This easy Instant Pot Jambalaya recipe is full of flavor, depth, and complexity, made with chicken sausage, shrimp, and seasonal veggies. Vegan-adaptable!
Why You’ll Love This
What I love about this jambalaya recipe is that you can easily whip it up in an Instant Pot, completely doable on a weeknight. It is packed with Cajun flavor and umami depth, thanks to a secret ingredient I learned in restaurant and catering days: fish sauce!
During the winter months, I like to add a few cups of simple roasted veggies, peas, kale, or spinach for a burst of nutrients. Comb through your fridge and see what other veggies need using up.
Sometimes, I’ll serve this warm Cajun recipe over a bowl of baby spinach, letting it gently wilt. You get the idea. Basically, I use this Jambalaya as a vessel for healthy veggies. The flavor is so good! 😉
Instant Pot Jambalaya Ingredients
- Sausage: Here, we’ve used Chicken Andouille Sausage instead of pork sausage to lighten things up. And, of course, you can always use a vegan sausage.
- Shrimp: Use large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined. If shellfish is not your thing, you can leave it out and increase the amount of chicken sausage.
- Long-grain white rice: Like basmati rice or jasmine rice.
- Yellow onion, celery, and garlic cloves: For aromatic, savory flavor.
- Red bell pepper and jalapeño: Or substitute a green bell pepper. For the jalapeño, you can substitute a small can of diced green chilies.
- Crushed tomatoes: For a deep, savory taste.
- Chicken broth: Try our homemade chicken stock! Or use shellfish broth.
- Thyme, oregano, and bay leaves: Use fresh thyme or dried thyme, dried oregano, and bay leaves for fragrant, herbal flavor.
- Smoked paprika, regular paprika, and cayenne pepper: You can also sub chili flakes for the cayenne. If desired, you could swap the dried spices for Cajun seasoning.
- Fish sauce: Our secret ingredient! This is especially crucial if using chicken broth.
- Garnishes: Green onions, fresh parsley, and hot sauce.
Variations
- Add chicken! For extra protein, add boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs. Sear and brown both sides before adding to the Instant Pot.
- Load it up with veggies! Add 1 cup of fresh or frozen peas, 1 cup of asparagus, 2 cups of roasted veggies, or 1 can of cooked chickpeas.
- Make it vegan! Use vegan sausage, skip the shrimp, use vegetable broth, and use our Vegan Fish Sauce or a splash of soy sauce or some miso paste. Nori flakes will give it a “seafood” flavor!
How to Make Instant Pot Jambalaya
1. Sauté. Use the saute function on your Instant Pot. Heat oil, add the sausage slices, and sauté for 5 minutes, or until browned. Add onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, and jalapeño. Cook the vegetables, stirring frequently for 3 minutes, or until fragrant.
2. Add tomatoes, broth, spices, and fish sauce. Add tomatoes, broth, thyme, oregano, bay leaves, paprika, smoked paprika, salt, black pepper, cayenne, and fish sauce to the pot.
3. Simmer and set to high pressure. Bring the pot to a simmer and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits. Add the rice, stir, and set to manual HIGH pressure for 5 minutes. Close the Instant Pot lid.
4. Natural release. Let it naturally release for 5 minutes, then manually release the remaining pressure by releasing the valve, while covering the steam spout with a kitchen towel.
5. Stir in shrimp and optional veggies. Stir in thawed shrimp and cook on the “warm” setting for 5-7 minutes. Cooking time will vary based on the size of the shrimp. Add the peas and asparagus at the same time, if using. The shrimp is done when it looks pink. Taste for salt and spice, adjusting to taste.
6. Garnish. Divide into bowls or plates and garnish with sliced green onion and chopped parsley.
Instant Pot Jambalaya COOKING TIPs
- Rice: Cooking time will vary depending on the type of rice you use. Long-grain white rice works the best here!
- Brown the sausage for the best flavor.
