My family knows that I constantly try to sneak in little tidbits of nutrition whenever I can. From adding chia seeds in yogurt to putting flaxseed in their muffins, this is another recipe I keep in my back pocket to sneak in extra fiber and use up that leftover spaghetti sauce. This Instant Pot Brown Rice Jambalaya coats the brown rice in a delicious, slightly spicy sauce that will leave the family saying, what brown rice?
The brown rice in this recipe is the reason that the cook time is so long! Normal brown rice takes about 15 minutes in the Instant Pot and it’s perfectly acceptable in this recipe. However, we like our brown rice to have an even softer texture, almost similar to white rice. After weeks of experimentation, we found 45 minutes was the perfect cooking time for a congee like texture. If you replace the brown rice with the white rice and cut the water/broth amount to 2 cups, the cook time will only be FIVE MINUTES! Of course, you will miss out on the extra fiber with white rice but sometimes hungry tummies are a calling.
Just a note, this Instant Pot Brown Rice Jambalaya may not be authentic Jambalaya to those foodies out there. Our kids are at the stage where they can only take slightly spicy so we use only a little bit of black pepper to spice things up. Feel free to change up to whatever heat level you can take!
Instant Pot Brown Rice Jambalaya
Equipment
- Instant Pot / pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb shrimp peeled, deveined
- 1/2 lb sausages sliced
- 1/2 lb cooked chicken shredded or cubed
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 1 C onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 C water
- 3 C chicken stock/broth or water
- 1½ C brown rice
- 1 C spaghetti sauce
- 1/2 tsp black pepper cajun seasoning or cayenne pepper
- 1 bell pepper diced
Instructions
- Season the shrimp with salt and pepper.
- (This step can be done on the stovetop when the Instant Pot is cooking or you can save a clean pot by doing this step in the Instant Pot). Set the Instant Pot to "Saute" mode. Brown the sausage (a minute per side) and remove to a plate. Add 1 tbsp of oil and brown the shrimp (turns pink on both sides) and set aside with the sausage. Turn off the Saute function.
- Saute the onion and garlic for 1 minute (the pot will still be hot). Pour in 1C of water and deglaze the pot with a wooden spoon. Add in the rice and broth. Layer on top (do not stir in) the spaghetti sauce. Add in desired amount of black pepper (or cajun seasoning or cayenne pepper, depending on the amount of heat you like). Cook on high pressure cook for 45 minutes and natural release for 10 minutes.
- After opening the lid, stir in the sausage, shrimp, and chicken, diced bell peppers. Taste and adjust salt/seasoning as desired.
- Serve & enjoy!
Adapted from Confessions of a Fit Foodie Instant Pot Jambalaya
