Been refining a recipe for a couple years and looking to perfect it this fall. Anyone got ideas/additions?

1. Season chicken breasts with cajun seasoning and brown/slow cook in Instapot with chicken broth. Shred when done.
2. Get out dutch oven. Preheat oven to 350.
3. Brown andouille. Remove and chop when done.
4. Cook chopped bacon. Remove bacon when done.
5. Sautee holy trinity in bacon grease.
6. Add rice, chicken broth (use remnants from Instapot), andouille, bacon, cayenne, and paprika (1 cup rice : 1-3/4 cup broth)
7. Place in oven for about 30 minutes
8. When rice is 90% done, add shredded chicken and more seasoning to taste
9. Serve

This is my go-to and is always a hit when making for a group. Only mods I make are to go heavy on the veg, usually add a jalapeño, and sometimes will exclude the chicken and keep to only shrimp and sausage.

https://www.emerils.com/121423/cajun-jambalaya

Cook it all in one pot, jambalaya is a one pot meal.
Definitely use chicken thighs instead of breasts.
Add a couple of bay leaves to the pot.
I like to deglaze with beer after I'm done sauting the veggies.
Some people use tomatoes and some don't, I'm good either way.
You can add some soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or fish sauce to bump up the umami. Tomato paste can help with that too.

Pulled pork jambalaya?????

Nice recap thanks!

Max Power said:

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Pulled pork jambalaya?????

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I too use pulled pork for jambalaya and I'm not going back. Even if it's one of those "preseasoned" dump in a crock pot type chunks of pork shoulder, it works out well to use up leftovers.

I started out with diced chicken breast, but started to prefer the way the shredded breast fully integrates into the rice and gets covered with seasoning. Probably similar to the pulled pork situation mentioned above. Plus, that's the way my friend's cajun momma does it. However, I will try chopped thighs since the board has clearly voted in that direction!

Thanks for the bay leaf tip. Will use that.

Y'all will probably shoot me for saying this, but if you're hankering for something like this on a weeknight, I would recommend HEB's Arroz con Pollo. I do two boxes, use a pound of chicken thighs and a coined link of slovacek sausage and my family devours it. Takes about 15 minutes and it's a winner.

Willy Wonka said:

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Y'all will probably shoot me for saying this, but if you're hankering for something like this on a weeknight, I would recommend HEB's Arroz con Pollo. I do two boxes, use a pound of chicken thighs and a coined link of slovacek sausage and my family devours it. Takes about 15 minutes and it's a winner.

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I'm all for a quick and easy approximation of anything. Nothing ever matches the real thing but sometimes you can get oddly close and satisfy an itch without making 26 gallons of jambalaya.

We use a bigger kettle. Same approach. Go to town on a gumo meat base. Add same amount of stock and rice. Boom.

My jambalaya is different every time I make it. It's meant to be a random hodgepodge of stuff. Different meats, etc… always peppers and onions, sometimes celery. On occasions, I have been known to throw chopped dried apricots in. Sometimes I make it with tomatoes, most of the time I don't.

The only consistent thread is that I use a cast iron Dutch oven every time

AggieFlyboy said:

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My jambalaya is different every time I make it. It's meant to be a random hodgepodge of stuff. Different meats, etc… always peppers and onions, sometimes celery. On occasions, I have been known to throw chopped dried apricots in. Sometimes I make it with tomatoes, most of the time I don't.

The only consistent thread is that I use a cast iron Dutch oven every time

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You lost me.

Willy Wonka said:

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AggieFlyboy said:

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My jambalaya is different every time I make it. It's meant to be a random hodgepodge of stuff. Different meats, etc… always peppers and onions, sometimes celery. On occasions, I have been known to throw chopped dried apricots in. Sometimes I make it with tomatoes, most of the time I don't.

The only consistent thread is that I use a cast iron Dutch oven every time

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You lost me.

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Don't knock it until you try it. Learned the trick from an old Cajun.

AggieFlyboy said:

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Willy Wonka said:

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AggieFlyboy said:

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My jambalaya is different every time I make it. It's meant to be a random hodgepodge of stuff. Different meats, etc… always peppers and onions, sometimes celery. On occasions, I have been known to throw chopped dried apricots in. Sometimes I make it with tomatoes, most of the time I don't.

The only consistent thread is that I use a cast iron Dutch oven every time

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You lost me.

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Don't knock it until you try it. Learned the trick from an old Cajun.

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If a person has to follow a recipe to a t, that person ain't no cook..... and cajun cooking was started by folks throwing what they had together ........ imho.......continue wit youself...........
I made some jambalaya using HEB beef, pork and chicken thigh fajita meat .......and it was good