Easy Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What are the 2 rules of gumbo? ›

Thou Shalt Always Use a Bowl. If you use a plate, it is not gumbo it is rice and gravy! Thou Shalt Only Use a Wooden Spoon. There is only one kind of spoon that can enter a gumbo pot and that is a wooden one.

While simmering, saute sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat until browned on all sides. Add sausage to gumbo. Taste gumbo and season lightly with salt. Simmer for 2 hours.

For the most flavor, use stock or broth in your gumbo instead of water. Whether you use chicken or vegetable stock, homemade or boxed, the stock will give your gumbo more depth and complexity.

The key to this recipe is the Roux!

The flour and oil are cooked and stirred together for about 30-45 minutes until it becomes dark brown almost like mud, or chocolate and the consistency of dough. The roux is what adds the deep, rich flavor to the gumbo, and it gives it it's thick texture.

Heat on medium-high until you get a slow boil going. Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for an hour, stirring periodically.

Although gumbo is typically made with andouille sausage, a type of smoked sausage made with pork, we opted for hot Italian turkey sausage. Turkey sausage has less fat, calories and sodium.

Filé can provide thickening when okra is not in season, in types of gumbo that use okra or a roux as a thickener for gumbo instead of filé. Sprinkled sparingly over gumbo as a seasoning and a thickening agent, filé powder adds a distinctive, earthy flavor and texture.

It takes at least 10-15 minutes alone to make the roux and another 1-3 hours for the gumbo to simmer before it's ready to be served. The flavors meld together and intensify making it very flavorful. If you don't have a jalapeño you can add in a hot sauce like tabasco, or leave out the spice all together if desired.

Turns out, your preference for tomatoes in gumbo comes down to whether you learned your skills from a Cajun cook or a Creole cook. (Learn about the difference here.) Cajun gumbo does not include tomatoes in the base, but Creole gumbo (typically shellfish or seafood gumbo) does call for tomatoes.

Should gumbo be thick or soupy? ›

Gumbo is much denser than a simple soup; the broth has a thick, almost viscous consistency. And that characteristic is most commonly created by making a roux, cooking flour and oil together until they thicken and darken. Otherwise, gumbo can be thickened with file, which is just powdered dried sassafras leaves.

Butter adds great flavor, but since it has a lower smoke point than other fat sources (like vegetable or canola oil), it's more likely to burn when used in a darker roux. “In a dark roux,” says New Orleans–based chef Justin Devillier, “I'll mix butter with a high-heat oil” to keep the fat from scorching.

Another old aphorism that speaks to good gumbo cookery is this: You can't rush perfection. Gumbo takes time, and that's because it's best cooked low and slow, namely slowly over low heat.

Burnt roux typically has an acrid smell, like burnt popcorn, and it will take on a darker color. As you add your flower make sure you are stirring evenly, as to avoid lumps. You never want to rush this process (a blonde roux should take approximately 15 – 20 minutes to develop).

In my opinion, gumbos fall into three categories, Seafood Gumbo, Gumbo Z'herbs and Meat Gumbos. Gumbo Z'herbs is a gumbo that is mostly made of green leafy vegetables.

The "holy trinity" in Cajun cuisine and Louisiana Creole cuisine is the base for several dishes in the regional cuisines of Louisiana and consists of onions, bell peppers and celery. The preparation of Cajun/Creole dishes such as crawfish étouffée, gumbo, and jambalaya all start from this base.

Gumbo consists primarily of a strongly flavored stock, meat or shellfish (or sometimes both), a thickener, and the Creole "holy trinity" – celery, bell peppers, and onions. Gumbo is often categorized by the type of thickener used, whether okra or filé powder (dried and ground sassafras leaves).

It takes at least 10-15 minutes alone to make the roux and another 1-3 hours for the gumbo to simmer before it's ready to be served. The flavors meld together and intensify making it very flavorful. If you don't have a jalapeño you can add in a hot sauce like tabasco, or leave out the spice all together if desired.