Instant Pot Jambalaya is made in less than 30 minutes for a one-pot meal will become a family dinner favorite! Made with rice, smoked sausage, tomatoes, and optional shrimp, this easy recipe for Cajun Jambalaya sings with classic Creole flavors.
This recipe for Jambalaya may not be authentic, but it is 100% delicious. And incredibly EASY to make as well. Making this another simple, affordable, family-approved Instant Pot Recipes.
This easy Instant Pot Jambalaya is not only a life-saver for a busy night, but it also SO delicious! Full of spice, sausage, and perfectly cooked rice, this simple recipe will seriously become a new go-to at your house.
This jambalaya could not be any easier to throw together. Just a few ingredients and a short amount of time in the pressure cooker and dinner is done! The key to this fast jambalaya is, of course, the pressure cooker, but also flavorful ingredients in way of the sausage and Cajun Seasoning.
The only step that takes any amount of time waiting for the instant pot to come to pressure and to release. But even with that time accounted, this recipe only takes 30 minutes from start to finish, making this recipe perfect for even the busiest of nights.
Notes on Key Ingredients
- Sausage: I love using a smoked andouille chicken sausage. It is lower in fat, yet full of flavor. Use any pre-cooked andouille or smoked sausage variety you like.
- Rice: Because I am using precooked, chicken sausage, I chose to use Jasmine rice, which only cooks in 3 minutes. You can use brown rice, simply increase the cooking time to 22 minutes.
- Cajun Seasoning: I used a homemade Cajun Seasoning, but any cajun seasoning works.
- Tomatoes: If you don’t like the texture of diced tomatoes, use tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes in place of the diced tomatoes.
- Peppers and Onions: Use fresh diced onions and peppers or a defrosted frozen blend. If you have picky eaters, omit the peppers and/or onions.
How to Make Instant Pot Jambalaya
- Turn the Instant Pot to saute and once heated, add in oil, sausage, onions, and peppers and saute for 2-3 minutes, or until onions are just beginning to soften up. Add in garlic, and saute for 30 seconds longer, being careful to not allow garlic to burn. Turn Instant Pot OFF.
- Add in chicken stock and scrape up any browned bits of food from the bottom of the pan. This is crucial to prevent a burn warning!
- Rinse the rice really well. This allows the rice to not stick to the bottom of the inner pot and prevents it from getting mushy as it cooks.
- Add the rice to the inner pot, along with the and Cajun Seasoning, and gently stir to submerge the rice into the liquid.
- Top with diced tomatoes, but DO NOT STIR! This helps to prevent a burn notice.
- Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes for white rice and 22 minutes for brown rice.
- Allow to naturally release. It is really important to allow the pressure cooker to release pressure naturally when cooking rice, to be sure you have tender, fluffy rice. DON’T skip this step!
- Add in Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce, fluff, and mix with a fork and then serve.
What about Shrimp?
If you want to add shrimp to this jambalaya recipe, you need to work with frozen shrimp and white rice. Add the frozen shrimp on top of the tomatoes right before sealing and cooking. 
More Instant Pot 30 Minute Recipes
- Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Instant Pot Mongolian Beef
- Instant Pot Spaghetti
- Instant Pot Pork Chops
The next time you need a FAST meal that is full of flavor, try out this Instant Pot Jambalaya–it won’t disappoint!
Instant Pot Jambalaya
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 12 ounces Smoked Cajun sausage sliced into 1 inch rounds
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 red pepper diced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 cups long grain rice rinsed well
- 1 tablespoon Cajun Seasoning
- 15 ounces can diced tomatoes
- 1/2 tablespoon hot sauce optional
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute mode on high and allow to heat up.
- Once heated, add in oil, sausage, onions, and peppers and saute for 2-3 minutes, or until onions are just beginning to soften up. Add in garlic, and saute for 30 seconds longer, being careful to not allow garlic to burn. Turn Instant Pot OFF.
- Add in chicken stock and scrape up any browned bits of on bottom of inner pot.
- Add in rice and Cajun seasoning and gently push down with the back of a spoon submerge rice into liquid.
- Pour tomatoes on top of the rice mixture. Do not stir in tomatoes.
- Place lid on Instant Pot and set cook time by hitting manual/pressure cook and use +/- buttons to adjust cook time to 3 minutes for long-grain white rice and 22 minutes for long-grain brown rice.
- Once cook time has elapsed, let the pressure release naturally.
- Once pressure is released, open the lid and add in the Worcestershire Sauce and hot sauce. Fluff everything together with a fork to combine and then serve.
Equipment Needed
Notes
- Be sure to RINSE your rice, as this will help it not stick to the pressure cooker.
