Fellow soup lovers, I think I may have just successfully “soupified” another one of my favorite dishes.
Check out this jambalaya soup!!
Oh my goodness, I think I may actually love this dish even more as a soup. (<– Which, ahem, wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened. Here’s lookin’ at you chicken enchilada soup, corned beef and cabbage soup, and chicken pot pie soup.) Like the others, this soup is packed with everything that we all love about jambalaya — all of those amazing and colorful veggies, cooked in a spicy tomato Cajun sauce, mixed with hearty Andouille sausage, chicken, and shrimp — but instead of being cooked in just a bed of rice, they’re simmered in a thick, flavorful, amazing tomato rice soup.
And oh my goodness, the result is mmm, mmm, good.
I will say that this soup takes a little extra time and effort to make than my usual 30-minute recipes. But this recipe makes a huge batch of soup, and the work is totally worth it.
To make the soup, simply saute up some chicken and Andouille sausage in a large stockpot until they’re mostly cooked through. (<– If you’re not into either of those, or the shrimp, feel free to just pick your favorite protein. You’ll need about 3 pounds of protein total.) Then add in your veggies, stir in some flour to thicken up the broth, add in the broth and rice and seasonings, and let the soup simmer on the stove until that rice is nice and tender. (Be sure to keep a close eye on this soup and stir it often so that the rice doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pot!) Finally, just stir in your shrimp at the end and season everything with salt and pepper to taste…
…and voila! This vibrant, flavorful, and hearty soup will be yours to enjoy!
And I do mean hearty. Similar to a gumbo, this jambalaya soup is incredibly rich and filling, so a big pot of it will go a long way.
Feel free to also customize this soup to your desired level of spiciness, too. I love my jambalaya with a nice kick, so I usually include 2 jalapenos to bring some heat. But if you like a more mild jambalaya, feel free to just use a single (or half of a) jalapeno.
Also, different brands of Cajun seasoning tend to have different flavors, and varying levels of spiciness and saltiness. So if you’re cooking with one that is new to you, I’d start by adding in just 1 tablespoon of Cajun seasonings, and then you can always add in more at the end. I love that stuff. :)
All in all, a very successful “soupifying” mission. :) Hope you all enjoy this one as much as I do!
Jambalaya Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 pound Andouille sausage, thinly sliced into rounds
- 3 small bell peppers, cored and diced (I used a mix of colors)
- 2 ribs celery, chopped
- 1 small white onion, peeled and diced
- 1 jalapeño pepper*, seeded and finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup uncooked white or brown rice
- 2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning** (add more/less to taste)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
- 1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
- salt and pepper
- (optional garnishes: chopped fresh parsley, thinly-sliced green onions, hot sauce)
Instructions
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and sausage, and sauté for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, bell peppers, celery, onion, jalapeño, and stir to combine. Continue sautéing for 5-6 more minutes, or until the onion is soft and translucent, stirring occasionally. Stir in the garlic, and sauté for 1 more minute until the garlic is fragrant, stirring occasionally.
- Sprinkle the flour over the mixture, and stir to combine. Continue cooking for 1 minute, stirring occasionally.
- Gradually stir in the chicken stock, then add the crushed tomatoes, rice, Cajun seasoning, bay leaves and dried thyme. Continue cooking until the soup reaches a simmer. Then reduce the heat to medium-low, and continue simmering the soup for 15 more minutes — being sure to stir the soup occasionally (yes, more!) so that the rice doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pot — until the rice is cooked and tender.
- Stir in the shrimp and continue cooking for 5 more minutes, or until the shrimp is cooked through (it should be pink and opaque, not gray).
- Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Then serve warm, topped with your desired garnishes if desired.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!This post contains affiliate links.
I made this for some friends a few weeks ago. It was sooo good I had to make it again due to many requests. The only change I made was increasing the cajun spices, adding some smoked paprika and some additional cumin. It’s a big hit and I will definitely make this more often.
Thanks for sharing, Dave, we’re so glad it was a hit! :)
I made this for dinner last week – so delicious and easy to make! Being in Australia, I had to substitute chorizo for the andouille sausage (not available here), but the soup was still amazing! Thank you! :)
Thanks for sharing, Jamie, we’re so glad you enjoyed it, especially with the chorizo! :)
This is the second time I have made this. Love the heat with the one jalapeno and 1 T of Tony Chachere’s CREOLE seasoning.
So so GOOD! Mahalo for the recipe!
Thanks, Mindy, we’re so happy you enjoy it!
Wanted to give you a shout-out for a great recipe — I used it as inspiration to win an annual soup contest at my legion post. I made my chicken broth from scratch (and used the thyme in that) and for the tomato product, I used a combo of some tomato puree I had canned back in September, a can of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato paste — the paste gave it nice body, so I omitted the flour. What sent it over the top was using a cherry wood smoked kielbasa I had access to from a local Polish market. My slow cooker was empty within an hour. Definitely keeping this in my repitoire. Thanks again!!!
Thank you for sharing with us, Kris — we’re so glad you were inspired, and we think that cherry wood-smoked kielbasa sounds amazing! :D
I made this last fall and it was awesome!! The only problem was that I couldn’t find andouille sausage and the one I bought instead didn’t work very well. What other type of sausage would you recommend to replace the andouille? Thanks!
Thanks for sharing with us, Tina! We’re sorry you weren’t able to find andouille anywhere. We’re curious to know what you used instead? If you still can’t track down andouille for next time, we would recommend a good smoky kielbasa. We hope this helps!
A great soup Monday dinner for my husband and son. Thanks for an inspiring recipe!
This was outstanding. Next time I’ll add 1.5lbs. of shrimp as this is our favorite meat in the soup! The Cajun spice recipe was also great.. the perfect amount of heat! Love your site and have made many recipes of yours.. keep it up!!
We’re so glad to hear you enjoyed it, Lisa — we appreciate your taking the time to comment! :)
This was delicious!!! We made it with 2 lb andouille and 2 lb shrimp with a heavy hand of Paul prudhommes seafood magic. We will definitely be making this again on a cold winter day. Will probably add more rice next time. Thanks!!
Awesome, so glad you enjoyed it!
I made this last night with my homemade cornbread. It was delicious, thank you for sharing this recipe
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Sara! :)
i made this in the instant pot and it was so good!! thanks for the recipe :D
Thanks for sharing, Annie — we’re so glad to hear that! :)