Easy and Healthy Jambalaya That Makes You Want to Dance
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Easy and Healthy Jambalaya hearkens back to my sophomore year of college when I was starting to get comfortable cooking on my own. I’d take over various friends’ apartments to doctor a box mix for a shared dinner, usually with garlic bread on the side.
“You Put Your Foot In It”
On one especially memorable occasion, my friend’s mother was visiting, and she introduced me to the phrase, “You put your foot in it,” which means it’s wicked good. We ended up eating it straight from the pot and dancing around the kitchen between bites.
And then, there was one night just after I’d started dating my now-husband. He was hunkered down in the lab, planning to work through the night without dinner. So, I offered to bring him some jambalaya.
Before this, he hadn’t really experienced any of my cooking, not even my box doctoring skills. He took like two bites and was so excited that he was offering some to everyone around him. One friend practically licked the bowl clean.
Jambalaya is Pretty Much Magic
I think that’s kind of the magic of jambalaya, though. It’s one of those foods that you need to feed to friends. The combination of heat with the softer texture makes it such a powerful comfort food. You’ll eat it from a spoon three other people have licked and dance around with joy.
For a while, I really thought you had to use a box mix to get the spices right. It turns out, though, that it’s ridiculously easy. In fact, the ease with which you can throw this together is probably part of the magic.
Easy and Healthy Jambalaya Starts with the Trinity
Who else watched Emeril Live a ton before Food Network had all of the celebrity chefs? That is literally the only reason I knew what “trinity” was back in college… bam!
Basically, what you need to know about almost all Cajun cooking is that your aromatics will most likely be celery, onion, and bell pepper. This is a play on the French mirepoix, which is celery, onion, and carrot. It sets up the base for a nice earthy flavor, but also, it gives you a pretty decent serving of vegetables. Let’s not discount that.
The thing I think is funny is that the “trinity” is just about always paired with garlic. I feel like it’s the D’Artagnan of that Three Musketeers situation. And maybe I use a lot of garlic, but honestly, it makes everything taste fabulous. So, hopefully, you’re also a garlic fan. It makes jambalaya great.
Shouldn’t There Be More Meat?
Traditionally, jambalaya has andouille sausage, chicken thighs, and shrimp. I urge you to use whatever meat or meat substitute you want in this. However, for the purposes of maintaining a budget and keeping the calorie count low, I usually only use a turkey kielbasa.
Chicken thighs are great. They’re moist and tender, and they’re pretty cheap, honestly. But they don’t inherently have a ton of flavor. Plus, there’s that whole thing about salmonella, and honestly, there are some nights I don’t want to mess with that.
Shrimp is so good for a low-calorie, low-fat choice. However, it’s really easy to overcook, it’s expensive, and sometimes I don’t want to mess with deveining. This recipe is about accessibility; I don’t want you to break the bank for a good meal.
So, anyway, I’ve found that turkey kielbasa has a great smokey flavor, and it’s low-calorie, low-fat, and comes pretty cheap. Any time you’re cutting your budget but want to stay healthy, one thing you can do is stretch the protein in a dish.
Easy and Healthy Jambalaya for the Week
The recipe below makes four servings. With one day off for dinner leftovers or a company lunch, that’s a whole week of lunches. So, if you have the willpower to not eat this straight from the pot while dancing around the kitchen, you’re all set!
I use pint-sized jars to portion my lunches, and for me, that’s a pretty decent lunch. If you want to know more about my thoughts on meal planning for lunch, check out this link.
For our family, having breakfasts and lunches just ready to go in the fridge saves us a whole lot of time and frustration. It’s also great for keeping to a budget.
So, anyways, whether, you’re making this easy, healthy jambalaya for dinner or planning to have it for lunches this week, I hope that you’ll enjoy the process of cooking it, that you’ll want to get up and dance around your kitchen, and that your significant other will go nuts and share with all their friends.
Comment below if you have questions, concerns, or opinions. And tag me @ellejayathome on Instagram or Twitter if you share pictures from any of my recipes. I love to hear from you!
Easy and Healthy Jambalaya
Equipment
- 4 quart pot or dutch oven
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 ribs celery
- 1 large green bell pepper
- 1 small yellow onion
- 2 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 package turkey kielbasa
- 2 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup medium grain rice
- 1½ tsp sweet paprika
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp pink himalayan sea salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- hot sauce to taste
Instructions
- Dice the celery, pepper, and onion into likesized pieces. This is your "trinity."
- Cut up the turkey sausage into half moons, roughly ¼ inch thick.
- Over medium heat, sweat the trinity with olive oil. Once the veggies have stopped releasing liquid, and the bottom of the pan is pretty dry, add in the garlic. Mix together and pile the veggies up on one half of the pan.
- Add in the sausage to brown. There should be a little bit of accumulated flavor on the bottom of the pan (fond) as well as some darker veggies on the bottom of that pile. This is good for flavor.
- Once the meat is browned, add rice, and stir it all together.
- Stir in the chicken broth and seasonings. Bring to a simmer, and cover for 15-20 minutes until rice is cooked.
- Mix in hot sauce as desired.
