Easy Gumbo Recipe With Shrimp And Sausage

What You Can Expect From This Recipe

The weekend is over and lazy lingering meals will be replaced with quick work-week dinners. Cue this easy gumbo recipe.

The reason I like this gumbo recipe is because a true-blue gumbo is a process that can span over of a couple of days.

Someday when I’m feeling ambitious, I’ll take the time to do that. But in the meantime I wanted to challenge myself to come up with an easy gumbo recipe version that reminds me of the wonderful flavors we enjoyed on our trip to New Orleans.

Depending on how fast your can slice and dice, I’d say this is a 45 minute start to finish meal.

Okra, shrimp, red and green bell peppers swim in a broth colored with roux and flavored with onions, bay leaves, garlic and Cajun spice.

And with a side of steamed white rice, you’ll be digging out your Louie Armstrong CD’s.

Let’s take a look at this easy shrimp sausage gumbo.

The Key To This Recipe Is The Roux

A roux is made with two ingredients, flour and oil. The flour and oil are cooked together until the mix becomes a dark color. It provides the deep rich flavor to gumbo and thickens the broth. The darker the roux the richer the flavor.

What Goes Into This Recipe

Mise en place. Always gather ingredients before starting any recipe. It will save you time and organize your mind.

• Green Bell Peppers, Red Bell Peppers, Onions and Celery are key ingredients to any gumbo soup recipe. They create a “sofrito” style beginning for this soup.
• Okra: Gumbo wouldn’t be gumbo without sliced okra.
• Chicken broth, oil and flour to make that traditional gumbo roux.
• Andouille Sausage. Please seek out a quality well flavored andouille sausage. It’s a French smoked sausage with a wonderfully spicy flavor.
• Shrimp: Shelled, deveined and tails removed.
• Red Chile Pepper: Cayenne would be traditional, or red pepper flakes would work well here.
• Cajun or Creole Seasoning.

Ingredient Swaps

• Don’t have shrimp on hand? Swap out shrimp for bite-sized chunks of chicken. Just add those uncooked chicken pieces to the gumbo at the same time as you add the sausage.
• You can swap out Andouille Sausage for any smoked sausage. Kielbasa is a good choice here.

1. Sautee chopped vegetables in a fry pan until tender and set aside. In a large sauce pan, prepare the roux by combining flour and oil. cooking and stirring until roux becomes a beautiful dark red-ish brown. This will take about 30 minutes.

2. Stir in cooked vegetables, red chile pepper, and Cajun seasoning.

3. Add chicken broth, sausage, okra and bay leaf.
4. Bring to a good simmer and let cook 15 minutes.
5. In the meantime, cook the rice.
6. Drop in the shrimp and let them cook for two-three minutes.
7. Remove bay leaves and serve over rice.

What To Serve With Gumbo

Rice is a traditional partner for gumbo. Start with this beautiful New Orleans recipe for Louisiana Sunburst Salad. A popular recipe made famous by the Palace Cafe in New Orleans. You could also serve it with Cornbread or try this Herbed Tomato Bread. And why not make a Chile Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Bourbon Frosting for dessert.

Storage and Leftovers

With just the two of us, this easy gumbo recipe made plenty of welcome leftovers for next evening’s dinner.  

• When storing leftovers in the refrigerator, place rice and soup in separate containers, reheat separately and then bring them back together in the soup bowl. The texture of the rice is much happier that way. And only a gentle reheat of the soup is needed, we don’t want rubbery shrimp.
• Because this gumbo contains shrimp, we don’t recommend keeping in the refrigerator for over two days.
• You can freeze gumbo for up to six months. I like to use a gallon zip lock back. Just fill the bag with the gumbo to about two inches to the top. Squeeze the air out and make sure the bag is sealed well. Lay flat in freezer for maximum storage.
• To reheat, let the gumbo thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Then gently reheat in a saucepan, over low heat.

Recipe for Easy Gumbo

I can’t claim this gumbo to be 100% authentic, there’s not even any file powder in it, but it’s delicious and easy to make with ingredients found at your local supermarket. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to gumbo, and as I learned during my visit to New Orleans, each restaurant has their own version.

The only necessity is to make a good roux (pronounced “roo”) which is the mixture of fat and flour cooked stovetop until it becomes a dark caramel color.

I hope you give this easy Louisiana gumbo recipe a try. This hearty gumbo is a true melting pot meal that will transport you to Louisiana in just one bite. A top notch flavorful creole stew with origins from West Africa, Germany, French and Choctaw and has become a staple of Southern cooking.

So whether you’re looking for a dish to celebrate Mardi Gras, or just a fun weekend meal, you and your family will find this easy gumbo recipe very satisfying.