This easy vegan jambalaya recipe is ready in 30 minutes in one bowl. It’s a delicious southern-style comforting family dinner with sticky tomato rice cooked with a medley of soft beans, vegan sausages, and Cajun flavors.
I love making vegan version of classic dishes, like my Crispy Orange Tofu, Szechuan Tofu, or Tofu Red Curry. It’s very easy to turn most classic recipes into plant-based alternatives, even the ones that contain meat, eggs, or dairy.
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Vegan Jambalaya Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 cup Onion - diced
- 2 ribs Celery - diced
- 1 Green Bell Pepper - cored, diced
- 1 Red Bell Pepper - cored, diced
- 1-2 Jalapeno Pepper - seeded, finely chopped, add only if you love your dish very spicy!
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Pepper
- 6 cloves Garlic - minced
- 1 cup Long Grain Rice
- 2 tablespoons Tomato Paste
- ¼ teaspoon Sweet Paprika
- 1 teaspoon Oregano
- 1 teaspoon Dried Basil
- 3 teaspoons Cajun Seasoning
- 1 can Diced Tomatoes - (14.5oz)
- 2 cups Vegetable Broth
- 1 can Chickpea - drained, rinsed
- 1 can Kidney Beans - drained, rinsed
Optional
- 6 oz Beyond Sausage - grilled, sliced
- 1 tablespoon Hot Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Parsley - chopped
- 2 Green Onion - thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a large cast-iron casserole, heat olive oil over medium heat.
- Add onions, celery, bell peppers, and jalapeno slices if you like your dish on the spicy side. Season with salt and pepper.
- Cook for 4 minutes, or until just tender.
- Stir in garlic, rice, tomato paste, sweet paprika, oregano, basil, Cajun seasoning, and cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in diced canned tomatoes and vegetable broth.
- Cover and cook for 15 minutes over medium heat until rice is cooked.
- Stir in chickpeas and red kidney beans, cover, and cook again for 5-9 minutes on low-medium heat.
- Meanwhile, warm a skillet over medium heat with 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Fry the beyond sausage for 5-7 minutes on all sides. Remove from heat and slice.
- Stir in the sausage slices into the jambalaya casserole.
- Serve with sliced green onions, a drizzle of hot sauce, and finely chopped parsley.
Nutrition
Ingredients and Substitutions
The ingredients you need to make this simple recipe are:
- Long-Grain Rice – You can use brown rice, white basmati rice, and quinoa. Don’t use short-grain rice or risotto rice as the vegan jambalaya would become too sticky.
- Tomato Paste – Tomato paste needs to be made solely with tomatoes. The only other ingredients can be salt and olive oil, nothing else.
- Canned Diced Tomatoes – Canned tomatoes come in their juice and should only include water. Don’t use a can of seasoned diced tomatoes, as it can alter the taste of the recipe.
- Vegetable Stock – Classic vegetable stock, preferably with organic ingredients and minimal food additives.
- Red Kidney Beans – Red kidney beans are legumes very rich in protein, iron, calcium, magnesium, and Vitamin B6.
- Chickpeas – Chickpeas are another protein-rich ingredient that brings a delicious taste.
- Bell Pepper – I like to use a combination of red and green for a good balance of flavors and colors.
- Celery – Celery is a vegetable rich in vitamins (Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Vitamin C) and minerals (Potassium) and it brings minimal carbs while adding a tangy taste.
- Onion – You can use either white, yellow, or red onions in the dish.
- Olive Oil – I prefer using locally-sourced extra-virgin olive oil.
- Herbs and Spices – Garlic, Paprika, Oregano, Basil, and Cajun Seasoning.
- Vegan Sausage – This is optional, but it adds a boost of flavors, protein, and texture that mimic the authentic jambalaya recipe.
How To Make Vegan Jambalaya (in Pictures)
Serving Suggestions
Serve this vegan jambalaya recipe hot with some finely chopped parsley, slices of jalapeno, or a drizzle of hot sauce. I love to serve my vegan jambalaya with a side of Vegan Cornbread, Air Fryer Sweet Potato Cubes, and Air Fryer Buffalo Cauliflower. Then for desserts, I like to serve French-inspired desserts like my Vegan Madeleines or Vegan Beignets.
Recipe Variations
This vegan jambalaya recipe is a comforting gluten-free dinner full of plant-based proteins.
- Rice option – you can add the rice you like to this recipe. For example, you can increase fiber and decrease net carbs per serving by using long-grain brown rice. It will take a little bit longer to cook – around 20-22 minutes.
- Vegan sausage – there is a variety of vegan sausage available on the market, from tofu Italian sausage often flavored with Italian herbs like rosemary to pea-based sausages. However, tofu sausages tend to crumble into this dish, and I prefer to use Beyond Meat sausages or the Alternative Meat Co. sausages. These two options taste very similar to chorizo and add a similar meaty texture and spicy flavor as you used to eat in an authentic jambalaya. They also hold shape very well even if you rewarm the dish.
- Beans – play with the sort of beans, swap kidney beans for cannellini beans, or chickpeas for peas! All these options are very tasty and flavorsome.
- Spices – this recipe uses Cajun seasoning, but for a creole version, swap for creole seasoning.
More Vegan Meal Recipes
If you’ve enjoyed this vegan meal recipe, you’ll love these:
This worked exactly as written, thanks!
Followed the recipe exactly and LOVED it! The perfect level of spice / heat with great flavor. Thanks for this recipe!!
Which Beyond Meat sausage did you use? There are several. Thanks!
It’s delicious with their Brat Original, but I’m sure it’d work with all of them!
Yay—that’ s the one I bought! Going to make it tomorrow! Thank you!
This turned out great! I doubled it for a party and used field roast Mexican sausages instead of beyond. The perfect level of spicy and super flavorful! This recipe feels very adaptable, next time I’ll try mushrooms and hearts of palm as the “seafood” normally found in jambalaya.
Seriously good, I added Felid Roast sausages and pan fried tofu with some sweet potato home fries -the whole family loved it! Great recipe
The dish came out great. I took out and added a few ingredients but overall I enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing.
Vegan jambalaya looks delicious. Can’t wait to try it out.