Name: Easy Baked Jambalaya
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: 10 Servings
Cuisine: Cajun
Ingredients: 1 10-oz can rotel; 1 15-oz can tomato sauce; 1 10-oz can French Onion soup; 1 10-0z can beef consommé; 1 bell pepper, diced; 1 medium onion, diced; 1 tablespoon minced garlic; 1 tablespoon Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning; 1 lb smoked sausage or andouille; 2 cups extra long-grain rice; 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted; 4-5 chicken thighs (see notes)

An incredibly simple but delicious baked jambalaya with chicken and sausage based on Mal's Jambalaya recipe from the HGTV show Home Town.

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This "dump and bake" jambalaya recipe has blown my mind. It is delicious and, if I'm being honest, I wasn't expecting it to be so good because it is ridiculously easy!

The recipe comes from Mallorie Raspberry from the HGTV show Home Town. Everyone on the show makes such a fuss about it, that I HAD to try it!

Some of the ingredients surprised me and, again, if I'm being honest, didn't think would make something worth all the fuss but, y'all, this is recipe is really, really good and I am 100% adding it to my regular rotation!

Easy Baked Jambalaya! An incredibly simple but delicious baked jambalaya with chicken and sausage based on Mal's Jambalaya recipe from the HGTV show Home Town.

I adore Home Town and have watched all seasons from start to finish several times now. It's the thing I watch before going to bed. It inspires me and it reminds me of my own home town so it's the perfect way to end my day.

I've watched it so much I have come to adore all of the supporting cast members. Erin and Ben Napier are the stars (and are precious and talented and kind and genuine and I just love them) but the people they surround themselves with remind me SO MUCH of my own home town that I look forward to seeing them too.

I mean, it's kinda weird that I know the tile guy's name is Mr. David and the flooring guru is Mr. Mike, right? Then there's the contractor, Tony and cabinet maker, Dustin and the female plumbers (which I especially dig because once upon a time I was a licensed journeyman plumber and service manager for a huge plumbing company!).

Then there are the Napier's friends who often appear on the show and the reason I'm bringing you this recipe! Through the seasons, there are several episodes that mention Erin's best friend, Mallorie's jambalaya recipe.

Mal's jambalaya is a baked version that's unlike most jambalaya recipes I've seen. But two things made me want to make it: 1 - it's EASY and 2 - everyone on the show raves about it!

The Home Town women often make this jambalaya when covered dishes and frozen casseroles are called for. Whether they're stocking expectant mothers' freezers or rallying the meal train for funerals, this jambalaya is always on the menu!

You can find the original recipe in the Laurel Mercantile Co's Family Recipes & Stories (Vol 1) cookbook which is an "informal field guide of the family recipes that come out of our ovens the most, from Mammaw Ouida’s Buttermilk Biscuits to Mallorie’s Famous Jambalaya, Erin’s Spaghetti and Meatballs and Big Ben's Chili."

I'm not going to post the recipe verbatim because, as a recipe publisher, I know how much it stinks when online content creators take something you've invested your time, heart and money in and republish it on their sites.

But I will share how I made this (which is almost exactly the same) and tell you what changes I made, suggestions I have and why!

INGREDIENTS & NOTES

Again, some of the ingredients may surprise you but y'all, trust me, you have to try it because it is as delicious as it is easy!

Rotel & Tomato Sauce - I thought this was going to be way too tomatoey with a full 15-oz can of tomato sauce but I loved it! I imagine you could make this with a smaller can if you'd like (maybe add 1/2 cup water if using the 8-oz can of tomato sauce).
French Onion Soup & Beef Consommé - These are the ingredients that really made me scratch my head but both offer a depth of flavor, and I think may be the reason the jambalaya tastes so good even though we're not browning any of the meat or sautéing the vegetables.
Diced Green Bell Pepper & Onions - The original recipe just reads to use "a handful of each" but I used one small bell pepper and one medium yellow onion.
Seasoning - Mal's recipe uses 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon Tony Chachere's. I omitted the salt and used 1 tablespoon Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning.
Sausage - I used one pound Hillshire Farm's smoked sausage. The recipe just reads to use 14-16 oz sausage so I imagine you can use andouille, smoked sausage or kielbasa. I struggled with adding the sausage without browning it first but I was determined to cook this the original way and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome!
Chicken - The recipe says to use the meat from one rotisserie chicken but I simply added 5 chicken thighs on top of the mixture and let them cook with everything else. When the rice was done, I removed the chicken, cut it up, then stirred it in to the jambalaya. I think you can use whatever you want... leftover diced chicken, rotisserie chicken, a few chopped boiled breasts or do like I did and just cook the chicken on top of the rice.
Butter - YES! If the recipe didn't already have it, I would have added it! We're going to melt a stick of butter and stir it in to everything before it gets baked.
Rice - use uncooked extra long-grain white rice. I have no idea how to substitute minute rice, brown rice, basmati or jasmine because they all require different amounts of liquid and have different cooking times.

Dear Home Town crew,

If you stumble upon this, please tell little Miss Lucy that I think she is precious! She has a confidence and curiosity I prayed for my own girls to have (which they do!) so she reminds me of my now grown-up girls when they were little.

Oh, and tell Ben I have a new name for the "cocktail rail". I couldn't remember what it was called when you add the board on top of porch railing and mistakenly called it a "beer pier" and now I can't NOT call it that. Every time I walk onto somebody's porch, I think to myself, "Well, I see you've got yourself a nice beer pier there!" then cringe at myself.

Recipe for Easy Baked Jambalaya