I’ve used so many different recipes for Jambalaya and picked the best from each to come up with my own tasty, vegan version. If you can find vegan chorizo, or make your own spicy sausage, you can reduce the cayenne pepper. Increasing it to two tsp with a plain sausage will replace the kick that chorizo provides. Chorizo adds a salty heat to the dish you need to make sure is there. Too little seasoning will make this bland and uninteresting. I add the sausage at the end of cooking as I’ve found that the seitan and soy based sausages I have tried will get too soft and lose texture if cooked in liquid for too long. You may find whatever sausages you use stand up to it a bit better- let me know which you have tried in the comments and we can share our experiences!

With regards to the seasoning, I find that in the UK, Knorr Vegetable Stockpots add plenty of flavour and don’t need to add much more salt and pepper. Always taste along the way and adjust as needed. The best Jambalaya dishes all have celery, green pepper and cayenne pepper so whilst this is an easy dish to make substitutions in, try to keep these elements. I’ve made this dish both on the stove and in the instant pot (electric pressure cooker). Both methods are below. Personally, the ease of being able to leave the instant pot to it has made this my preferred method.

Serves 4

Suitable for batch cooking and freezing

Time to make:

• Prep: 10 minute
• Cook: around 25 minutes
• Total: Around 35 minutes

Ingredients:

4-6 vegan sausages, cooked and sliced (use a ready made one or make your own seitan sausage)

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 stick celery, sliced

1 green pepper

4 spring onions, sliced

1 bay leaf

400g tin chopped tomatoes

400 ml veg stock

400g long grain rice

1-2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp hot sauce or crushed chilli

Salt and Pepper to taste

Traditional Method (see below for instant pot method)

1. Prepare all the ingredients.
2. Heat a large frying pan and soften the onion. This may around 5 minutes. I prefer to use a non-stick pan and sautee the vegetables in water to keep this recipe oil free. You can still use oil in your frying pan if you prefer.
3. Add the garlic, green pepper and most of the spring onion (reserve a small handful to garnish the dish with when serving). Continue to sautee the vegetable for another couple of minute.
4. Add the spices and cook for a further minute.
5. Add the rice and stir in to coat it with the spices.
6. Add the tomatoes and stock and bring to the boil.
7. Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook until the rice is tender
8. Taste and add more seasoning if needed
9. Serve garnished with the fresh spring onion.

I’ve found that this recipe is a great ‘make ahead’ and doubling the quantities and freezing is a great idea (if you have a huge pan or instant pot)

Instant pot method

1. Prepare all the ingredients
2. Put the instant pot onto sauté mode and follow instructions 2-6 as above
3. Cancel sauté mode and replace the lid, ensure the valve is set to ‘sealing’ and then set the instant pot to cook rice for 8 minutes.
4. Do something useful with the extra time in your life or make a brew.
5. When the cooking is completed, use quick release, put pot back onto sauté mode, stir in the sausage and stir until the sausage is heated through. Serve with a garnish of freshly chopped spring onion