I love Quinoa. But it does take some getting used to. It has a stronger taste than rice that some people simply are not used to. But it has so many benefits that I highly recommend giving it a go in your recipes.
- It’s protein-rich
- Contains close to 2x the fiber as many other grains
- Contains Iron, Lysine, Magnesium, Riboflavin (B2) and Manganese
To help you family get used to it you might want to try subbing in 1/2 white rice in most any recipe. Quinoa cooks in just about the same time as with rice does, so you can cook them together. Personally, I find that strong flavors like this Jambalaya cover up any different taste the quinoa has, but the texture is still unlike rice.
I also love spicy Jambalaya, so I decided to pair up the two in an easy slow cooker recipe. This way you can prep it in the morning and cook it on low all day. Then just about 45 minutes to an hour before serving you can add the quinoa (or white rice*) to the mixture and let it finish up. The last step, about 15 minutes prior to serving is to add the shrimp in.
I choose to use cooked, peeled and deveined shrimp for this recipe. Why? It was just easier. Peeling shrimp is no fun and takes way too long. I thought this kind of defeated the purpose of using the slow cooker to cut down on the recipe’s work. To be honest, I felt like it might be a risk. The shrimp could have ended up rubbery, but it did not. I could not tell that it wasn’t fresh shrimp. You can use raw shrimp in the recipe, I would simply recommend stirring them in about 30 minutes before you are ready to serve instead of the 15 minutes I did.
I hope you enjoy this recipe, and let me know if you try quinoa or rice.
*As a note, I did not try rice in this recipe. Even though on the stove top white rice has a similar cooking time to quinoa I am not completely sure of the necessary cooking time in the slow cooker. If you use rice, please leave a note in the comments on how long it took for the rice to cook through.
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Yields 8-10
Chicken, Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya with Quinoa
20 minPrep Time
8 hrCook Time
8 hr, 20 Total Time
Ingredients
- 1 lb diced, raw chicken breast
- 14-16 sliced ounces Andouille sausage, or other cooked smoked sausage
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 medium to large green bell pepper, chopped (I think red would taste good, too)
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 28 oz canned pureed tomatoes
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 11/2 paprika
- 11/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 12 ounces frozen, peeled, deveined cooked shrimp, remove tails if you wish (I used medium)
- 2 cups rinsed quinoa (or white rice)
- optional: chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to slow cooker, except shrimp and quinoa.
- Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 3-4.
- During the last 45 minutes to 1 hours of cooking stir in the rinsed quinoa and cook on high.
- minutes prior to serving stir in the frozen shrimp.
- Sprinkle with chopped parsley to make it pretty if you like.
- Serve with a crusty garlic bread! Yum.
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