Name: Jackfruit Jambalaya
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 green bell pepper, finely chopped (1 cup); ½ cup finely chopped onion; ½ cup finely chopped celery; 3 small cloves garlic, minced; 1 bay leaf; 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth or water, plus more as needed; 1 15-oz. can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained; 1 15-oz. can unripe jackfruit (in water brine), drained, rinsed, and cut into 1-inch pieces; 1 15-oz. can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained; 1 cup cooked brown rice; 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning; 1½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice; Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste; 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

Prep-time: 30 minutes / Ready In: 30 minutes
Makes 8 cups
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This vegan version of the classic Louisiana Creole stew features young jackfruit in brine, which you can find in Asian groceries and well-stocked supermarkets. The brine tends to be very high in sodium, so thoroughly rinse and drain the jackfruit before you use it in any recipe. Jackfruit has a chewy, meaty texture and soaks up the luscious flavors of the sauce as it cooks.

Note that this recipe calls for cooked brown rice, so be sure to prep that in advance. You can save a little time by purchasing pre-cooked brown rice: Look for varieties that only have a few ingredients and no added oil. (You’ll sometimes find them in the frozen foods section.)

By Darshana Thacker Wendel, Jun 29, 2021

Ingredients

1 green bell pepper, finely chopped (1 cup)
½ cup finely chopped onion
½ cup finely chopped celery
3 small cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth or water, plus more as needed
1 15-oz. can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
1 15-oz. can unripe jackfruit (in water brine), drained, rinsed, and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 15-oz. can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
1½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

In a Dutch oven cook bell pepper, onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf, and ½ cup water over medium 10 minutes or until onion is translucent. Add water, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time, as needed to prevent sticking.
Add vegetable broth, tomatoes, jackfruit, beans, rice, and Creole seasoning. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, 20 to 30 minutes or until jambalaya thickens, stirring occasionally. Add more broth or water as needed to prevent sticking.
Remove and discard bay leaf. Add lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with parsley.

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32 Comments

Comments (32)

(4.78 from 23 votes)

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Michelle2 days ago

I made this and it was very good!

Beckster3 months ago

Coming from New Orleans this jambalaya recipe was a bit of a disappointment. My husband said it was a big NO.

John Lavery4 months ago

We made this and it was excellent, next time I think I will sub in tofu in place of jackfruit

CATHY4 months ago

This was such an easy recipe to follow and so good. I’ve made it three times. It’s my granddaughter’s favorite
Thank you

JackieG4 months ago

I was really excited when I saw the 5-star reviews. Gotta say, my husband and I were very disappointed in our meal. The flavor was just OK (nothing special), but it was the texture that gives the low score. It could be the brand of jackfruit was poor quality and the fact that the directions included 20-30 minutes of simmering AFTER adding the canned beans. Many of the beans lost their skins and turned into mealy blobs after 20 minutes. The jackfruit was also mealy and tasted tinned. I’d recommend adding beans at the last 5 minutes and just heating them through. Like many others, I found that it improved with more spice and more tomato (added some paste), but still not tasty enough to disguise the mealy/tinny taste of the beans and jackfruit.

CATHY4 months ago

I didn’t use jackfruit,
I forgot to mention that in my review

Alex4 months ago

Hey WFPB friends!
This jackfruit situation look intriguing to this little Aussie! But Creole seasoning? What on earth is this?! Not something no we have here guessing it’s a mix of a bunch of herbs & spices, is this something you can ‘just buy’ straight up in the US??
Anyway, if you have kickass creole mix please let me know because Jambalaya & “southern”/“Louisiana soul food” cuisine is not something that’s on the menu here down under but damn ya boy keen to try this soulful vibe!!!
Thank you

Yovanca4 months ago

Alex, I agree.. another Aussie here also and ALOT of the ingredients for the recipes I have made via FOK I have had to substitute with other ingredients. But like you, Jackfruit has me intrigued also. I have traveled to New Orleans and LOVED the food over there, before becoming WFPB .. so pretty keen to try this Jambalaya. Another commented further down this recipe isn’t what she would call Jambalaya, but coming from OZ, we probably wouldn’t know the difference… Hope you’re all going well wherever you are in the world ..

