instant pot on normal settings, heat up a teaspoon of olive oil, use a ladle to move it around so that the bottom of the pot is glazed with the hot oil. add the sliced sausages, you may have to cook it in batches and brown on both sides, remove the sausages from the pot and set aside.

Add a little bit of oil to the bottom of the pan and sauté the shrimps briefly about 1 minute, remove from the pot and set aside.

Sauté the holy trinity of vegetables, chopped onions, celery, bell peppers with chopped garlic and sauté in little more oil for about 2 minutes (Do not overcook the veggies)

Add cubed chicken breast and cook for about 1 minute. Pour the chicken stock over the chicken and deglaze the bottom of the pot completely. Turn off the saute function at this point, this is an important stage. It will cool off the pan which will reduce the risk of getting a BURN notice.

Add washed rice to the pot followed by Cajun seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper then gently press into the stock without mixing rigorously. Pour the chopped tomatoes over the rice followed by half of the sauteed sausages, do not stir.

Cover the IP with its lid and set the valve to the sealing position. Select manual or pressure cook and cook on high pressure for 6 minutes. Do a 5 minutes natural pressure release once the cooking cycle is completed then carefully do a quick release.

Open the pot then add the sauteed shrimps, sausages, chopped green onions and parsley and carefully stir to combine. Place the lid back on the pot for another 5 minutes the remnant heat will cook the prawns through without overcooking it. Open the pot, fluff the rice and serve. Enjoy!

How to store

Personally, I prefer to serve jambalaya on the day it is made because when you reheat, you are likely to overcook the proteins in the rice. In the case where you have leftovers then you can store it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

It does taste better the next day. It sounds almost contradicting, I just don’t like eating leftover chicken microwaved prawns tend to be rubbery.

To reheat: you can reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop. If using the stove, do keep an eye and stir often so it doesn’t burn.

Tips

You can use any of these three proteins chicken, shrimps or sausages for this recipe, the chicken can be substituted with pork

Avoid mushy or water-logged rice by using the correct amount of liquid stated for this recipe. Jambalaya is not meant to be soupy.

Use cooked prawns/shrimps/crawfish if desired

FAQs

What is traditionally served with jambalaya?

Jambalaya is a complete meal on its own, it contains protein, carb and vegetables. I understand you can’t have too many vegetables as a side with a dish, so yes, you can serve this New Orleans dish with any of the following

Simple cucumber salad

Cornbread

Garlic bread

Hush puppies

Corn on a cob (this is an instant pot recipe)

Grilled oysters

Sauteed spinach or collard greens

You are not limited to the above so please feel free to serve this dish with any sides of your choice.

What is the difference between gumbo and Jambalaya? Both dishes originated from south Louisiana and uses creole or Cajun seasoning. The difference between both is that gumbo is a type of soup or stew and uses similar ingredients to jambalaya but instead of rice, it uses okra or file powder as a thickener.

Ironically, Gumbo is often served with rice while jambalaya is cooked as a one-pot dish with rice.

It may also be worth knowing that what makes a dish Cajun or creole is tomato.

How is Jambalaya similar to Paella

You may be wondering what is the difference between paella and Jambalaya since they both look the same. Both are made with similar ingredients but they are two completely different dishes.

These things set paella aside, paella uses saffron as a major ingredient and it is also milder in taste. More importantly, it is of Spanish origin and not from south Louisiana.

More one pot instant pot rice

Instant pot chicken thighs and rice

Pressure cooker rice and chicken

Instant pot rice and beans

Instant pot Mexican rice

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