Lately, freezer meals have been my savior. This freezer to crock pot jambalaya recipe is great because 10 minutes of prep is all it takes to have a freezer meal prepped and ready to go in the freezer.
What’s great is that there are different kinds of freezer meals. Freezer meals that you cook and then put in the freezer (like this freezer meal chicken enchilada casserole) or freezer meals where you prep ingredients and put them in the freezer to be cooked later. This recipe for freezer to crock pot jambalaya is the kind of meal where you prep the ingredients, put them in a bag and then when you’re ready to cook the meal you just put the contents of the bag from the freezer into a crock pot/slow cooker and set it and forget it. Hours later, with no real hands on cooking, you have a delicious jambalaya!
Last year we got snowed in with guests over in April! I’m not kidding, it was the beginning of April and there we were, not able to leave the house because the roads weren’t plowed, and our guests lived up north where the weather was even worse.
I opened the freezer and saw I had this freezer to crock pot jambalaya and some sweet potato cornbread muffins, and after a few hours, we all had a super delicious meal.
This is a fantastic dish for meal prepping too. In the above photo you can see it prepped (I prepped it along with the easy healthy lunch recipe – pepperoni pasta salad in a jar, no bake oatmeal cookie energy bites, and a bag of healthy crockpot tumeric chicken and potatoes.)
This jambalaya is such an easy freezer to crock pot meal to prep. All you do is chop up some veggies and sausage and add it along with a bag of Spanish rice and some diced tomatoes to a gallon freezer bag. If you don’t have a Spanish rice on hand, I’ve included instructions for making your own.
To cook this jambalaya I’ve literally taken the bag out of the freezer, carefully removed the bag containing the jambalaya (you’ll have a separate bag of shrimp you’ll store with it which will stay in the freezer) and put the frozen contents into the slow cooker. Literally, the frozen block from the bag went into the slow cooker, that’s it! Then after 8 hours of low and slow cooking, the result is a delicious smelling house and even better tasting meal!
Prep this freezer to crock pot jambalaya today to have on hand anytime you’re needing a great freezer meal! It’s a super hearty soup/meal everyone will love. I’d love to hear from you in the comments – have you ever made a freezer – to – crock pot meal?
Other recipes you might enjoy:
- 5 Ingredient Pesto Salmon Recipe
- Shrimp Meatballs with Garlic Aioli Recipe
- 5 Ingredient Harissa Shrimp and Grits
Freezer to Crock Pot Jambalaya Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 package 5.6 oz Knorr Spanish Rice *see notes to make your own Spanish rice
- 1 bell pepper cored and chopped
- 2 large carrots chopped
- 1/2 large red onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves pressed or finely minced
- 1 lb chicken breasts cut into chunks
- 1 package 12 oz andouille sausage
- 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 2 cans diced tomatoes
- add 2 cups water or chicken broth when cooking
- 1 lb frozen peeled devined raw shrimp (added 10 minutes before serving)
Instructions
- Add all ingredients (except water and frozen shrimp) to a gallon size freezer bag. Seal, removing as much air as possible. Label the bag with "Jambalaya and the date, add 2 cups water or broth and cook on low for 8 hours"
- In a separate bag put shrimp. Seal, removing as much air as possible. Tape or attach the shrimp bag to the jambalaya bag. What I do is just put both bags together in another gallon bag.
- When ready to enjoy, you can either remove the jambalaya/thaw in the refrigerator 24 hours ahead of time, or just take the jambalaya bag directly from the freezer, and carefully cut the bag away and put the contents into a slow cooker / crock pot.
- Add 2 cups of water or chicken stock and cover. Turn on low and cook for 8 hours.
- If you've thawed the jambalaya you could cook it on high for 5 hours (cooking on high is not recommended from frozen).
- 10 minutes before serving add in the shrimp and stir. The shrimp will cook in the warm jambalaya. The shrimp is cooked through when it turns pink and is no longer opaque.
- Serve and enjoy
Notes
- or make your own "Spanish rice" by adding 1 cup dry rice, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, 1/4 teaspoon cumin and 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
- You can also make this meal fresh by just adding the ingredients (minus the shrimp) to a slow cooker and cooking on high for 5 hours or low for 8 hours, adding the shrimp 10 minutes before serving
Nutrition
Miranda says
I’m making some freezer meals and want to try this… 2 questions..
I got the knorrr Spanish rice packet… I saw in the comment above that it got mushy… is this the correct rice for cooking 8 hours on low?
Also do you thaw the shrimp before putting in the crock pot? Or does it go in frozen?
Thanks!
Sweetphi says
I think you’ll love this recipe! I used the same rice when I made it when I made it 8 hrs on low. The shrimp can go in frozen or thawed – shrimp cooks super fast (even from frozen). I usually put it in after it’s been in the fridge overnight (so mostly thawed, but I’ve also put it in literally frozen from the freezer). Hope you love this dish 🙂
Jenna says
The flavor on this was excellent! Though my rice completely broke down in the crockpot and had a thin oatmeal texture. I would make this again but probably make rice in my rice cooker and stir the cooked rice in just before eating, or serve it over rice.
Sweetphi says
Oh that’s so odd the rice broke down so much – could I ask what type of rice you used? Sometimes if I don’t use a long grain rice, I find that parboiled rices break down a lot easier. Also – great idea to make the rice separately thought 🙂 Thanks for commenting