You should be able to feed 5 or 6 people out of this - or 4 in our case with leftovers for THE BEST lunch. I love a bit of one pot cooking (I’ve got a whole section of the blog devoted to them in my One Pot Section). Such satisfaction in throwing things in a pan at different stages and ending up with a lovely dinner. It’s not one of those pretend one-pot cooking recipes, where you have to cook a few bits, then scrape into a bowl and cook the next bit in the same pan - thereby needlessly dirtying a bowl. If I’m going to have to wash a bowl up, I might as well use an extra pan in the first place! So, yes, this uses one pan, and you just keep adding ingredients in until it’s all done. Start by softening the onions, celery and garlic in a pan with a little oil: Add in the chicken and cook to seal:
Add the chorizo and cook through for a few minutes:
Add in the red peppers and rice and give it a stir:
Add in those lovely spices (Cajun spice and paprika) and tomato puree (paste) and stir again:
Stir in a tin of chopped tomatoes and about 3 ¼ cups of hot chicken stock and bring to the boil:
Then turn the heat down, place a lid on and simmer (stir occasionally and top up with a little more stock if required) for about 20 minutes:
Add in chopped okra and cook for a further 5 minutes:
Top with those juicy prawns. Place the lid back on and allow them to cook for 5 minutes until they turn pink:
Serve topped with spring onions (scallions) and lemon wedges:
Can I make it gluten free?
Yes - this recipe is already gluten free providing you use gluten free stock. Also check your chorizo brand. They’re often gluten free, but best to check.
Can I make it ahead?
Yes, cook the jambalaya, then cool, cover and refrigerate. I find it’s best to transfer to a microwaveable container and heat through in the microwave with a splash of water until piping hot. It can be reheat in the oven too for about 20 minutes on 180C/350F. Add a splash of water or stock and stir once or twice whilst reheating. Personally I’m not keen on reheated prawns (shrimp), so i’d add leave them out when cooking the dish ahead and add them to the dish for the last 5 minutes of reheating.
Will it freeze?
Yes, cool, cover and freeze, then defrost in the refrigerator over night before heating in the oven or microwave (as per the instructions above). I find it better to freeze in portions, as it takes quite a while for a whole pan to cool down and to defrost.
Can I make it in the crockpot?
I haven’t had success at this one yet (sloppy rice argh!). I’ll update this post if I crack it.
Can I make it in the oven?
Yes, after adding the tomatoes and stock and bringing to the boil in step 3, cover and place in the oven at 180C/350F for 20 minutes. Continue with the rest of the instructions (adding okra and prawns) but put back in the oven to continue cooking.
Tips for success:
Best pan to use: I like to use a wide cast iron pan for this dish (like this one <–affiliate link), but you can also use a large non-stick frying pan (skillet) with a lid. Using a pan that’s too deep can mean the rice doesn’t cook as evenly and you have to stir it more - which results in sloppy, sticky rice. Stirring: Try not to stir too often. Stirring the rice activates the starch, which can make the rice sticky and mushy. Using cooked meat/prawns - can you cooked prawns and chicken instead of raw? Yes, add the chicken in during stage one and just heat through for a minute before continuing with step 2. Add the prawns as you would with raw prawns (they take the same amount of time to heat through as they do to cook from raw).
The Chicken, Chorizo and Prawn Jambalaya Recipe:
This recipe was first published in April 2014. Updated in November 2018 with new photos, video, tips and step by step photos. Want to see how bad the old photo was? Here it is (cringe!!):
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