Ingredients

The following ingredients have 7 Servings
  • One (3- to 4- pound) chicken (roasted)
  • 1 green bell pepper (cored, seeded, and diced)
  • 1 red bell pepper (cored, seeded, and diced)
  • 2 small jalapeno peppers (seeded and minced)
  • 1 bunch scallions (white and green parts) (thinly sliced)
  • 3 celery stalks (diced)
  • 4 garlic cloves (minced)
  • 2 medium onions (1 quartered and 1 diced small)
  • 10 cups cold water
  • 1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil
  • 1 pound smoked sausage (diced)
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon Donnie’s Spice Mix
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 5 bay leaves
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 2 tablespoons store-bought or homemade tomato paste
  • 2 cups long-grain rice (rinsed)

Instruction

  • Remove all the meat from the chicken and discard the skin. Shred or chop the chicken. Save all the juice and fat from the roasting pan (or store container, if you're relying on a rotisserie chicken) in a separate container. Refrigerate both until needed.


  • Trim and dice or mince the bell peppers, jalapeno, scallions, celery, and garlic, reserving the trimmings. Place the chicken carcass, quartered onion, and vegetable trimmings in a large pot. Add the cold water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 1 hour, skimming any foam from the surface as necessary. Strain the broth and discard the solids. You should have about 6 cups of stock.

  • Heat the oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and sear until it starts to color, turning as necessary. Parts of the sausage will begin to stick to the pan. When there is a goodly sausage-y coating stuck to the pan, pour in 1/4 cup of the chicken stock and cook, stirring and scraping the skillet, until it comes loose. Let this simmer gently until all of the liquid has evaporated. Transfer the sausage to a plate.


  • Return the skillet to medium-high heat, add the butter, and heat until it melts. Add the diced onion and cook until it starts to stick to the pan, about 5 minutes.
  • Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of the chicken stock and let this reduce until the skillet is dry (or au sec, as they say in French kitchens). Continue to cook until the onion turns a nice, deep, brown color, about 5 more minutes.
  • At this point the onion will start to stick to the pan again. Add 1/2 cup of the chicken stock and simmer. When the stock has almost completely evaporated, add the bell peppers, jalapeños, scallions, celery, garlic, the 1 tablespoon of the spice mix, salt, bay leaves, oregano, and tomato paste. Cook, stirring often, for 10 more minutes, until things start to stick to the darn skillet again. Deglaze with another 1/4 cup stock and reduce again until the skillet runs dry.
  • Add the shredded chicken, 1 cup stock, and the defatted juices from the chicken and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half.


  • Transfer the vegetable mixture to a large, heavy-bottomed pot and add the sausage, rice, and the remaining 4 cups stock to the pot and stir well. You want the mixture to have plenty of room so the rice will cook evenly. Heat, covered, over low heat for 40 minutes.


  • Remove the pot from the stovetop and keep covered for 10 minutes while it rests. If the rice seems a little unevenly cooked, leave the lid on a little longer and it will even out. When the jambalaya is done, transfer it to a casserole dish and serve. (If you leave it in the pot it cooked in, the jambalaya will continue to cook and become dry.)