Jammin' Jambalaya

New Orleans is known for its fantastic jazz music and its equally fantastic Cajun and Creole dishes such as Jambalaya, a skillet of rice seasoned with tomatoes, bell pepper, and lots of spicy cayenne pepper.  Traditional Jambalaya contains 3 meats – hot Andouille sausage, ham, and shrimp.

Our Jammin’ Jambalaya recipe is a homage to New Orleans’s twin passions of great music and great food.  It is the cover recipe from our Easy Delicious Gluten-Free Skillet Meals cookbook but it didn’t make the first version of the cookbook so I’ve included it on the website. 

Even though this recipe was delicious and had my family coming back for second helpings it didn’t fit my definition of “easy” because it used 3 types of meats (sausage, ham, and shrimp). 

This skillet recipe takes a bit longer to cook up than the 40 minutes I allot for an “easy” recipe – count on an hour’s preparation time – but my family assures you it will be worth it.  It’s that tasty. 

I like to use Aidelle’s Cajun Style Andouille Sausage which is gluten-free (find it at Walmart and Super Target stores).  You can substitute hot Italian sausage if you can’t find Andouille sausage at your grocery store. 

I’ve done my best to simplify the recipe and make it economical by using just a taste of inexpensive pre-cooked and peeled salad shrimp (also known as bay shrimp).  The Kroger grocery chain carries inexpensive salad shrimp that's just the right size (4 oz) for this recipe.

As with most of our recipes that contain rice, this skillet recipe is made foolproof with the use of converted (parboiled) rice which will hold together even when overcooked.  We recommend Uncle Ben’s “Original” (unflavored) converted rice.  For a less expensive alternative try Walmart’s “Great Value” store brand “parboiled rice”. 

If you are on the Gluten-Free Casein-Free (GFCF) diet then this recipe is suitable for your diet without modification.