Best Spices for Jambalaya

Jambalaya starts with Louisiana’s holy trinity: onion, celery and bell pepper. After that the seasoning list is short. Both recipes here use thyme, bay leaf and cayenne, plus garlic and parsley, and a bottled Cajun or Creole blend works too. Whether tomatoes go in depends on which style you’re making: Creole jambalaya has them, Cajun doesn’t.

At a glance

Seasoning	Job in the pot	Where it appears
Onion, celery, bell pepper	Aromatic base (“the trinity”)	Britannica; both recipes¹²³
Garlic	Pungent depth	Both recipes²³
Thyme	Herbal, slightly sharp note	Both recipes²³
Bay leaf	Background aroma in the simmer	Both recipes²³
Cayenne	Heat	Both recipes²³
Tomatoes	Body and acidity (Creole style only)	Britannica; both recipes¹²³
Parsley, green onion	Fresh finish	Both recipes²³
Cajun or Creole seasoning	All-in-one shortcut	Cook’s Country⁴

Creole and Cajun jambalaya

Britannica and Louisiana’s tourism office draw the same line. Creole jambalaya, the usual style in New Orleans, has tomatoes. The Cajun version, common in the southern bayou country, doesn’t.¹⁵ Both recipes cited below include tomatoes, so both are Creole-style.

The core seasonings and what each does

Onion, celery and bell pepper

Onions, celery and bell peppers are the staple vegetables of jambalaya, and the same three make up the holy trinity of Cajun cooking. The Louisiana Cookin’ recipe uses 1½ cups of each. Cook’s Illustrated uses one medium onion, one rib of celery and one red bell pepper. Garlic goes in with them: three cloves in one recipe, five in the other.²³

Thyme

Both recipes use fresh thyme: 2 tablespoons chopped in the Louisiana Cookin’ version, ½ teaspoon minced in Cook’s Illustrated’s.²³ See cooking with thyme.

Bay leaf

Each recipe uses two bay leaves.²³ Fish them out before serving. J. Kenji López-Alt compares eating a dried bay leaf to eating a fish bone,⁶ and doctors have reported whole bay leaves lodged in the esophagus.⁷ See bay leaves and too much bay leaf.

Cayenne

The Louisiana Cookin’ recipe uses ½ teaspoon of cayenne, Cook’s Illustrated ¼ teaspoon.²³ Louisiana’s tourism office puts it plainly: cayenne is part of the pantry, but it’s seasoning, not the main event.⁵

Parsley and green onion

Both recipes finish with 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley, and the Louisiana Cookin’ version adds chopped green onion as a garnish.²³

Using a Cajun or Creole blend

Cook’s Country tests Cajun and Creole seasoning as one category. It finds that commercial blends generally combine paprika, garlic, salt and pepper with a bit of heat, and it suggests its own blend for chicken jambalaya.⁴ USDA’s purchasing specification sets different minimum ingredient lists for the two:⁸

Blend	USDA minimum ingredients⁸
Cajun seasoning	Salt and spices (red pepper, paprika, garlic and onion)
Creole seasoning	Salt, paprika, granulated garlic, cayenne pepper, ground black pepper, mustard, fresh lemon peel

Most blends start with salt, so taste before you add more. For the differences, see Cajun vs. Creole seasoning.

Worcestershire sauce

Neither recipe here uses Worcestershire sauce, though some cooks add a dash for depth. See Worcestershire powder.

Two recipes side by side

Recipe	Aromatics	Herbs and spices	Proteins	Liquid
Louisiana Cookin’, via Explore Louisiana²	1½ cups each onion, celery, green bell pepper; 3 garlic cloves	2 fresh bay leaves, 2 tbsp fresh thyme, ½ tsp cayenne, 2 tbsp parsley, green onion	Chicken, andouille, shrimp	28-oz can diced tomatoes
Cook’s Illustrated, via America’s Test Kitchen³	1 onion, 1 rib celery, 1 red bell pepper, 5 garlic cloves	2 bay leaves, ½ tsp fresh thyme, ¼ tsp cayenne, 2 tbsp parsley	Chicken thighs, 8 oz andouille, shrimp	14½-oz can diced tomatoes, clam juice, chicken broth

These are the two named recipes as published, not a house standard.

Jambalaya, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³
Chicken, Andouille and Shrimp Jambalaya, Louisiana Cookin’ Magazine, via Explore Louisiana. explorelouisiana.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³
Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya, Cook’s Illustrated, America’s Test Kitchen, 2007. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³
Louisiana Cajun or Creole Seasoning, Cook’s Country, America’s Test Kitchen, 2019. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩²
Cajun vs. Creole Food: What is the Difference?, Jay D. Ducote, Explore Louisiana. explorelouisiana.com · Publication ↩ ↩²
Bay leaves are an optional ingredient, David Leite with J. Kenji López-Alt, The Splendid Table, 2014. splendidtable.org · Publication ↩
Bay-leaf: an unusual oesophageal foreign body, Ahmed and McCormick, Journal of Laryngology & Otology, 1993. cambridge.org · Peer-reviewed ↩
Commercial Item Description A-A-20001C: Spices and Spice Blends, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, 2023. ams.usda.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩²

Jambalaya Spices: The Trinity, Thyme, Bay, Cayenne and Louisiana Seasoning Blends