Years ago I worked with Teresa and she often brought leftover Jambalaya to work for lunch. I remember wishing she would share so I could ditch my boring sandwich. After a lot of pestering, I did manage to get the general idea for the recipe from her and this is what I came up with. Thanks for the inspiration Teresa!
I have updated and reposting this recipe because it has become one of my all time favorite meals. It’s both delicious and healthy, and it’s so very easy to prepare. A definite winner, winner chicken dinner!
The beauty of this recipe is its versatility. You can use what ever meat you have in the fridge, leftover steak, sausage, pork tenderloin, or ham all work nicely in this dish. Today I am using chicken breast, Polska Kielbasa, and ham.
This is a great recipe for clearing out your vegetable crisper too. Do you have veggies in there that are on their last legs? Use them up in this Jambalaya. I am using up some corn leftover from Memorial Day, some asparagus that needed using, a handful of sliced mushrooms, and some green and red bell peppers.
Ok, gather up the ingredients you are going to use and let’s get started. First we need to get the rice going. Once you have it cooking, you can forget about it and you’ll have plenty of time to make the rest of the Jambalaya. Resist the urge to lift the lid to take a peek while its cooking.
Prepare rice:
In a medium saucepan melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Add rice and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring often, until rice turns translucent and just starts to get a light toasty brown.
Add chicken broth and worcestershire sauce. Stir to combine.
Bring to a boil. Once the rice mixture comes to a boil, cover pan and reduce heat to low.
Cook for 20-25 minutes or until rice has absorbed all the liquid. Turn off the heat and let it rest, covered, until it’s time to add it to the Jambalaya.
Prepare the Jambalaya:
Cut chicken breast into ½ inch sized pieces and season generously with salt and pepper.
Place the seasoned chicken in a large plastic bag and add flour. Seal the bag and toss to coat chicken completely with the flour. Shake off excess flour and set aside.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat in a large skillet or wok.
Once butter is hot, add flour coated chicken and cook until golden brown.
Remove chicken from the skillet and transfer to a plate; keep warm.
Add 1 tablespoon butter to the skillet and cook onion and mushrooms, until onions are translucent and mushrooms have released their liquid and begin to brown slightly along the edges.
Add asparagus and stir fry for another 2-3 minutes or until crisp tender.
Add diced bell peppers and stir fry for another minute.
Add corn, peas and carrots. Stir fry until warmed through.
No need to thaw frozen veggies just add them to the pan and toss with the other ingredients to cook them.
Add diced ham and diced sausage to the skillet, and stir fry for 2-3 minutes to heat everything through.
Add the cooked rice to the pan.
Add the reserved cooked chicken to the pan.
Stir to combine all the ingredients and make sure everything is good and hot.
Taste, and season with salt and pepper if needed.
Serve garnished with a spinkle of freshly sliced scallions.
This tastes even better the next day reheated for lunch!
Get creative with this dish. How about adding shrimp, broccoli, and snow peas to this recipe. The more veggies the better. Use whatever you have in your fridge and freezer.
Be sure to leave a comment and let me know how your Jambalaya turns out. What veggies and proteins did you use? I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Teresa’s Tasty Jambalaya
Equipment
- large skillet
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice
- 3 tbsp butter
- 14.5 oz chicken broth
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 Polska Kielbasa sausage diced
- 6 oz ham, diced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 8 oz sliced mushrooms
- 1 lb fresh asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces, woody ends removed
- ½ medium red bell pepper, diced
- ½ medium green bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup sweet kernal corn
- 1 cup frozen peas & carrots
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 stalks green onion, sliced
Instructions
Prepare rice:
- In a medium saucepan melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat.
- Add rice and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add chicken broth and worcestershire sauce. Stir to combine.
- Bring to a boil. Once rice mixture comes to a boil, cover pan and reduce heat to low.
- Cook for 20-25 minutes or until rice has absorbed all the liquid.
Prepare Jambalaya:
- Cut chicken breast into ½ inch sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper.
- Place seasoned chicken in a large plastic bag and add flour.
- Seal the bag and toss to coat chicken completely with the flour. Shake off excess flour and set aside.
- Melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat in a large skillet or wok.
- Once butter is hot add flour coated chicken and cook until golden brown.
- Remove chicken from the skillet and transfer to a plate; keep warm.
- Add 1 tablespoon butter to the skillet and cook onion and mushrooms, until onions are translucent and mushrooms have released their liquid and begin to brown slightly along the edges.
- Add diced ham and diced sausage to the skillet, and stir fry for 2-3 minutes to heat through.
- Add asparagus and stir fry for another 2-3 minutes or until crisp tender.
- Add diced red and green bell pepper and stir fry for another minute.
- Add corn, peas and carrots. Stir fry until warmed through.
- Add reserved cooked chicken and the cooked rice. Stir to combine all the ingredients and make sure everything is hot.
- Serve garnished with a spinkle of fresh sliced scallions.
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