Kathryn4 months ago

There’s a breakdown of what’s in creole seasoning further down this thread

Carol R Salyers5 months ago

Perfection! My changes were minor – added more tomatoes, canned mushrooms and Lion’s Mane mushroom powder. Fantastic taste! I mixed up my own batch of Cajun seasoning, so I have plenty to make this again….sooon!

Jen M.6 months ago

Outstanding! Wouldn’t change a thing

Mianah7 months ago

This was absolutely delicious!!!

Krista9 months ago

I made this recipe for dinner tonight and it is fantastic! It is the best way to use canned jackfruit. We will definitely be adding this recipe to our regular favorites!

Genie12 months ago

Delicious!! I changed nothing in the recipe!

Bee J12 months ago

What can I use instead of jack-fruit in this recipe?

Thank you!

Kathy1 year ago

Love it!

Linda Boris1 year ago

This is an amazing recipe! I had my doubts at first since the only seasoning in it was 1 TBSP of creole seasoning for the whole batch, but it needed nothing else. Packed with flavor, and very authentic tasting. I added some Daring Cajun “chicken” to it and served it over additional brown rice (there is one cup of cooked brown rice in the recipe itself which helps thicken it) Best of all, NO OIL. For those of us on a low fat diet, this is a definite plus, and it didn’t need it at all.

Megan1 year ago

My meat-eating husband likes it! And so do I. Next time I will just leave out the jackfruit lol.

Mary Gathercole1 year ago

Easy and delicious! A family favorite.

Stephanie2 years ago

I am a Louisiana girl and I really know jambalaya! Although this is not close to real jambalaya, (even vegan jambalaya), it is absolutely delicious! In trying to get it more authentic ‘jambalaya’ like, I doubled the tomatoes (2 cans chopped fire roasted with chilis), added no extra water or broth (jambalaya is no where near a stew, it’s mostly kind of a drier rice dish), and used double the amount of rice.
Hands down an absolutely delicious dish, just don’t know that I would call it jambalaya.
Thanks for so many good recipes. FOK is my favorite app. I’m actually able to finally be WFPBNO!!!! NOT an easy feat in South Louisiana!

Ashley1 year ago

I’m from Texas, but I agree with you! It was delicious and I made similar changes as well to get it closer to the seasoning! I also added a dash of black garlic umami! Delicious!

Laurin2 years ago

Really enjoyable recipe! I doubled the spice and added an additional can of crushed tomato as well. The entire family really enjoyed! This is definitely a repeater 🙂

Nicholas Molsen2 years ago

The best Jambalaya I’ve ever had! One of my favorite recipes of all time. Reminiscent of a seafood gumbo I used to enjoy from a local restaurant. Highly recommended!

Eszter2 years ago

Thanks sooo much! I was about to ask for “Creole seasoning” ingredients which is not an every day in Hungary :-))))))) Now nothing saves my friends from this recipe! 🙂

Jillian2 years ago

I like this Recipe for creole seasoning:
INGREDIENTS
4 teaspoons garlic powder
4 teaspoons onion powder
2 tablespoons sweet paprika powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (or less if you don’t want it as hot)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Source: Daringgourmet.com

Wendy2 years ago

I’m from Australia and ‘Creole’ is not a well known cusine here. Is there a recipe for Creol seasoning?

Karen2 years ago

Sooo delicious!! One of the best dishes I have made, vegan or no!

Susan Holl2 years ago

Super easy, fast and tasty. I added seaweed snack crumbled up with the parsley to give a slightly fishy undertone to mimic the non veg jambala.

Amber2 years ago

I just made this for lunch. It was absolutely delicious! My 12 year old son really enjoyed it as well. We will be making this a regular occurring meal.

Lydia2 years ago

One of my favorites! Easy and delicious – perfect combo.

Rebecca Wardlow2 years ago

I love this recipe! It has a slight spiciness to it yet alot of flavor. I also love that it does not take long to make.

ian h.2 years ago

It doesn’t get much easier than this recipe—yum!

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about the author

Darshana Thacker Wendel

Darshana Thacker Wendel is a whole-food, plant-based chef and former culinary projects manager for Forks Over Knives. A graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute, she is the author of Forks Over Knives: Flavor! She created the recipes for Forks Over Knives Family and was a lead recipe contributor to the New York Times bestseller The Forks Over Knives Plan. Her recipes have been published in The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook, Forks Over Knives—The Cookbook, Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health, and LA Yoga magazine online. Visit DarshanasKitchen.com and follow her on Instagram for more.

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