- If you do want to add shrimp to this jambalaya recipe, you can add frozen shrimp to the right before sealing and cooking. Frozen shrimp takes about 4 minutes to cook, but because you are not doing a quick release, the shrimp will cook in 3 minutes.
- If you have picky eaters, leave out the onions and/or peppers.
- This Jambalaya will keep in the fridge for 3 days or it can be frozen for up to 3 months.
- If you don't like the texture of diced tomatoes, use tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes in place of the diced tomatoes.
- This recipe is written to cook on high pressure. Please DO NOT use the rice function on your pressure cooker.
- Be sure your Worcestershire sauce is gluten-free if you need this to be Gluten-Free Jambalaya.
- Because I am using precooked, chicken sausage, I chose to use Jasmine rice, which only cooks in 3 minutes. You can use brown rice. Just increase cooking time to 22 minutes on high pressure.
This post was originally published in 2018 but was updated in 2020 with a new video.
I’ve been making this stuff for almost two years now. it’s SO GOOD. and easy!
I LOVE hearing this Madeline! Thanks for sharing and I hope you continue to enjoy!
Definitely making this again! YUMMMMM!
WAHOO!! I love hearing when a recipe is so enjoyed you want to make it again!
This was delicious and I loved how it’s made in the Instant Pot!
We thought this was delish! I made this in the Instant Pot and added frozen okra and shrimp. I layered as instructed, adding the okra before the tomatoes and the shrimp after. I got the dreaded burn notice and had to finish it on the stove…..maybe I didn’t rinse my rice well enough? Will definitely make again using super-rinsed rice.
So I made this again, exactly like before, except rinsed the rice very well. Did not get the burn notice, the flavor was great, but the rice was mushy. It took about 25 minutes to come to pressure… Likely due to the frozen okra and shrimp I added…. and I did a NR for 15 minutes. Any suggestions to prevent mushy rice?
Hi Chris. I believe the issue would have been the frozen okra and frozen shrimp. Both have excess moisture and would contribute to the overall liquid content.
Thanks; I think you are right. As much as I like those additions, maybe I’ll leave them out next time.
Delicious!! We loved this! I only had butterball smoked sausage but it turned out great!
I am so glad you enjoyed Marsha! It is on my meal plan to make for dinner tonight–we love it here.
Always been skeptical with I.P. dishes using rice since many of the recipes online tend to burn and stick at the bottom. I rinsed the rice about 4-5 times until the water was clear and was amazed how nothing stuck to the bottom. If you don’t have red pepper, just use crushed red pepper flakes. I accidentally put a tablespoon and almost died, so just put a pinch. I will be making this again!
I am so glad you had success Grayson. I test my recipes several times in various models to help ensure that people can follow these recipes with success.
We used Rotel instead of just diced tomatoes and made it really tasty.
Great tip AM! Thanks for sharing!
Could I double this recipe to have more leftovers?
This recipe doubles well–just be sure to not fill more 2/3rd of the way full and let pressure release naturally.
Thank you so much 😊
You are so welcome!
delicious dinner idea an super easy
I am so glad you enjoyed Mary.
Our household, including our 10-month-old, loves flavourful and spicy foods, so we were a little disappointed that even when doubling the cajun spice from the get-go this Jambalaya recipe tasted rather bland (to us?). It definitely was improved with a bit of salt and pepper, and we each customized our bowls with hot sauce. Next time we will add some cajun grilled chicken bits at the end to spice it up.
Hi Stephanie! I am sorry you did not find this spicy enough. I prepare most my recipes to be kid friendly and then give notes to adjust. For this Jambalaya, I serve with a side of hot sauce for those that like it spicier 🙂 You can also add in a couple of teaspoons of hot sauce while cooking if desired to really amp it up.
Fabulous, easy to make, great flavors. It will be one of my go to recipes. I love that it doesn’t have shrimp, since I don’t like seafood, so it was perfect for me. A few changes I made, are that I sautéed the sausage before adding it, gave it more flavor. I also added peas at the end, for color and flavor, made it like a paella. Thank you for this recipe.
I am so glad you enjoyed this Mary! And thank you for taking the time to review!
Have you tried using any other proteins in this recipe like chicken or cubed ham ? If so is the cooking time the same? Also would like to use brown rice instead of white have you tried with brown rice? Thanks
Hi Karen! Ham and chicken are both delicious in this jambalaya. However, you would need to cube your chicken before cooking, as this only has a cook time of 3 minutes. For Brown Rice, the cook time changes to 24 minutes, which would over-cook the chicken and may leave it pretty dry. I would cook as directed and add in diced ham or cooked chicken after cook time has elapsed and mix in the inner pot. Put the lid back on the Instant Pot to warm all the ingredients through together. Hope that helps.