Traditional jambalaya is full of meat and seafood, but not in this recipe! I've kept in the onion, bell pepper, celery, beans and rice. This one-pot dish originated in Louisiana out of Spanish, African and French influence. This recipe is a healthful adaptation of the tomato-based Creole version.
Jambalaya Stew
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 mins
- Yield: 6 to 8 (makes about 10 cups) 1x
Ingredients
- ½ pound cremini mushrooms, quartered or sliced (about 2½ cups)
- 1 medium yellow or white onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
- 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 ribs celery, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic (3 to 4 cloves)
- 4½ cups water (or salt-free broth)
- 2 15-ounce cans salt-free kidney beans (3 cups), drained and rinsed
- 1 15-ounce can salt-free diced tomatoes, with liquid (1½ cups total)
- 1¼ cup dry/uncooked long-grain brown rice
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon smoky paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 tablespoon fresh)
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional; these are spicy)
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of water in a soup pot over medium-high heat. When the water starts to sputter, add the mushrooms, onion, bell pepper, and celery, and cook for about 7 to 8 minutes, stirring frequently, adding water as needed to prevent sticking. Add the garlic and cook while stirring for 1 minute more.
- Add the remaining ingredients: water, kidney beans, diced tomatoes (with liquid), rice, tomato paste, paprika, thyme, red pepper flakes, and bay leaves. Stir well, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and cover.
- Cook for 45 minutes (or until the rice is tender), stirring once during. Remove from the heat, and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes with the lid on before serving (remove the bay leaves before serving). Stir in a little water upon reheating, as the stew will have thickened.
Notes
Instant Pot Instructions: If you’d like to make this in the Instant Pot (IP), a bigger than 6-quart model is best. I made it in my 6-quart, and while it cooked up fine, it gave me an error message that it was overfilled in step 2):
1. Place the rice and 1¾ cups water in the IP and set for 15 minutes on manual, high pressure.
2. When the time is up, let come down from pressure for 5 minutes. Release any remaining pressure (using the steam release valve), and then open the lid. Add 2½ cups water, and all of the other ingredients (stirring the tomato paste in first after the water, and the bay leaf in last).
3. Replace the lid and move the steam release valve back into starting position, and cook for 8 more minutes (on manual, high pressure). Let come down from pressure naturally (or at least 10 minutes).
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 60 mins
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ⅛ recipe (1.25 cups)
- Calories: 208
- Sugar: 8.5g
- Sodium: 29.8mg
- Fat: 1.7g
- Saturated Fat: 0.3g
- Carbohydrates: 41g
- Fiber: 7.5g
- Protein: 9.1g
- Cholesterol: 0
Above: The onion, celery and green bell pepper. For this recipe, I like to have all of my ingredients prepared (chopped and measured) before I begin cooking.
Above: The prepared mushrooms, garlic, and dried herbs and spices (paprika, thyme and red pepper flakes).
Above: This shows my soup pot right before I put the lid on and cook it for 45 minutes. The rice will absorb much of this liquid during cooking.
I made this last night and it was delicious. I didn't have a lot of time so I started the brown rice in a separate pan while I chopped and sautéed the veggies. I added the partially cooked rice to the rest of the ingredients after step 2 and continued cooking until the rice was soft. Total cook time was under an hour. Will definitely make this again.
Good idea! Thanks Carol! 😉
This is the first recipe I made with my new 8 quart instant pot! Delicious! Wonderful! Preferring a bit more heat, I doubled the red pepper flakes, then added a tsp of chipotle pepper. Next time I’ll add a package of frozen okra because I think that will blend nicely with this recipe.
Thanks John! Perfect! 😉
Great idea
This is soooo delicious Cathy!!! I used a yellow pepper because I didn't have a green one. I definitely think it would be better with the green. I sprinkled some dulse granules on my serving and really liked it. Thank you Cathy! I will definitely make this again but with the geeen pepper.
Thanks Michelle! 🙂 Any color pepper would work; green is traditional, but red would be good too I think.
I added some corn to the leftovers and baked it. Served if over butternut squash! Delicious!! Thank you again Cathy! My non vegan husband loves it too!
My husband and I made this for first time today in our new instant pot, alerted 2x "burnt" before high temp pressure cook was complete (followed directions). Regardless, end result was delicious! 😋
What size IP do you have? I have a 6 and got the error as well, but the final result was great; no burning or anything. 🙂
I made this for dinner tonight. What a great recipe! It was so easy to put together and the flavor was great. I served it over fresh spinach. The heat from the stew wilted the spinach perfectly. We then mixed it into the stew and it was delicious. Thank you!!!
Does this freeze well
Yes. 🙂 Stews and soups generally do well frozen.
Just made this for dinner. My family (teenage carnivores included) loved it! Win! I have a new recipe for my plant based recipe box!
I made this in my pressure cooker and now it is a staple batch recipe for me....love this for work lunches with a greens salad on the side 😁👍
This is an amazing recipe. Even more amazing is that our son picked this one over another delicious but meaty dish that my husband cooked! 🙂
Wow! Nice! 😉
I got the burned message too! 🙁 we're still trying to get it cooked.
Yeah, my did just fine despite that error message. Nothing was burned and there was not a mess or anything. Good luck! 🙂
Did you know that Dillon featured this on his YouTube Channel, Well Your World. He WAS making it again for the Thursday Live Show. I am single and this makes a lot. Does i freeze well?
