Instant Pot Jambalaya

 When I make jambalaya in the oven, it takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to cook, and that does not include prep time. Now that I use my Instant Pot it takes 10 minutes for white rice or 20 for brown. This is so good when it comes to evening grumpies with my kids waiting for their supper. 

I did find a skillet jambalaya recipe from America's Test Kitchen that I liked, but I ended up making a few changes and finally adapted it for the instant pot, and this little beauty was born.

I remember making a casserole dish of jambalaya and baking it in the oven, and waiting for it to cook all while a storm raged outside. My husband, the meteorologist, wanted to go storm chasing and there I was babysitting our jambalaya. 

In the end, I snatched the casserole dish out of the oven and crawled under our dining room table to eat jambalaya out of a teacup while waiting for a tornado to pass overhead. The lengthy cooking time on that jambalaya probably prevented us (me!) from chasing a tornado, a real blessing. Still eating supper sooner can be a blessing too.

A few tips:

• Use frozen, peeled, and deveined shrimp to save money and time. I thaw it out a few hours in advance for a quick prep time.
• Saute the shrimp and remove it before proceeding, letting it cook in the instant pot for the full time will lead to rubbery shrimp.
• Add any leftover chicken or pork to this meal. It is a good catch-all for leftover meat.
• Use an extra cup of broth if cooking brown rice.

Serves 6 388 Calories per Serving

INGREDIENTS  

• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 bell pepper chopped
• 4 medium cloves of garlic minced 
• 1/2 lb andouille sausage or kielbasa sausage halved lengthwise and sliced 
• 1 tin smoked oysters
• 1 lb shrimp peeled and deveined
• 1 ½ tablespoons light olive oil (or oil of choice)
• 1 ½ cups white or brown rice. If you use brown rice this will increase your cooking time from 10 minutes to 20 minutes.
• 8 oz bottle clam juice
• 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS 

• Season shrimp with salt and sauté shrimp until pink and remove from pressure cooker or instant pot. Set aside in a bowl to add back into the jambalaya at the end of the cooking process.
• Saute onion, bell pepper, garlic, and andouille sausage in oil, then add rice, and saute some more, add oysters, tomatoes, clam juice, chicken broth, salt, and thyme to the instant pot or pressure cooker. Put the lid onto the instant pot and set your instant pot to pressure for 10 minutes if you are using white rice, and 20 minutes if you are using brown rice.
• If you are using a pressure cooker simply place on the lid and allow your food to cook on high until your pressure cooker is up to temperature and sealed, then reduce or temp to low and allow it to continue to cook for about 8 minutes for white rice and 18 minutes for brown rice. Remove from heat and allow to cool so you can remove the lid.
• Add cooked shrimp back into the pot once your food is done and give it a stir. Serve hot with coleslaw or a salad on the side.