The Perfect Cajun Andouille Sausage and Grilled Chicken Jambalaya

I am so excited the Super Bowl is in #TeamFOGO’s home of Miami this year, so I wanted to celebrate big by cooking my first Jambalaya. The perfect dish to feed all my hungry family and friends with something tasty, delicious and most of all, easy to do. For this recipe, I have Mr. Ninja from the Salty Tales YouTube channel joined me, and he is the first lucky person to try out my Jambalaya. I hope he really likes it! 

Jambalaya is a very traditional Louisiana dish, very widely known for its amazing combination of flavors. This dish goes back to when the Spanish tried to bring their famous paella into the “New World”, but due to their lack of saffron on this side of the world they substitute it with tomatoes. The recipe usually calls for a type of sausage, some type of meat whether it is seafood, pork or chicken, rice, stock and what it is known as the “holy trinity” of vegetables (Celery, Onions and Peppers). One thing you should know is that there are two types of Jambalaya, Creole and Cajun. There are two main differences, one being that Creole has tomatoes and Cajun doesn’t, and the other one being that Cajun you cook the meats before and let them brown, while Creole you just put everything in one pot and you let it simmer until it's ready.

For this video, I have taken the Cajun style route, I am not adding tomatoes and I will make sure my chicken is grilled first before mixing it in with all of the other ingredients. By grilling the chicken, I am allowing the smoky flavors to come out and the searing will give it a nice brown color. I’m thrilled to get this started and see how it turns out. 

Video Recipe

Directions: 

1. Light up your Super Premium Charcoal, watch the fire closely and manage it to be able to grill your chicken. The temperature should be set at around 400F
2. Season the chicken thighs with the SPG mix. 
3. Place the chicken on the grill, and let it get those nice brown and searing marks. Do not worry if the chicken is not all the way cooked, it’ll finish cooking when we put all the ingredients together. Once done, place chicken aside.
4. Place your Cast Iron pot or Dutch oven on your grill, and add the oil to get it nice and hot.
5. Put in the holy trinity vegetables and garlic, and let them fry for a couple of minutes
6. Add the sausage, let it cook for a minute and mix will with the vegetables
7. Add all the chicken stock, and let it come up to a simmer. Close the lid of your grill and let it come to a simmer. 
8. Once it has simmered, add the chicken and the rice. Make sure to mix it all together. 
9. Close the grill and your vents, you want the grill to be between 300F to 350F degrees. The Jambalaya should cook for 20 - 30 mins. 
10. Serve and top it off with a touch of Paprika and some green onions! 

Deeeeeeeelicious…

As my first time doing Jambalaya, I was unsure on how it was going to come out… but wow I surprised myself and Ninja, so much so I got a high five, a fist bump and a big old and quite high pitched DELICIOUS out of him!! The flavor was right on point, and the chicken really surprised me on how tender it was, it would break apart so easily. This dish is quite filling and can be done for an army of people, just accommodate the recipe and make sure to get a big enough pot, but it is definitely a crowd pleaser! 

If you like a more spicy touch to your Jambalaya, you can add crushed red pepper flakes, more paprika or even some fresh habanero peppers, and it’ll just add that amazing kick to it. 

Let me know in the comments what you are grilling for the Super Bowl - and if you’ve ever cooked a Jambalaya.