jammin jambalaya

Tools & Resources › Recipes › Jammin Jambalaya
NuStart · Recipes · Main Dishes

Jammin’ Jambalaya

Slow cooker · ~6 hr · Serves 7 · about 1½ cups each

Protein 16 g · Fiber 2 g · Calories 235

Download PDF

Sodium: an estimated 650 mg per serving, about 28% of the 2,300 mg daily maximum. How that figure was reached is in the note below.⚠ Higher in sodium. Worth pairing with lighter meals the same day.

Ingredients

  • 1 large boneless skinless chicken breast, cut in 1″ pieces
  • 3 bell peppers (green, red, yellow/orange), diced
  • 3 celery stalks, diced
  • 1 white or yellow onion, diced
  • 2–3 jalapeños (seeded), diced
  • 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth (Pacific Foods Organic Low Sodium, or any low-sodium brand)
  • 1 can (30 oz) no-salt-added crushed tomatoes
  • 1 Tbsp minced garlic
  • 3 Tbsp Cajun or creole seasoning (Fresco Spice Blends Cajun Mix, or the mix-your-own blend below)
  • 1½ cups uncooked rice
  • ½ lb uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • Cilantro, for topping (fresh is best here; dried does not substitute well)

Directions

Tap a step to mark it done.

  1. Place the chicken, peppers, celery, onion, jalapeños, broth, tomatoes, garlic, and seasoning in a slow cooker.
  2. Cover and cook on low 3–4 hours.
  3. Stir in the rice and cook 1–2 hours more, until fluffy.
  4. About 20 minutes before serving, add the shrimp and cook until cooked through.
  5. Serve hot, topped with cilantro.
Note. Cajun seasoning brings more heat; creole leans more herbal.
Cajun blend, about 3 Tbsp. 1 Tbsp sweet paprika · 1½ tsp garlic powder · 1½ tsp onion powder · 1 tsp dried oregano · 1 tsp dried thyme · ½ tsp black pepper · ½ tsp cayenne. More cayenne leans Cajun; more oregano and thyme lean creole, which is the herbal end this recipe describes in its own note. Salt to taste at the end, once you have tasted the pot.
Ingredient tip. When a recipe uses a packaged or processed food, choose a version with five or fewer ingredients on the label.
Grocery Listtap items as you shop

Jammin’ jambalaya (slow cooker)

Produce

Meat & poultry

Seafood

Pantry & dry goods

The sodium figure here is an estimate. Fresco publishes an ingredient list for its Cajun Mix but no nutrition panel, and on that list unrefined sea salt sits fifth of eight, salt again seventh, where supermarket Cajun blends put salt first. So we assumed about a third of the sodium of a salt-first blend, rounded up. We have asked Fresco for the real number and will update this page.

If you mix the blend yourself, none of that applies: no added salt, so the dish drops to well under 100 mg a serving and the salt decision stays yours. That number is not an estimate. Both are good ways to cook this.

Broth. Any broth labeled low sodium or unsalted works here. Pacific Foods Organic Low Sodium is the one we tested with; its carton lists 50 mg of sodium per cup for chicken, 140 mg for beef and 120 mg for vegetable, against roughly 860 mg a cup for regular broth. The brand is not the point; the label is. Low-sodium broth does taste thinner than salted, and that is the whole idea: salt at the end, where you can taste it, instead of at the start where the carton decided for you.

Per-serving values are approximate and vary with brand, variety, and preparation.