Instant Pot Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya–a fast, easy, healthier, non-spicy version of jambalaya. It has so much flavor, you’re going to love it!
Get the SLOW COOKER chicken and sausage jambalaya recipe here
Instant Pot Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya
My mind has been changed. I used to think jambalaya was a spicy dish that my family wouldn’t like. I now have a recipe that I absolutely love and that my family loves too. Everybody can eat it (not too spicy) and it has loads and loads of flavor. My son literally had 3 bowls of it for dinner last night. My daughter’s 2 friends were over and they loved it too.
I chose to make my jambalaya with brown rice. In my house we are brown rice fans. I rarely make white rice. I love making brown rice in my Instant Pot. It turns out well every time and I don’t have to babysit a pan on the stove. I haven’t tried this recipe with white rice yet. But I think it would work out okay. If you want to make this recipe with long grain white rice I would make sure to cut up the raw chicken into bite size pieces. And I would use a 2 cup to 2.25 cup ratio of rice to broth. Then change the cooking time to 3 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release. If you do try this method, let me know how it works out!
What about the shrimp?! Many jambalaya recipes have shrimp and sadly mine does not. My husband is allergic to shrimp so I left it out. If you do want shrimp you can add it in after the food has pressure cooked. Stir the deveined shrimp into the hot rice and let the hot food cook the shrimp (lid on, no pressure, warm setting) for a few minutes, until the shrimp are pink and cooked through. For convenience sake I like buying the frozen bags of cooked shrimp. I used them for my cajun pasta recipe.
This instant pot jambalaya recipe makes a lot! I served 6 people and we still have some leftovers. And you know my son should count for about 3 people. So if you don’t want to make a ton of food you can easily halve this recipe. Halve all the ingredients and keep the same cooking time.
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What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
Instant Pot Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
Description
A fast, easy, healthier, non-spicy version of jambalaya. It has so much flavor, you’re going to love it!
Ingredients
- 12 ounces ground sausage or cajun andouille smoked sausage
- 1 cup diced onion
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups uncooked brown rice
- 1 ยฝ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs (frozen is okay)
- 1 tsp salt
- ยพ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried basil
- ยผ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 cup sliced celery
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 1 (15 oz) can diced fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting. When the display says HOT add in the ground sausage, if using. (If you are using the smoked sausage you don’t need to do this part, just slice it and add it in with the broth). Break up the sausage and add in the onion. Brown the sausage for about 5 minutes. Add in the chicken broth and scrape the bottom of the pot so that nothing is sticking. Evenly dump the rice in, don’t stir.ย
- Place the chicken on top of the rice. Sprinkle the salt, pepper, thyme, basil, cayenne, celery, bell pepper, garlic, worcestershire, tomatoes and tomato sauce over the chicken. Don’t stir.ย
- Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 20 minutes. When the time is up let the pot sit for 10 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Remove the chicken and place on a cutting board. Stir the rice. Cut the chicken into pieces or shred it and then stir it back into the pot.ย
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
I just used plain ground sausage. If you don’t want a lot of spice this is a good option. The cajun andouille sausage will be spicier. If you’re still nervous about spice leave out the cayenne pepper.ย
This recipe can be gluten free. Use gluten free worcestershire sauce.ย
You may be tempted to just use plain diced tomatoes instead of fire roasted tomatoes. The fire roasted tomatoes give the jambalaya so much flavor. I wouldn’t skip them!
I haven’t tried this recipe with white rice yet. But I think it would work out okay. If you want to make this recipe with long grain white rice I would make sure to cut up the raw chicken into bite size pieces. And I would use a 2 cup to 2.25 cup ratio of rice to broth. Then change the cooking time to 3 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release.ย
You can easily halve this recipe. Halve all the ingredients and keep the same cooking time.
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Cajun
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
If I were using chicken cutlets instead of breasts, would I need to reduce the time?
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Well the problem is the brown rice needs the longer cooking time so if you are using brown rice you will keep it at 20 minutes. If you wanted to use white rice you could cook for 5 minutes with 5-10 minute npr and the chicken cutlets would be cooked perfectly.
This recipe is a staple in our household. My fiance and I absolutely love it!
Quick question: if I were to double the recipe, will I need a bigger IP? I have a 6qt. Thanks!
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I am glad you liked it! It would double in the 6 quart with no problems.
Wow this was amazing, and sooooo easy! Seriously so much easier than making it on the stovetop. Everything turned out perfectly – tender rice and veggies, fork tender chicken that fell apart easily. Only changes I made were to put Cajun seasoning on the andouille and chicken and add some hot sauce (I like my jambalaya spicy). Loved this
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So happy you loved it Kallie!!
I followed the instructions exactly (including using brown rice) and wound up with burn error messages. I transferred contents to a clean liner and carefully scraped up anything that could be triggering the error. After 4 transfers, I gave up and finished it on the stove. Dinner was very late this evening ๐
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Dang! I’m sorry that you had trouble with it. Was your chicken thawed or frozen?
