My husband knows how to cook two things – grilled cheese sandwiches and jambalaya. Even though his grilled cheese game is pretty strong, the jambalaya is definitely my favorite thing he makes.

One year while we were on our family vacation at the beach, he met a guy from south Louisiana that was cooking jambalaya at our resort. My husband will talk to anyone, so he made friends with this Cajun man and learned how to make it himself. I’m glad he did, because this is the best jambalaya I’ve ever tasted! He gets requests to cook it all the time for football games and suppers at our deer camp, and the kids love it just as much as the grown-ups do. Here is his recipe…

• 1 pkg boneless/skinless chicken breasts (3-4 breasts)
• 1 lb link sausage, sliced
• 1 can diced tomatoes (we use the fire-roasted kind)
• 1 lb uncooked rice
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 3-4 celery stems, chopped
• 1 stick butter
• sugar (the secret ingredient!)
• seasonings of your choice (we use Tony’s, garlic salt, pepper and Tabasco)
• cooking oil (either canola or vegetable)

Start by coating just the bottom of a large pot or Dutch oven with the oil. (This recipe will feed 6-8 people – if you want to feed more, double the recipe and get a larger pot!) Add 2 tbs sugar to the oil and turn heat on stove to low/medium. Allow sugar and oil to sit and caramelize, without stirring, until it turns light brown. Be careful not to let it burn. When I first found out Connor was putting sugar in the jambalaya, I thought he was crazy, but it turns out this is the secret to making it taste so good. It does not give a sweet taste to the dish, but instead helps the meat to caramelize and taste amazing!

While the sugar and oil are heating up, cut the chicken into bite-size pieces and season it to your taste. Once the oil is ready, add in chicken in batches, just to cover the bottom of pot in a single layer. Try not to stir chicken too much while it is cooking – allowing it to sit in the oil/sugar mixture will help it to caramelize just right. Connor says he “just flips it once.”

Once the chicken is cooked through, remove it to a plate or bowl and get ready for the next batch of chicken pieces. This is important – add more sugar (1-2 tbs) to bottom of pot in between each batch of chicken. This way each batch gets the same wonderful color and flavor.

Repeat until all of the chicken is used up, and then do the same thing with the sliced sausage, cooking in batches and adding sugar in between each batch.

Once all the meat has been cooked and removed from pot, add in the stick of butter and chopped vegetables.

Season vegetables to your taste, and cook on low/medium heat, being sure to scrape sides of pot while stirring to incorporate the flavors from the meat drippings. When I asked Connor how long to cook the vegetables, he said “until they are the color of a Bud Light beer bottle…”

This is how dark they should be – it should take about 15-20 minutes. You can’t overcook them. Once the vegetables look like this, add the meat back in pot, along with canned tomatoes.

Stir together, then add rice, more seasonings, and one of the quarts of chicken stock.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover with pot lid. Cook until rice is done, stirring occasionally and adding more chicken stock when needed.

The longer you cook it, the more flavor it will have, so don’t be scared to keep cooking it even after the rice is done. You will just have to keep stirring in a little extra chicken stock as you go.

This is very time-consuming, but it is so worth it! It tastes amazing!

We usually just use chicken and sausage, but you can use any kind of meat or seafood you would like – pulled pork, shrimp, crawfish, alligator, etc.

I hope you enjoy this jambalaya as much as our friends and family do!

 

Thanks y’all!

– Nikki