Vegetable Jambalaya
This recipe is from Good and Cheap.
Good and Cheap is a gorgeous cookbook for people with limited income, particularly on a $4/day food stamps budget. The PDF is free (ahora en Español!) and has been downloaded more than 15,000,000 times. I have more cookbooks, too!
Jambalaya is a reader favorite, and it’s easy to understand why! This dish takes boring rice and leftover vegetables and makes it into an exciting, spicy, satisfying meal to feed a crowd! It’s a perfect way to enliven any leftovers from a large Easter dinner and make them into something new and mouthwatering. Just go easy on the cayenne and jalapeño if you are not totally wild about spicy food.
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 3 celery stalks chopped
- 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1/2 small green chili finely chopped
- 2 large tomatoes chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce
- 3/4 cup long grain rice
- 3 cups vegetable broth or chicken stock
- sausage sliced and fried
- shrimp cooked
- leftover meat, tofu or beans
- Start with the oil in a large high-sided saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, pepper, and celery, then cook for about 5 minutes, until they become translucent but not brown.
- Add the rest of the ingredients except for the rice and broth. Let everything cook for about 1 minute to let some of the tomato juice release.
- Add the rice and slowly pour in the broth. Reduce the heat to medium and let the dish cook until the rice absorbs all the liquid. It should take about 20 to 25 minutes.
- If you're using any of the additions, throw them in at about the 15-minute mark to let them warm up.
10 Comments
The jambalaya was great– so easy, too! Thanks so much! You gave a bunch of cookbooks to our program for clients to use, so I thought I should try some recipes out, and so glad I did!!!
We make this almost weekly. Delish!
This is a terrific recipe that I have made multiple times for a community meal where we serve 40-50 people. It is delicious, inexpensive, easy to multiply, and can easily be made gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan. We include beans and offer shredded meat and grated cheese on the side, to mix in. Thank you!
that’s a great idea! I’ll definitely be doing that in the future!
This jambalaya is easy, flavorful and awesome stuffed into any squash, winter or summer!
Do you do anything with the shrimp before you throw it in? Should I take the tail off? They will be thawed but should I season at all?
How much shrimp should I use as well?
This jambalaya was very good, but I only added half of the recommended amount of cayenne and it was still extremely spicy. And I’m not a lightweight when it comes to spicy foods at all. So I would recommend reducing the cayenne pepper if you can’t handle incredible amounts of heat. We also added sausage. The flavors are very nice! Will make again.
I’ve probably made this recipe at least 100 times and now I’m super comfy making changes and experimenting. <3 tonight I'm adding fresh herbs from my garden and an eggplant, and scrambling in an egg! good and cheap taught me to love cooking.
Weird tip of mine, but I like to mix in a bit of peanut butter! Adds protein and can even out some of the spiciness. Give it a try.