I followed the recipe as well instead of using ground sausage I used andouille smoked sausage. There is a lapse somewhere in between ground sausage and sliced sausage. I fought Burn alerts for over an hour finally gave up and had Wendyโs for dinner. Wasted about 15 bucks worth of ingredients but I think I saved the chicken breasts. Fresh ingredients not frozen. Pity, this was the first recipe from my new cookbook 365 days of pressure cooking. Very disappointed. I hope you have better luck with your recipes.
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Any advice on how to convert this to a crock pot? I typically use jasmine rice when cooking, but I may be able to sneak brown rice past my family in this recipe. It looks delicious ๐
Here’s the crockpot version! https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/slow-cooker-chicken-and-sausage-jambalaya/
Sorry this is the rest of the post.
Put tomato paste, tomatoes, beef broth, water, in Instant Pot and stir–then add the spices and stir–add chicken and sausage and stir. I cooked mine for four minutes and then after it was done let it sit for about
five minutes removed the lid and added the green peppers and onions. We like ours crunchy, stirred and
let it sit. I cooked my rice is another Instant Pot—when ready to serve started with rice and added the
jambalaya It turned out great.
Sounds so good Dee!
I have a recipe for Jambalaya that I have used for years in the crockpot, but I didn’t have the time for the crockpot so I decided to see if I could convert it. Yahoo!!! I did it.
Ingredients
1 small can of tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
1 Cup broth(I used Better than Bullion Beef) and 1 Cup water
1 Large diced onion
2 Medium green peppers diced
5 garlic cloves minced
3 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 pound boneless/skinless chicken breasts cut into small pieces
1 pound smoked sausage halved and cut into pieces
I made this recipe twice with white rice. The only time I have ever made this in my life. The first time I made this I cooked the rice in the pot and the rice never cooked all the way. The second time I made it I cooked the rice separately and I left the chicken whole and shredded it. I turned out great. So if someone uses white rice, I suggest cooking it in a rice cooker, in another instant pot, or the stove. DO NOT cook white rice in the sauce. The white rice will not cook all the way.
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Thanks for sharing your experience!
I had worried, using my Instant Pot to make Jambalaya for the first time. I loved the way the Pressure cooker infuses the flavors into the rice making my Jambalaya rice with the taste of tomato sauce, Andouille and spices.
I may add Tasso or Chorizo next time. Thanks for the Recipe!
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Yum! Sounds awesome!
After putting all ingredients in and replacing the lid…..what buttons am I pushing….sorry rookie here…..pressure cook? Pressure level? Rice?
Pressure cook and then adjust the time to 20 minutes.
My wife is allergic to shrimp (lobster, crabs) … so she really likes this recipe. Now I just need to bag & freeze the extra meals left over. ๐
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Glad this worked for her!
Yummm, super tasty, healthy meal!! I followed the directions and it turned out amazing, I wouldn’t change a thing!! Rice was a touch al-dante, but still very edible and we devoured it! Many thanks for the reicpe
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I’m glad you liked it Sandra!
How much is a serving?
Can you make this with “riced Cauliflower?”
Hi Ellen, I’m sure you could but the method would probably change. I really haven’t made riced cauliflower in the instant pot before and think that it would get done super fast though. Have you ever tried it?
White rice would take the cooking time from 20 minutes to 3?! I just started my IP and now Iโm scared!
long grain white rice cooks very quickly. it’s a 3 minute pressure cook time with a 10 minute natural pressure release. brown rice usually takes about 22 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
This sounds amazing! I can’t wait to try it! I haven’t made rice in my instant pot yet. I’m assuming minute rice is not good to use? What do you think?
No go on the minute rice! I used brown rice and it was perfect.
This recipe sounds totally amazing. I cannot WAIT to try this!!
I have actually got 3 kinds of sausage in my freezer right now: One is a mild Italian ground sausage: One is a simple smoked Kielbasa kind (we have a turkey version as well), and the other we have, is the traditional mild breakfast sausage type, oh and I canโt forget, we have mild Italian sausage links right now, too.
We donโt like a lot of spice (the mild/sweet Italian sausage is about as string as it gets around here)…Out of these, which do you suggest? I plan to simply pan fry some shrimp to add to the finished recipe. I really cannot wait to try this! We are team Brown Rice as well! A+++ recipe! Thank you for sharing this with us! !
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*STRONG not STRING*!
LOL…Apologies for the typo! ๐ฅด
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I’m interested to know what kind to use as well.
All the sausages would taste great! I just used a simple breakfast sausage and it tasted great. The Italian sausage will add a lot of flavor and some spice. Yay for brown rice! Also the shrimp sounds so amazing!
I used chorizo sausage and hubby loved it!
Good plan! Sounds great.