Chicken and sausage Gumbo - a popular New Orleans recipe you can now make yourself! This Gumbo is wonderfully flavored, a little spicy and above all very tasty. Made with a variety of sausages and delicious chicken and served with Louisiana white rice.
What is Gumbo?
Gumbo is a stew made of meat, fish, or it's vegetarian. Gumbo literally means a mix of different cultures and you can see that in the recipe. Influences from France, Africa, Spain, and India are combined in one dish. And while the recipe was first described in the early 18th century, it has only been wildly popular across America since the 1980s.
Gumbo is traditionally made with meat or fish, okra, roux, and cajun spices.
How do you make gumbo from scratch?
This homemade gumbo is a traditional New Orleans recipe. But you can make it quickly and easily in your own kitchen. And although it is a fairly simple recipe, it does take you some time. But I'm sure, after tasting it, you'll find it completely worth it.
You make a Gumbo by preparing a flavorful roux sauce with delicious vegetables. You add spiced chicken and sausage to this sauce. (fry it briefly for even more flavor). Add a delicious stock and seasonings and simmer for 45 minutes. Add some extra vegetables and Andouille sausage and let it simmer for another 45 minutes. And after all that braising, the chicken and sausage gumbo is ready to eat.
I used to participate in the Daring Cooks challenge, which dared you to try recipes from all over the world. This challenge was given by Denise from the blog ther's a newf in my soup. She loves gumbo. Now the challenges, unfortunately has ended.
What is the difference between Gumbo and Jambalaya?
A Jambalaya is a stew with meat or fish and rice and comparable to a Gumbo. The big difference is that with a Jambalaya the rice is cooked in the pan, while with the Gumbo the rice is made (and served) separately.
You can find an example of a jambalaya here.
New Orleans Gumbo
- Chicken, Kielbasa, and Andouille Sausage - An original homemade gumbo contains a whole chicken, kielbasa, and Andouille sausage. The whole chicken is often replaced by pieces of chicken and I opted for drumsticks. Kielbasa is a Polish smoked sausage. Andouille sausage is hardly available in the Netherlands and you can also replace it with Chorizo.
- Creole Spices - A deliciously rich spice mixture with celery, paprika, garlic, onion, cayenne, and allspice. In the traditional New Orleans Gumbo, file powder is also added. But file powder is hard to come by around here. However, you can order it through . If you really cannot get it, you can also let it out.
- Okra - a fresh green fruit vegetable and a traditional ingredient in the Gumbo. It does not itself have a distinct taste but it absorbs the flavors of the dish. You can buy okra at an Asian food store or at the greengrocer's. They are green (sometimes black or red) and should be firm to the touch. Fresh okra should not have brown spots. Okra is also available canned. If you can't get any okra, you can also replace it with one zucchini. Cut it into ½ inch (one cm) slices.
- Tomato, pepper, onion, Worcestershire sauce, celery, bay leaf, and thyme - these spices add lots of flavor to the Gumbo. Add them and let them simmer.
- Sunflower oil and flour - You can make a roux with sunflower oil and flour. This will bind the Gumbo sauce.
- Chicken broth - The chicken broth adds a delicious rich flavor to the gumbo. Add it cold to the roux. That way it mixes better and you don't get lumps.
Louisiana white rice
- Basmati rice - A deliciously fragrant rice with a fine grain.
- Onion, bay leaf and sea salt - Seasonings of the rice.
- Chicken broth - The rice takes on the flavor of the chicken broth. This gives you a bowl of delicious flavored rice, great to serve with homemade gumbo!
Step 1 - Season the chicken
- Place the celery salt, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, and allspice in a bowl.
- Also, add the freshly ground pepper and sea salt.
- Mix everything well.
- Cover the chicken with the Creole spice mixture and put it in the refrigerator until use.
Step 2 - Make a roux and add the onions to the pan
- Put the oil in a large frying pan and heat it until it is very hot.
- Add the flour to the oil at once.
- Reduce the heat to low and stir the roux regularly, for about fifteen minutes, until the roux is brown.
- Then add the onions and stir them through the roux. Let this bake over low heat for ten minutes, while stirring regularly.
Step 3 - Add the chicken and kielbasa
- Add the chicken to the roux and fry it for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken every now and then.
- The chicken is now light brown.
- Cut the kielbasa into slices.
