Cajun Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

Author: Christopher and Shay Dorion
Total Time: 120 mins
Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2-3 lbs of chicken meat, roasted (about 1 boiler chickens worth)
• 1 medium onion
• 1 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 lb. smoked sausage, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. salted butter
• 1 poblano pepper (or bell pepper), cored, seeded, and diced
• 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
• 2 jalapeno peppers, cored, seeded, and diced
• 1 bunch of scallions, thinly sliced
• 3 celery stalks, minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp. Cajun spice mix
• 2 tsp. salt
• 5 bay leaves
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 2 1/2 cups long grain rice, rinsed

Directions

1. Shred the chicken meat by hand.
2. If you grilled the meat, save the drippings from the roasting pan for later.
3. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the sausage, and sear it, until it starts to stick to the pan.
4. add 1/4 cup of chicken broth to the pan, and scrape the sausage loose. Cook until liquid is evaporated.
5. Move sausage to a plate and set aside.
6. Add butter to the pot. once melted, add onion, and cook for 5 minutes, or until onion sticks to the bottom.
7. Add 1/4 chicken broth to deglaze, and scrape onion off the bottom. cook 5 more minutes, until onion is a deep brown color and begins to stick a second time.
8. Add bell poblano pepper, bell pepper, jalapeno peppers, scallions, celery, garlic, cajun spice mix, salt, bay leaves, oregano, and tomato paste. cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.
9. Deglaze with 1/4 cup broth, and reduce again until dry.
10. Add shredded chicken, 1 cup broth, and the drippings from the chicken (if you have them). reduce by half.
11. Add the rice and remaining 4 cups of broth. simmer covered over a low heat for 40 minutes.
12. Remove from heat, and mix in the sausage. Cover the pot again, and let sit for 10 more minutes.
13. Transfer to a casserole dish. Serve with Louisiana hotsauce on the side for an extra kick.

Notes

To do this recipe right, You’ll need to plan a day to grill a couple chickens, because we make use of the leftover meat, bones and the drippings. We will usually grill 2 chickens, eat one, strip the meat from the other, and boil the bones from both to make the broth. That said, if you don’t have a grill, or the time to devote to grilling chickens, you can use store bought broth, bullion, and chicken breasts. It will be delicious, but you will notice the difference.

The best part is that this dish actually becomes more flavorful when you let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple days- so don’t expect to have leftovers for long.

This is a Cajun style jambalaya, as opposed to Creole. I usually see Creole style jambalayas in most restaurants, which is cooked in a tomatoey sauce, and more than likely contains seafood. Cajun style jambalayas on the other hand are more hearty and meaty, with a browner color because they minimize the use of tomatoes.