- Pan-sear the shrimp with a pinch of salt, pepper, and smoked paprika before adding them to the pressure–cooked jambalaya. In my opinion, this improves presentation and flavor.
- Deepen the flavor with a splash of fish sauce – it’s amazing!
- To make this vegetarian, use a veggie broth and vegan sausage. Deepen the flavor with a splash of soy sauce or some miso. Adding some nori flakes will give it a “seafood” flavor.
Serving Suggestions
Serve over a bed of baby spinach for a boost of extra nutrition! Plus, here are some of our favorite starter and side dish pairings!
- Serve with bread, like sourdough, baguette, biscuits, or even cornbread!
- Add a side of lemony coleslaw.
- Serve with a veggie side, like okra or sautéed greens.
- Add a side of corn soup or creamy polenta!
- Start with a white bean salad or grilled corn salad!
Storage
If your jambalaya contains seafood, you can store leftovers for up to 3 days. Without shrimp, the jambalaya can last up to 4 days in the refrigerator. Let cool before storing in an airtight container.
Reheat leftover Jambalaya on the stovetop with a splash of broth until warmed through.
You can also store jambalaya in the freezer for up to 3 months!
FAQS
In the Instant Pot, Jambalaya cooks for about 30 minutes, with 15 minutes of prep, so about 45 minutes total. Stovetop cooking time is similar, though depending on the type of rice, it may take more or less time.
One of the biggest mistakes in jambalaya is over-stirring or using the wrong type of rice. Both can result in a mushy texture. Let the jambalaya cook undisturbed and use a long-grain rice for best results.
Jambalaya should be thick, without a mushy or soupy texture.
Andouille sausage is a mildly spicy sausage. Use any sausage based on your taste preferences, though Andouille is traditional in Louisiana Cajun cooking.
Yes, Jambalaya is naturally gluten-free and dairy-free, but it’s always a good idea to double-check labels.
More Favorite Instant Pot Recipes!
- Coconut Rice Bowls
- Spanish Seafood Stew with Chorizo and Chickpeas
- Vegetable Paella
- Mexican Rice with Sheet-Pan Veggies
- Instant Pot Arroz Con Pollo
⭐️ After you try this Instant Pot Jambalaya recipe, let us know how it turns out in the comments below. Your review will help other readers, too! Sign up here to join our community and receive our latest recipes and weekly newsletter! xoxo Sylvia
Instant Pot Jambalaya Recipe
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Category: instant pot, Main, seafood
- Method: instant pot, Stove top
- Cuisine: American
Description
A delicious and easy recipe for Jambalaya made in an Instant Pot. Full of bold Cajun flavor, leftovers are perfect for midweek meals!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 12–16 ounces chicken andouille sausage, sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds ( or vegan sausage!)
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 ribs celery, sliced
- 1 red (or green) bell pepper, large dice
- 1 jalapeno, finely chopped ( or sub one small can green chilies)
- 4–6 cloves garlic, rough chopped
- 14-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
- 3 cups of chicken broth, see notes. ( or shellfish broth)
- 1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice (basmati or jasmine)
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dry thyme )
- 1 teaspoon dry oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons regular paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or chili flakes
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce ( if using chicken broth, trust me)
- ———-
- 8–16 ounces large raw shrimp ( peeled and deveined, if frozen see notes)
- Optional additions: 1 cup fresh or frozen peas and 1 cup asparagus, 2 cups roasted veggies, or 1 can cooked chickpeas.
- Garnish: scallions, parsley, hot sauce.
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Sauté. In an Instant Pot, using the saute function, heat oil, add sausage, and sauté for about 5 minutes or until browned. Add onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic and jalapeño, and cook, stirring frequently, about 3 minutes or until fragrant.
- Add ingredients. Add tomatoes and their juices, broth , thyme, oregano, bay leaves, paprika, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, cayenne and fish sauce.