- Add the slices to the pan with Gumbo. Fry the kielbasa for one minute.
Step 4 - Add the vegetables and seasonings
- Cut the celery into cubes and put them in the pan.
- Slice the peppers in half and remove the seeds. Cut into small cubes and add to the homemade Gumbo.
- Slice the tomatoes into small cubes and add them too.
- Spoon the pureed garlic into the pan and stir well. Stir fry this for three minutes.
Step 5 - Pour the stock into the Gumbo
- Pour the stock into the Gumbo and mix well. Make sure the stock is cold because then the roux mixes better and you don't get lumps.
- Place the thyme leaves and bay leaf on the pan and bring the gumbo to a boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir the Gumbo every five minutes. The homemade gumbo sauce will thicken during this time.
Step 6 - Add okra or zucchini, Worcestershire sauce, and sausage
- Add the okra or zucchini.
- Pour in the Worcestershire sauce.
- Cut the andouille sausage (or chorizo) into small cubes.
- Spoon the sausage through the Gumbo and mix well. Let everything simmer for 45 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and taste. Add salt, pepper, and Tabasco to taste.
Step - make Louisiana rice
- Pour oil into the pan and fry the onion for three minutes on medium heat.
- Spoon the rice into the pan and fry it for two minutes.
- Pour in the stock and bring to the boil.
- Stir the salt into the rice and place the bay leaf on top. Lower the heat and put a lid on the pan. Let the rice simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir the rice briefly.
Should a Gumbo be thick or runnier like soup?
A gumbo should have a thick sauce. You achieve this by making a roux and then thickening it with file powder and Okra.
Other Delicious Recipes
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Chicken and sausage gumbo
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Equipment
Ingredients
Creole spices
- 2 tablespoons celery salt
1 tablespoon paprika ground
1 tablespoon sea salt coarse
1 tablespoon ground black pepper freshly ground
1 tablespoon garlic ground
1 tablespoon onion powder- 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper ground ground
- ½ teaspoon all spice ground
Gumbo
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1 cup flour
2 onions - 3 pounds chicken
- 2 tablespoons basic creole spices see recipe below
- 2 pounds spice smoked sausage
2 stalks celery
2 red chili peppers
1 tomato- 2 cloves garlic
2 sprigs dried thyme fresh leafs only
12 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves- ½ pound andouille sausage
- ½ pound okra
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- salt pepper and tabasco to taste
- 1 tablespoon file powder
Louisiana white rice
1 tablespoon olive oil- 1 small onion
- 1½ cup white rice
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
⅛ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Basic Creole Spices
- Mix all the ingredients for the Creole spices together.
Preparations
- Cut the chicken into 10 pieces.
- Season the chicken pieces with about 2 tablespoons of Creole Spices. Put in the refrigerator until use.
- Dice the onions and celery and mince the garlic.
- Deseed the pepper and tomatoes. Cut in small cubes.
- Chop the andouille sausage
- Cut the kielbasa in ½ inch thick (1 cm) slices.
Gumbo
- In a large pan, heat the oil over high heat.
- Whisk the flour into the hot oil - it will start to sizzle. Reduce the heat to moderate, and continue whisking until the roux becomes deep brown in color, about 15 minutes.
- Add the onions. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir the onions into the roux. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Continue stirring until the roux becomes a glossy dark brown, for 10 minutes.
- Add the chicken to the pot, raise the heat to moderate, and cook, turning the pieces until slightly browned, about ten minutes.
- Add the sliced kielbasa and stir for about a minute.
- Add the celery, peppers, tomato, and garlic and continue stirring for about three minutes.
- Put in the thyme, chicken stock, and bay leaves. Bring the gumbo to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally, skimming off the fat from the surface of the gumbo every so often with a slotted spoon.
- Take the chopped Andouille sausage (or Chorizo), okra (or zucchini), and Worcestershire and put in the pan. Season with salt, pepper, and tabasco, all to taste.
- Simmer for another 45 minutes, continuing to skim the fat from the surface of the gumbo.
- Remove the bay leaves and serve.
Louisiana white rice
- Put the oil in a saucepan and glaze the onions over moderate heat until the are translucent (about 5 minutes).
- Pour the rice into the pan and stir for about 2 minutes.
- Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.
- Add the bay leaf and salt. Cover the pan with a lid, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 18 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat, fluff the rice with a fork and serve.
