Honestly, it’s been a rough week, so I’m feeling sorry for myself and all I want is comfort food! Usually, this would either lead me to the drawer of take-out menus, or some sort of creamy cheesy pasta. But sometimes when making comfort food, it’s not the grease, carbs or even calories I want, it’s just warm, wholesome, satisfying food.
To me, jambalaya is a special kind of comfort food. Bursting with mouth-watering flavors, my awesome Chicken and Chorizo Jambalaya combines wholesome chicken and rice with cajun seasoning, garlic and the awesomeness that is chorizo sausage. DROOL!
I’ve been making this for so long, I can’t remember where I got the original recipe but I’ve tweaked it a lot over the years anyway. But seriously, this chicken and chorizo jambalaya is one of my go-to comfort foods on a cold winter’s night, or when I’m feeling blue!
And the best part about my awesome jambalaya? It’s so easy to make! The hardest part is that it takes like 5-10 minutes to chop all the ingredients but honestly, that ain’t a hardship because it’s pretty straightforward anyway.
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts, diced
- 150g/ 5.5oz chorizo, thinly sliced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 1 yellow pepper, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1-2 tbsp Cajun seasoning (to taste)
- 250g/ 9Oz long grain rice
- 400g/ 15Oz can chopped plum tomatoes
- 450ml/ 2 Cups chicken stock
- Salt & Pepper
Method
- In a non-stick pan, dry fry chorizo until crisp (2-3 mins)
- Remove chorizo from the pan with a slotted spoon, leaving the chorizo oil in the pan
- Add the crushed garlic and fry until softened (about 1 min)
- Add the diced chicken and fry until golden brown (about 5 mins)
- Remove chicken from pan and set aside
- Add the peppers, onions and cajun seasoning and cook until soft (about 5 mins)
- Add the chicken and chorizo back to the pan along with the tomato paste, rice, tinned tomatoes, and chicken stock and stir thoroughly
- Simmer for 20-25 minutes until rice is tender, adding more stock if needed
- Season with a little salt and a generous helping of freshly ground black pepper and serve
Notes
- I use about 2 tbsp of Cajun seasoning and it’s spicy enough for me, but if you like a little more heat, some chopped chili or jalapeno work very well in this
- I’m not a fan of shrimp/prawns but friends have made this with shrimp/prawns and raved about how good it was
- This is also great if made with chicken thighs, you just need to cook the meat a little longer to make sure it’s cooked through.
- I’ve also made this with Quorn chicken style pieces, and it’s worked really well. As they don’t need to be cooked for as long, just add the Quorn pieces in with the peppers and onions.