- Simmer. Bring to a simmer and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot ( this will help prevent the “burn error” from turning on while pressure cooking). I find using a wooden spoon works best here. Add the rice, give a good stir (see note about shrimp!)and set Instant Pot to HIGH pressure for 5 minutes.
- Release. Let naturally release for 5 minutes, then manually release, covering steam spout with a kitchen towel.
- Add shrimp and veggies. Stir in thawed shrimp (see notes) and let this cook on “warm” setting for 5-7 minutes ( depending on size), adding peas and asparagus at the same time. When shrimp is done ( it will look pink) taste for salt and spice level, adding more to taste.
- Garnish. Garnish with sliced green onion and chopped parsley.
Stovetop Instructions:
- Brown sausage. In a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add sausage, and brown each side until golden, about 5 minutes. Set the sausage aside.
- Sauté veggies. To the same pan, add the onion ( a little more oil if necessary)and saute until fragrant and golden. Add celery, bell pepper, garlic and jalapeño, lowing heat to medium, and cook, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes or until tender. Return the browned sausage to the pan.
- Add ingredients. Add rice, and stir about 3 minutes until lightly toasted. Add tomatoes and their juices, broth , thyme, bay leaves, paprika, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, cayenne and fish sauce.
- Bring to boil. Scrape up any browned bits. Bring to a boil. Scrape up again. Reduce heat to low.
- Simmer. Cover and cook for 20-45 minutes or until rice is tender. (Check cooking time on the package- all brown rice is different depending on size and thickness- quick-cooking brown rice will take 15-20 mins, long grain 30-40-ish mins, short grain brown 40-50 mins. My advice, check at 20 mins, then 30, then 40. 🙂
- Sear the shrimp. While the rice is cooking, season the shrimp with a little salt, pepper and smoked paprika, and give a quick sear. Once the rice is tender, nestle in the shrimp, asparagus and peas, cover and cook for 5-10 more minutes, until shrimp is cooked all the way through.
- Garnish. Garnish with green onion, parsley and or hot sauce.
Notes
Liquid – the original recipe called for 4 cups broth, but after feedback of it being too soupy, I’ve reduced it to 3 cups.
Use fish sauce in the recipe to replace the traditional shellfish broth. It works!
Shrimp: If using large frozen raw shrimp, feel free to add to Instant pot and let it pressure cook with the rice. If using thawed or cooked shrimp, add to the pot after pressure cooking. TIP: I prefer to give shrimp a quick sear in an oiled pan on the stove, adding pinch of salt, pepper and smoked paprika. It just looks more appealing, not mandatory. Up to you.
RICE: If using other types of rice (like brown basmati rice) you may need to increase pressure cooking time and increase the broth ( be sure to read package directions). I’ve only tested with white long-grain rice. Short grain rice is not recommended.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: -using chicken sausage and 8 ounces shrimp
- Calories: 496
- Sugar: 6.9 g
- Sodium: 871.5 mg
- Fat: 15.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 58.2 g
- Fiber: 6.1 g
- Protein: 32.5 g
- Cholesterol: 135.9 mg
Second time making this recipe and followed exactly, using frozen shrimp. Turned out great. My husband, who is a severe critic of jambalaya, absolutely loved it and had seconds! Thanks for this incredibly easy dish!
Thanks for the high praise Ceejay! So glad you all are enjoying. 🙂
Thanks so much for your response!
I followed this recipe exactly and it came out almost like soup? It still tastes good, but not what I was expecting when I tried making jambalaya.
Oh Shoot Jess! That sounds a bit watery. It should not be “soupy”- but more the consistency of risotto. Did you make any changes to the recipe?
Yummy!! Loved the flavor. Your recipes are always a hit. I had a similar experience to others, where my rice turned out mushy/liquidy. Will up the rice quantity or reduce the liquid just slightly next time, but I loved the flavor. Fish sauce – such a great idea!
Thanks Courtney- glad you enjoyed this and feel free to play with it!
Excellent recipe-housemates really liked it. I added peas and used Field Roast sausage(maybe will add sausage a bit later next time)Thanks incredible
So happy you all enjoyed Jen!
