Instant Pot Jambalaya is made in less than 30 minutes from start to finish this one pot meal will become a family dinner favorite! Spicy chicken sausage is the star of in this easy recipe for Cajun Jambalaya that sings with Creole flavors.
Instant Pot Jambalaya
Friends, let me tell you this easy Cajun jambalaya was not only a life-saver for a busy night, it was SO delicious! Full of spice, juicy chicken sausage, and perfectly cooked rice, this simple recipe will seriously become a new go to at your house.
My son asked if he could trade out his favorite PB & J Oatmeal Muffin for this Jambalaya for his school lunch. And that is saying something!
Before you comment, I do know that this is not a traditional recipe for Jambalaya, nor is my stove-top Quinoa Jambalaya. But you know, I am not a traditional kind of gal when it comes to Jambalaya. My instant pot jambalaya recipe has no shrimp or chicken. BUT there is chicken sausage! And the smoked andouille chicken sausage from al fresco is the PERFECT compliment to Jambalaya, as it is the perfect compliment in Cajun Chicken Pasta. I seriously am in love with all the flavor packed into this sausage.
How To Make Cajun Jambalaya
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 start to finish.
How to Make Instant Pot Jambalaya
- Saute the peppers and onions in a bit of oil on the saute function. Feel free to skip this step and just dump them in and cook on high pressure to make this recipe even easier.
- Add in chicken stock and scrape up any browned bits of food from bottom of the pan.
- Add in garlic, diced tomatoes, sausage, and Cajun Seasoning and stir.
- Add in rice and gently push down with back of spoon to submerge rice into liquid. DO NOT STIR RICE!
- Cook on high pressure.
- 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!
- Fluff rice with a fork and stir in Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce and serve Instant Pot Jambalaya.
Tips on Easy Instant Pot Jambalaya
- Be sure to RINSE your rice, as this will help it not stick to 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 25 minutes on high pressure.
More Instant Pot Dinner Recipes
- Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Instant Pot Mongolian Beef
- Instant Pot Meatballs
- Instant Pot Pot Roast
Instant Pot Jambalaya
Ingredients
- 1 12 ounce package al fresco Smoked Andouille chicken sausage sliced
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 red pepper diced
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon Cajun Seasoning
- 1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes low sodium
- 1 1/2 cups white rice rinsed well
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute mode on high and allow to heat up.
- Once heated, add in oil, onions, and peppers and saute for 2-3 minutes until just beginning to soften up.
- Add in chicken stock and scrape up any browned bits of on bottom of inner pot.
- Add in garlic, Cajun seasoning, sausage, and stir. Add in tomatoes, and gently stir. Add in rice and gently push down with back of spoon to submerge rice into liquid. DO NOT STIR RICE! Put lid on Instant Pot.
- Cancel saute function and set to high pressure on manual (or pressure cook function) and set timer for 3 minutes.
- Let pressure release naturally and then stir in Worcestershire Sauce and hot sauce.
Equipment Needed
Notes
- Be sure to RINSE your rice, as this will help it not stick to pressure cooker.
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.