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| From Nola Cuisine |
Yesterday was bitter cold here in the Detroit area, perfect Gumbo weather, so I whipped up a small batch to warm our souls.
When it comes to chicken for soups, I’m a leg & thigh man. For my money you can’t beat that moist, flavorful dark meat just melting away in the pot.
I don’t like my Gumbos too thick or too thin, but just in the middle, like velvet on your tongue.
It’s hard to believe that this is the first Gumbo that I’ve featured on this site, I don’t know how that happened, being that Gumbo is pretty much one of the cornerstones of New Orleans Cuisine, as well as one of my favorite things in the world to cook (and eat, for that matter). Better late than never I always say, here is the recipe:
Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo Recipe
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
3/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
4 Tbsp Creole Seasoning
1 Cup Onions, diced
1/2 Cup Green Bell Pepper, diced
1/2 Cup Celery, Diced
1 1/2 Cups Andouille, sliced
3 Tbsp Garlic, chopped
6 Cups cold Chicken Stock
3 Fresh Bay Leaves
4 Chicken Thighs, seasoned liberally with Creole Seasoning
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
Hot Sauce to taste
Kosher Salt to taste, if necessary
2 Tablespoons Italian Parsley, chiffonade
1/4 Cup Thinly Sliced Green Onions
Creole Boiled Rice
Fresh French Bread
Bake the chicken thighs in a 350-400 degree oven until brown.
Mix your onion, celery, and bell pepper together: The Holy Trinity.
Heat the oil in a cast iron dutch oven over medium heat. Whisk in the flour to make a milk chocolate Roux (making a Roux). Add the Andouille, 1 Tbsp of Seasoning, and 3/4 of the Holy Trinity, cook, stirring often, for about ten minutes or until the vegetables soften. Add the cold stock, the remaining 1/4 trinity, remaining seasoning, and Garlic. Bring to a Boil. Bring this down to a simmer, add the baked thighs and let it go for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally. About 10-15 minutes before you’re ready to serve, remove the Chicken from the bone and add the meat back to the pot. Add the Worcestershire, Hot Sauce, and 1/2 of the Green Onions. Serve with Creole Boiled Rice, crusty French Bread, and a good cold beer (I like Dixie or Abita Amber).
Garnish with green onions, and the parsley.
* I prefer Chicken Thighs for my soups and Gumbos. It’s the misunderstood portion of the bird, which is fine by me because it keeps the price down. I get them bone in, then Cartel wrap the bones and stick them in the freezer for stock. I’m like a Vulture when it comes to bones for stocks, my freezer looks like the Catacombs (animals only of course).
This makes about 3-4 Main Course Servings
Related Recipes:
Turtle Soup Recipe
Red Bean Soup Recipe
Check out my Creole & Cajun Recipe Page, an index of all of the recipes (so far) on this site!
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I can almost taste it.
wow, that looks good and you just whipped it up. Yum!
I enjoy your website. When I get a spare hour or two I plan on using some of your recipes. It’s impressive that you make a lot of the complex ingredients especially a smoked andouille. I did have a question about the chicken/andouille gumbo recipe. In the direction part you say to use 3/4 of the trinity. What do you do with the other 1/4? Am I missing something?
I had a typo there Mark, thanks for pointing it out, the remaining 1/4 goes in when you add the stock. Thanks for your kind words about my site!
can you substitute okra for the green pepper?
Does the Roux need to cool before adding the andouille?
Jeff – You could, but I would preferably just add some Okra to the recipe including the Green pepper, unless you hate it.
Kelly – No, the roux will actually cook the Andouille and the Trinity, in it’s intense nuclear heat, then you will add your stock, preferably cold. Etc…, Etc..
Hello– I’m new to this site & maybe I have missed something… what exactly is the “Holy Trinity”? Am I just dense or what? Thank you!
The “Holy Trinity” is a combination of green bell pepper, onion and celery. It is a basic part of many Cajun/Creole dishes. For gumbo in general…if you really want to kick it up a notch, smoke the chicken. The dark meat IS the best, however, I like to use a whole chicken. After deboning the smoked chicken, use the carcass to make smoked chicken stock. Yummmmmmmmmmm
I visited Nawlins’ for the first time a couple weeks ago and fell in love with the place, the people and the food. So tomorrow I’m having my first New Orleans-inspired dinner party and made this gumbo recipe. It is awesome. Although my gumbo looks more brown than in the photo- maybe cause I used Olive oil? Also doing your bananas foster for dessert and opening with bbq shrimp which I had at Brennen’s. Advised all dieters beware! This is a fantastic website. Thank you.
I just tried your recipe today and it was really tasty! 🙂
Your gumbo recipe is simply DeeeeeeeeeeVine.
Made it fer an 8 course this New Year’s Eve menu lose my mind every year fer this day ;)) and have already sent the recipe link to 5 out of 8 guests as per their requests.
Now you have to understand that I have never been to NO or LA though I am knowledgeable about French cuisine.
Reading your recipe, I could just imagine the melange o cultures descending on Louisiana and the attendant additions they brought to the pot. I did add okra to the dish and nixed the rice but since this was my soup course (with…4 more courses to go) it was kinda mandated. Was “commanded” to make another pot today and will follow your recipe faithfully for the full experience.:)
Can’t wait to try your etouffe..swoooooon.
Thank you thank you kindly.
This is my first try at this recipe, and I have to say things are smelling awfully good here, but just wondering — should the pot be covered or not while simmering for that two hours?
yes, cover the pot to simmer.
While okra is a common ingredient for seafood gumbos, it isn’t typically added to chicken and andouille gumbos. File’ powder (dried ground Sasafras leaves) is often used instead as favoring and thickening agent for chicken/andouille gumbo.
