Well, hello, friends! If you love jambalaya and you love pasta, then you are in for a treat today – yummy pastalaya! I have spent the last year searching around for my beloved Zatarain’s Jambalaya Pasta. Recently, I have finally resigned myself that the jambalaya pasta has been discontinued. Therefore, I have made my own version of Zatarain’s pastalaya recipe for us all to enjoy.
If you have caught my other jambalaya rice recipe, you know I’m a pretty big fan of Cajun food! This sausage pastalaya recipe has a kicked up taste of spice and garlic thanks to Cajun seasoning added to the sausage during the beginning cooking stage.
When I lived in south Louisiana for a year, I really fell in love with Cajun and Creole flavors.
Preparing the Sausage or Jambalaya Pasta
For my Cajun pastalaya recipe, I use Hillshire Farm smoked beef sausage. This is only because this is the sausage I buy almost exclusively. However, you would be fine to substitute pork sausage or a blended sausage in this recipe.
In a deep medium skillet, I let the sausage sizzle a bit until browned. Once the sausage has been seared a bit, I pour it into a colander to drain. Next, I sautee a mixture of onions and peppers in the same skillet with a bit of the sausage oil left in the pan.
Once the vegetables have turned a bit translucent, I add the sliced sausage back to the pan along with the Cajun seasoning, the garlic, and the paprika.
At this point, I allow the mixture to cook in the pan on low for a couple of minutes.
Adding Rotini Pasta to the Jambalaya Meat Mixture
Next, I add the rotini along with four cups of tomato broth. I bring the mixture to a boil before turning the heat down to medium-low and cooking for an additional 20 minutes or so.
A lot of pastalaya recipes incorporate a cream sauce. My recipe does not use any creams or sauces because my goal was to match the Zatarain’s box mix recipe as closely as possible.
Cajun Pastalaya Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 package smoked sausage, sliced into half moons
- 1 cup green bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup white onion, diced
- 1 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1.5 tbsp Tony Chachere's spices You may reduce this to 1 tbsp to reduce spice.
- 1 tsp smoked paprika or regular paprika
- 12 oz rotini pasta
- 4 cups tomato broth made from Knorr's Caldo de Tomate
Instructions
- In medium deep skillet, cook sliced sausage 3-4 minutes until browned.
- Remove sausage to drain in colander.
- Add diced peppers and onions to skillet with the excess oil, and saute mixture until slightly translucent.
- Add sausage back to pan along with spices. Cook 1-2 minutes longer.
- Add Rotini and prepared tomato broth. Bring mixture to boil over medium-high heat.
- Reduce heat to medium and cook about 20 minutes until most of the liquid has been absorbed.
- Garnish with parsley and a bit of Parmesan cheese.
Notes
Nutrition
If You Love This Cajun Pastalaya, Try More Pasta Recipes from Planted in Arkansas
Southwest Pasta with Black Beans and Ground Beef
Chicken Soup with Amish Noodles
Black Eye Pea Soup with Tortellini and Sausage
Sausage and Squash Skillet with Orzo
Tallerine (Beef Noodle Casserole)
Sausage Tortellini Soup with Spinach
Salsa Verde Macaroni Beef Skillet
Yum, yum! This pastalaya recipe is pretty darn close to the original boxed version I loved for so long! Hopefully, you will give it a try!
Val
Added 1/4 tsp celery seeds. Perfect now.
The Gifted Gabber
Great suggestion, Val! Glad you enjoyed!