One Pot Jambalaya

One Pot Jambalaya

Honestly, jambalaya is one of those recipes we come back to again and again because it just delivers every single time. One pot, big bold flavours, and that smoky, spicy, deeply savoury rice that soaks up everything around it. It's the kind of meal that tastes like you've been cooking all day, even though it all comes together in under an hour. We love making this when we've got friends coming over and we want something seriously impressive without the washing up. Trust us, once you've made this you'll want it on rotation every week.

Cook: 55 min
Serves 4

Before You Start

  • Large lidded pan or heavy-bottomed pot (min 3 litre capacity)
  • Fresh coriander, finely chopped

Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée
  • 3 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 large white onion
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 2 celery stick
  • 2 red chillies
  • 800g tomatoes
  • 400g brown rice - washed, but uncooked
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • small bunch of fresh coriander

Method

1

Prepare the vegetables

  • Finely chop the onion
  • Mince or finely chop the garlic
  • Cut the celery into 1cm pieces
  • Deseed the red chilli and finely chop
  • Roughly chop the tomatoes
  • Finely chop the parsley
2

Start cooking

  • Warm the vegetable oil in a pan
  • Add the onions & cook them until they're translucent
  • Add the garlic & cook it until you've released the aroma
  • Add the celery & red chillies & cook cook them until the celery has softened slightly
  • Add the tomatoes & stir them until they're well warmed through
  • Add the tomato puree & stir that into the mixture
3

Add the brown rice

  • Alongside the smoked paprika, bay leaves, pepper, vegetable stock into the pan & stir it all round so everything is well covered in liquid.
  • Add the hot sauce (we like spicy food so we added loads - you don't have to go overboard if you're not that keen on spicy food).
  • Bring the mixture to the boil, give it a quick stir then reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer (very gentle indeed)
  • Put the lid on the pan & let the Jambalaya simmer for 35 - 40 minutes (make sure you stir it roughly every 5 minutes so it doesn't burn on to the bottom of the pan, but don't stir to aggressively - you don't want your rice to be mushy)
4

Time to serve

  • Take the lid off the pan, fold in the parsley & remove the bayleaves
  • Serve immediately with a garnish of hot sauce & a spring of coriander

Tips & Variations

  • Make it smokier: We love adding a good teaspoon of smoked paprika on top of the regular spices. It gives the whole thing a deeper, almost BBQ-style warmth that works brilliantly here.
  • Swap the protein: Henry always throws in some sliced vegan sausage or smoked tofu for extra bite and that classic jambalaya heartiness. Kidney beans or black-eyed peas work brilliantly too.
  • Watch the rice: This is an advanced recipe for a reason and the rice can catch on the bottom if the heat's too high. Keep it on a gentle simmer once the lid goes on and resist the urge to lift it too often.

Why This Works

The trick here is building the flavour in layers right at the start. Cooking the onion, garlic, and celery low and slow before anything else goes in gives you that deep, rich base that makes the whole dish sing. What really makes this one special is letting the rice cook directly in the spiced tomato broth so every single grain gets packed with flavour rather than just sitting in a sauce.