Of course, do whatever floats your boat though, mais cher!
Wow, I just made this recipe and I have to say it is THE single best gumbo I have ever had. Being a northerner I of course had to change it to suit what I have come to know as gumbo here, I did try it without okra first and it was FABULOUS but I had already bought the okra and well, couldn’t help myself (please, the only gumbo I have ever had was campbells! blech!). The only change I will make in the future is to cut back on the salt in the seasoning because I had to add a can of fire roasted tomatoes to cut the salt, but ask anyone in my family- I am a salt wuss, haha. I don’t eat chips because they are too salty, lol. But my goodness, I am wishing I was not the only one home eating this so I could share such an awesome recipe with someone! I will be posting pics on the blog soon. Thank you a million times over!
A couple of comments:
As most of the recipes on here the Chicken gumbo is great. I sigh for the thighs. I add a couple of sprigsof fresh thyme to almost all my gumbos. I also remove the schmutz(foamy protien build up)as it comes to boil. and I
also skim the fat off after it cools.
Made this last night and loved it. My wife had the idea of a cajun baked potato so instead of rice we baked some potatoes and poured the gumbo over them. Give it a try. Also works with etoufe,jumbalya and all the other cajun favorites. I must say this was quite delicious. Give it a try let me know what you think.
This is my goto Gumbo recipie. I’ve made it dozens of times. I get the Andoulle at Whole Foods. It comes out heavely.
I am really picky about my deep south food – I mean REALLY picky – being a California gal who had been married to a Cajun for a few years, I learned his family’s recipes for exceptional cajun/creole cuisine. But that was 12 years ago and since then I forgot most his recipes but a few. Well, I had a hankering for some gumbo the other night after watching Princess and the Frog with my kids, but I wanted to experiment beyond what I had learned. So I thought I’d try your recipe (I have to admit it was the photo!).
Now I cook my roux until it is the color of a dirty old penny – the dirtier the penny the darker the roux – a secret I learned from a chef out of LA. I do half butter half oil – rather than all lard or all oil. I find it makes for a richer roux. If you want a thicker gumbo with a darker roux, just up the oil/flour content a bit. I like the added layer that darker roux gives, but it takes twice as long to go there as it does to get to the milk chocolate stage.
I’ve tried all kinds of gumbo recipes, and I did variate a bit off this one by adding half the garlic in and doing the holy trinity in halves. I add the garlic so it would carmelize and round the flavor out a bit and the tossed the other half of the garlic (and I use about 10 cloves or so for this recipe) in when you say to in your recipe. I make my own cajun spice mix – mainly to avoid MSG or other additives.
You know what, the parsley just makes it. It is a perfect finishing touch. Do not leave this off. I never tried it before now. Excellent tip! I prefer sourdough bread to french but that’s just a preference thing. I recommend getting your sausage from a supplier in LA, not from your local grocer. Most the times the sausage is just not the same. I haven’t tried making it myself yet, so maybe I’ll do that next.
Let me tell you – if you want real gumbo – don’t go to a restaurant unless you live in NOLA. I’ve tried nearly every deep south restaurant in five states and I’m telling you, you’ll be sorely disappointed, and if you’ve never had deep south cuisine, you’ll wonder what all these folks smoke down there. Follow this recipe to a T and it will transport you there. I recommend a little jazz, and a nice Bordeaux to top off the evening. Thank you so much for this wonderful archive of authentic recipes. I’ll be back!
I made gumbo for the 1st time last night using this recipe. I bought Creole Seasoning at the store only to discover that I had picked the wrong bottle off the shelf, so I found a recipe online and cobbled together my own blend.
Overall, the flavor was delicious. However, it was a little too salty and spicy for my taste. That could have had something to do with my homemade Creole Seasoning. I will definitely be trying this again with half the salt and spice that I used the first time. Thanks for posting this terrific recipe!
Cartel Wrap? Please explain. I’m just about to start the roux. Wish me luck! THANKS>
I made this last night for a superbowl party. I doubled the recipe and I’m so glad I did! There was only a small amount left…people were eating multiple bowls. I’m now the designated gumbo person haha! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful recipe, it was fantastic. 🙂
Okay, I love your site and every recipe I’ve tried thus far…but this one was a flop for me. Hoping you might be able to figure out what I did wrong. Basically, I used the Roux recipe from the site (Lard+Flour) to make the Roux, then followed the rest of this recipe exactly…and I made the Creole rice from the site that you linked to as well. My problem is that the gumbo came out REALLY REALLY salty. I mean like, I added potatoes to try and sop out some of the salt salty…and even after the potatoes (which helped), it was barely edible. Now, since there is no salt in this recipe, per se…I have to assume my saltiness came from either:
Creole seasoning – I used Tony Cachere’s. There were 4 Tbsp in the recipe + “seasoned liberally” for the chicken thighs…which is a lot of Tony’s…especially (salt is the #1 ingredient, but no idea of the ratio)..but I would assume the ratio is similar to your recipe
Andouille sausage – Has some salt in it, but not sure how much
6 cups chicken stock – I used swansons “low sodium”…but I’m sure there’s plenty of salt in there.
The thing that kinda blows my mind, is that having used the other Roux recipe, I had about twice as much Roux as this recipe called for, so I assumed I was erring on the side of LESS salt…but it was way to salty for me and my friends. Thoughts?
Chris, the problem was the Creole Seasoning. The amount in the recipe is using my creole seasoning recipe which contains far less salt than the Tony C’s. I’m actually going to note that on the recipe now. Sorry your Gumbo didn’t turn out! There’s nothing worse than spending all of your time, effort (and money), and not have the dish turn out.