Yes, he's the best. 🙂 You can halve the recipe if it's too much; or yes, it will freeze well.
I prefer not to eat rice. Do you think swapping the rice out with quinoa would work?
Yes, but you wouldn't need to simmer it as long, since rice takes longer to cook than quinoa. 🙂
Such a perfect dish! Worked great in the instapot. I skipped the mushrooms and used red pepper instead of green. I also added some dehydrated celery and carrots near the end to add a little extra touch to this SOS free recipe. So pleased with the results! Will make this again and again. Thank you! I was missing some good NOLA cookin’
This recipe really does taste like the Jambalaya I remember from my freer-eating days. Great use of the Holy Trinity: celery, green bell pepper, and onions. The smoked paprika adds so much. Next time I will try toasting the raw rice until golden on my comal, iron skillet, before adding to see if the kernels hold together more, they are fine the way they are, that's just my preference. Also, I think I will try swapping out red beans for the kidney beans just to get more of that Cajun feel. And I love that suggestion of poster above about okra. Thank you, Cathy, you nailed this one. This is a recipe I did not think was possible meat and SOS-free- and thanks to you, I have this great taste of Jambalaya back in my life!
Thanks Jan! 😉
This is so good I can't actually believe it. Tastes exactly how I remember jambalaya and will be a regular for me. Thankyou.
Yay! 🙂 Thanks Joy!
I just made this tonight. I thought it needed more spice and I will add some tempeh and serve it at my next party. Thank you for another winner recipe.
I can’t eat mushrooms. Any substitutes? Or just leave it out of the recipe?
I would just leave them out. 🙂
Made this tonight in the IP. My only addition was about 2 teaspoons of the pepperoni spice Chef AJ uses from localspicery.com. It really made the stew ... Excellent recipe !
Thanks Cynthia! 😉
Made this today and substituted riced cauliflower for the rice. I added half the broth as well. It’s really good. It looks a little soupier than yours, but I think it will be good over some greens. I miss the rice, but I am trying the grain free thing for 10 days. I am thinking next time I will do the fire roasted tomatoes. Without the added salt and sugar, I love spice these days. Thank you!!
My meat eating chef husband went back for seconds of this recipe! It’s a winner! Thank you so much for sharing. I’ve been loving your beautiful cookbook.
Love it! Thanks Amanda! 😉
I think this is my favorite recipe of yours! Though maybe I say that about every recipe on this site 🙂 I change a few minor things--I use small red beans instead of kidney beans, low sodium veggie broth instead of water, a whole can of tomato paste, and a whole teaspoon of crushed red pepper. Delicious! Pairs perfectly with your walnut cornbread!
Thanks so much, Jackie! 😉 I love this one too!
This is the first recipe that I have tried from your page and it is delicious. They all look good! Looking forward to trying another. Thank you!
Thanks for the comment, Joanne! Welcome! 🙂
This was an Instant Pot fail for me. I have a 6 quart. Based on the several similar comments here I wouldn’t recommend the instant pot route! It gave a burn warning three times, And each time I opened the lid it had in fact burned a bit to the bottom and got progressively worse despite stirring and seemingly enough liquid. After probably 40 minutes I gave up and put it on the stove, where it also burned if I didn’t regularly stir it and it took about one more hour to cook. Flavour was ok. Ive never had this problem with this website, the instant pot directions were just not right here .
Would recommend using the stovetop method as the picture looks delicious.
Sorry this happened. Yes, a 6-quart isn't big enough; this is stated in the Notes section: "Instant Pot Instructions: If you’d like to make this in the Instant Pot (IP), a bigger than 6-quart model is best. I made it in my 6-quart, and while it cooked up fine, it gave me an error message that it was overfilled in step 2)."
This looks sooo good. Can I use Cajun seasoning if I'm lazy?
Sure! 😉
This is excellent and easy too. I served it to my book club who complimented it, and a couple of ladies went back for seconds. I made some for a work potluck to the same effect!
Yay! Thanks Helen! 😉
I made this dish and my spouse, who vowed never to eat plant meals since they don’t have meat, loved it stating it was the best rice dish he ever had and he didn’t miss the meat. Every time he eats it he raves about ‘how delicious’ it is!!! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Oh good! So happy to hear this! Be sure to make him the Beefless Stew and the Caesar-y salad too (the men love these; and the carrot cake). 😉
I made the beef less stew and he loved it too!! Will have to try the other ones. Also, made the southwest stew which he also loved. We love all your recipes I’ve made so far!!
Great! Thanks for letting me know. 😉
Tried this recipe for the first time a few months ago and have made it once a week or so ever since. What a great stew! Thanks again, Cathy, for another winner.
Thanks Kris! 🙂
Just made this for my family and everyone, even my picky kids who aren't sure about our new eating lifestyle, loved it. I substituted 1/2 cup dried lentils for the beans and added an extra 1/2 cup of water because I had it on hand. Thanks for the tasty recipe. Great and easy for a cold rainy night. I love finding easy instant pot recipes.
Great to hear! Thanks Lisa! 😉
Hi Cathy, I made this fabulous jambalaya stew recipe tonight. It’s delicious! Millie
Thanks Millie! 😉
One of our favorites! We do add okra and 2tbs of cajun seasoning. my family adds vegan sausages to theirs. so good!