I’m not sure when I first learned to cook gumbo, but I did pick up a few tips and tricks from many people along the way. I think the person who taught me the most, though, was my stepdad, Scott.
When Scott first showed me how he makes gumbo, I expected a long list of non-negotiables. After all, gumbo is a serious dish in Louisiana, more of a tradition than a recipe. Everyone has their own way of making it, and if you ask ten different people how to do it, you’ll get ten different answers. But my stepdad didn’t really have any hard rules until he made a mistake that made us all adopt one that can’t be ignored—you can cheat on everything but the roux. (More about that later.)
Making gumbo from scratch can be a lot of work. The holy trinity (bell pepper, onion and celery) needs chopping. There’s garlic to mince, chicken to shred and seasonings to measure. But as my stepdad showed me, there are a few shortcuts that make life easier without compromising the end result. Those shortcuts save you time so you can make the roux the right way.
This gumbo is one we served at our wedding and it was a huge hit. Every time I’ve made it for a gathering, fundraiser, or school event, it’s gone in 30 minutes. Recently, I won a “Souper Bowl” competition at my husband’s company with this recipe. In other words, it’s good! If you’re looking for a solid gumbo recipe for your Mardi Gras celebration (or any time of year), this is the one!
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What Is Gumbo?
Gumbo is a rich, hearty stew that’s a staple of Creole and Cajun cuisine. It’s a flavorful, slow-cooked dish typically made with a combination of meat or seafood, vegetables and a deeply seasoned broth thickened with either roux, okra or filé powder (ground sassafras leaves). I use all three of those in my gumbo.
Onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic form the base, while proteins like chicken, sausage, shrimp or crab add depth and meatiness.
The key to great gumbo is the roux, a mix of flour and fat cooked low and slow until it reaches a deep brown color, giving the dish its signature richness. Gumbo is traditionally served over rice, making for a comforting, satisfying meal.
Every family has its own version, and no two pots are exactly alike! Some people prefer Cajun gumbo, while others prefer Creole gumbo.
Cajun gumbo is often described as more rustic and country-style. It has a dark roux made with oil or bacon grease and flour, and it typically features chicken and andouille sausage.
Cajun gumbo doesn’t typically contain tomatoes, and it tends to have a stronger, smokier, spicier flavor.
Creole gumbo generally features a lighter roux and often has shrimp, crab and oysters—sausage or chicken are sometimes added to the mix, too.
A major difference, though, is that Creole gumbo often includes tomatoes, giving it a slightly different flavor and color. It’s influenced by French cuisine, so Creole gumbo tends to have extra seasonings and butter.
At the end of the day, both versions are deeply flavorful and delicious, but I prefer Creole gumbo, and that’s what influenced this recipe.
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Cheating (The Right Way) in Gumbo
Some folks might gasp at the idea of using pre-sliced veggies, but chopping everything by hand can take forever. If I’m in a rush, I grab a container of pre-diced onions, bell peppers and celery from the store. Do I feel bad about it? Not at all. My stepdad assured me that great gumbo doesn’t suffer just because the vegetables came pre-cut (or even frozen).
The same goes for garlic. Peeling and mincing fresh garlic is satisfying in a rustic kind of way, but when I’m short on time, I reach for the jarred stuff. The flavor is close enough, and when it’s simmering in a pot full of spices and broth, no one’s going to know the difference.
And then there’s the chicken. Traditionally, you’d boil a whole bird, pick it apart and use the homemade broth. That’s how my grandma did it, and it’s how I always make my first gumbo of the year, but a store-bought rotisserie chicken works just fine, too! It’s already cooked, already seasoned and shreds like a dream. As for the broth, a good boxed chicken broth will do the job just as well as long as you add the right seasonings.
With these time-saving tricks, gumbo becomes far less intimidating. But there is one step that cannot—under any circumstances—be skipped or cheated. The roux.
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The Roux: No Shortcuts Allowed
If gumbo has a soul, it’s the roux. That rich, deep, nutty mixture of fat and flour is the foundation of the entire dish. Get it wrong, and you’ve ruined everything.
My stepdad and I learned this lesson the hard way. One day, he and I made gumbo but we were running short on time. He decided to use a jarred roux, instead of making it from scratch, and it was absolutely awful! It totally ruined the whole pot of gumbo. Neither one of us will ever make that mistake again!