This was absolutely delicious! So satisfying without being super heavy. The fish sauce is such a genius idea! Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe.
Great to hear Julia!
Excellent! The subtle fish sauce makes it so much better. Next time, I’ll find a way for brown rice.
Great to hear!
Made the recipe with my partner and it came out delicious. My only issue is that it came out quite liquidy, is there anything we could’ve done wrong that made it so?
What kind of rice did you use? That could have been it?
Delicious! I subbed a packet of Old Bay seasoning instead of the suggested spices & it was delicious.
How long would you recommend pressure cooking for brown rice? Will increasing the time of press cook impact the vegetables or sausage at all? Want to use brown rice for this recipe but don’t want to overcook the rest of the ingredients.
Pressure cook 15 minutes. Make sure to add shrimp after the pressure cooking. 🙂 Should be ok??
I am a little confused where the asparagus and peas come from. They are not listed in the ingredients! Am i missing something obvious?
They are at the end of the recipe ingredeints- you add at the very end.
SO GOOD!!! This was my first recipe using the instant pot so I followed the recipe exactly (just used 2 c. rice instead of 1.5 based on other reviews) and it turned out perfect!!! Beautifully spicy and flavorful. I used the Minute brand Brown Rice and it cooked perfect (not mushy) in 5 mins as well. 🙂 Thank you for such a good recipe!!
I don’t eat meat, if I only use seafood and vegetables do the liquid amount stay the same? I only just bought a instant pot and I would like to try this recipe. Thank you for your suggestions
I would double the seafood, and keep everything else the same.
So delicious! Came out perfect! 🍴
I was a little hesitant to try this recipe because my husband is from Cajun country and he always cooks this when we have it. He was pleasantly surprised.
We go for spicy in our household. My modifications: added 1.5 lbs chicken breast, 2 jalapeños (instead of 1), 2 bell peppers (instead of 1), brown rice, 2 cups chicken broth, 1 can original rotel (instead of crushed tomatoes), 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp white pepper, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper and 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, and pressure cooked for 15 min (for the brown rice). No garnish, no shrimp (didn’t have any on hand), and I skipped the optional additions.
Looking forward to making this! We are not a fan of shrimp. Could we throw in frozen chicken thighs instead? I’m new to instant pots and curious if that would work or if we would need to thaw them out first.
I think the frozen thighs take much longer than the 5 minutes pressure cooking time in the recipe- so your chicken would not be done. I would thaw and brown them first then add to pot.
Very tasty! I made the recipe as written, except (aren’t there always excepts? Sorry) we used pork andouille, and chicken breast (cooked it first) instead of the shrimp (because bugs. Ew.)
I read the comments first and I’m glad, because upping the long grain rice to 2 cups, and shorting the broth to 3.5 cups was perfect. There’s still a little liquid in the bottom but I imagine it’ll be absorbed as it cools and the rice is not mushy.
The only thing I’d change next time is less thyme. It’s pretty overpowering (I used the 1 level teaspoon of dried). I’d maybe even omit it altogether unless a person is a huge fan of thyme.
Hi! is the 1 cup asparagus meant to be frozen or fresh? Would you change the cook time whether it’s frozen or fresh?
I used fresh! I think it would be the same time, either way.
Delicious! I will certainly make it again but pressure cook longer than the suggested 5 minutes. The rice was a tad undercooked.
I wanted to increase this recipe to serve 9 people. What would I increase rice and liquid to?
Could you just 1 1/2 times the recipe?
I cut the broth in half (2 cups). Rice was perfect… consistency of final dish was perfect.
I really enjoyed the flavor and heat in this recipe. I left the seeds and ribs in from the jalapeño, used a medium spiced andouille sausage and the 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne. Very nice heat and delicious flavor. I also added 3/4 lb. chicken thighs.
Definitely a keeper!
Thanks Tom! What kind of rice did you use?