The trick to a great roux is constant stirring, and that’s where a lot of people bail on making gumbo. You can not stop stirring, and there is no walking away and no distractions! Roux burns fast, and if that happens, you have to start over. There’s no fixing a burnt roux.
It starts out pale, the color of pancake batter. Then it deepens, going from beige to caramel to peanut butter brown. I stop at this color because I like a lighter roux for my gumbo, and it takes less time (about 10 minutes), but some people keep stirring until it’s the color of chocolate. This can take 20 to 30 minutes.
Once the roux is ready, everything else comes together beautifully and quickly.
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How to Make My Creole Gumbo
Making the roux is the hardest part, but overall, gumbo is pretty simple to put together. Just keep in mind that your kitchen will be a mess while you’re putting it together! I always end up with vegetable scraps, flour and splattered oil everywhere before I am finished. That’s okay, though, because the gumbo needs to simmer for at least 2 hours before you serve it, so you have plenty of time to clean up once it’s in the pot.
To make this gumbo, you’ll need:
5 cups of shredded chicken, no skin (I grabbed a rotisserie from Costco)
1 pound ring sausage
8 ounces tomato sauce
5 cups chicken broth
5 cups water
One bell pepper, diced
Half a yellow onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 large tablespoons jarred garlic
1 bag frozen cut okra
Cajun seasoning
Paprika
Dried oregano
Dried parsley
2 bay leaves
Garlic powder
File powder
1 cup flour
1 cup vegetable oil
Half a stick of butter
3 tablespoons bacon grease
To start, I add the broth, water, tomato sauce and all the seasonings to a large pot and bring it to a boil. I measure the seasonings with my heart, so this is one of those things you’ll have to figure out on your own. Some people like it spicier, so they may want to add more Cajun seasoning. Some people like more garlic, so they will want to add more. This is all about what you like!
Once the broth is boiling, add the shredded chicken, drop the heat to a simmer and cover the pot.
Next, I dice all my veggies (unless I am using a bag of the pre-cut stuff), minus the okra, and the sausage. This needs to be ready before you start the roux. Put the veggies together in one bowl and put the sausage on a separate plate.
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The roux is a 1:1 ratio of vegetable oil and flour. For this gumbo, I used gluten-free flour because I have to avoid gluten. If you can have gluten, use all-purpose flour.
Start by warming your oil in a large skillet. Once it’s bubbling, add your flour and mix the oil and flour together until it looks like pancake batter. Lower the heat and keep stirring until the roux turns the color of peanut butter, making sure you scrape the flour off the bottom and edges of the skillet. You don’t want any of the flour burning.
Once the roux is the color of peanut butter, carefully add the chopped sausage. The oil will splatter if you dump it in, so be careful and do this slowly! Stir in the sausage and raise the temperature slightly. Cook the sausage about five minutes, making sure you stir often so nothing sticks and burns.
After the sausage has cooked some, pour the roux and sausage mixture into the broth mixture and stir quickly so the flour doesn’t settle to the bottom of the pot.
In the same skillet you made the roux, add the butter and bacon grease. If you don’t have bacon grease, you can use a whole stick of butter. As it melts, stir it around the pan. There will be leftover flour from the roux, so the butter will help scoop it up.
Once your grease and butter mixture starts to lightly foam, add the vegetables from your bowl to the skillet and sauté them for a few minutes. You want them to be fragrant and soft, but still a little crunchy.
While the vegetables are cooking, add the okra to the large pot. Once your other vegetables are ready, dump them (butter and all) into the large pot and give it all a good stir. Make sure you scrape the bottom of your pot with the spoon to loosen any flour that may have settled.
Simmer the gumbo for at least two hours and serve over rice.
The Magic of Gumbo
There’s something special about making gumbo. It’s not just about following a recipe—it’s about patience, tradition and a bit of instinct. My stepdad taught me that it doesn’t matter if you take a few shortcuts here and there. What matters is the care you put into it, especially when it comes to the roux.
Every time I make gumbo, I think about all the people I learned this recipe from and hear them reminding me to keep stirring, to watch the color, to never walk away from the pot because the roux needs attention. And every time I take that first bite, I’m reminded why. A well-made gumbo is rich, flavorful and comforting—a perfect balance of smoky, savory and spicy.
So if you’re going to cheat, be smart about it. Buy the pre-cut veggies. Grab a rotisserie chicken. Use the jarred garlic. But whatever you do, don’t take shortcuts with the roux. Because at the end of the day, that’s where the magic happens.
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