This Easy Gumbo Recipe Has the Flavor of a gumbo that you’ve spent hours preparing. Ready in about 45 minutes, this is a straight forward, simple weeknight dinner recipe you’ll want to keep on your meal plan rotation. Bold with flavor this shrimp and sausage gumbo recipe will become one of your favorites.
This recipe was first published October, 2012 and updated October, 2020.
The weekend is over and lazy lingering meals will be replaced with quick work-week dinners. Cue this easy gumbo recipe please.
The reason I made this soup 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 in 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 crushed red pepper,
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.
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 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.
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.
Step by Step Instructions, It’s Easy
- 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.
- Stir in onion, celery, peppers, garlic, black pepper, and ground red pepper and cook for about 7 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
- Stir in hot chicken broth, sausage, okra and bay leaves.
- Bring to a good simmer and let cook 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, cook the rice.
- Drop in the shrimp and let them cook for two minutes.
- Remove bay leaves and serve over rice.
FAQ’s and Expert Tips
Once you start cooking the roux, stir it often. The flour and oil mixture will turn to a red brown color and will take on a nut-like odor.
Yes, simply place the soup (minus the rice) in an airtight container. The gumbo will keep in the freezer for 4 – 6 months. Gently reheat it on the stovetop in a saucepan when ready to eat. Freeze the rice separately.
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 Muffins or try this Herbed Tomato Bread. And why not make a Chile Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Bourbon Frosting for dessert.
Storage
With just the two of us, this easy gumbo recipe made plenty for welcome leftovers the next evening. 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.
Easy Gumbo Recipe with Shrimp and Sausage
I hope you give this easy Louisiana gumbo recipe a try, and if you do, please come back and give the recipe a star rating and leave a comment about your experience with the recipe.
And if you recipe for easy shrimp gumbo, let me know, I’d love to give your version a try.
More Super Easy Soup Recipes Ideas
And if you love soups as much as we do, you won’t want to miss my Soup Category. You’ll find tons of great soup recipes, including the most popular on my site for Anthony Bourdain’s New Mexico Style Chili.
Easy Gumbo Recipe with Shrimp and Sausage
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cooking oil
- 1/2 cup sweet onion chopped
- 1/2 cup celery chopped, about two good sized stalks.
- 1/4 cup green pepper chopped
- 1/4 cup red pepper chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
- 1 Tablespoon Creole Seasoning or Cajun seasoning
- 3 cups chicken broth heated
- 1/2 pound shrimp medium and deveined
- 8 ounces andouille sausage fully cooked
- 1 1/2 cups sliced okra or one 10 ounce package frozen cut okra
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 cups hot cooked rice
- Tabasco sauce
Instructions
- For roux, in a large heavy saucepan or Dutch oven combine flour and oil, stir till smooth. Cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir about 15 minutes or till roux is dark reddish brown.
- Stir in onion, celery, peppers, garlic, black pepper, creole seasoning and ground red pepper. Cook over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes or till vegetables are just crisp-tender, stirring often.
- Gradually stir in hot chicken broth, sausage, okra, and bay leaves. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, about 15 minutes or till okra is tender. Stir in shrimp and cook until done, about 2 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Serve in bowls with rice. Finish with a few shakes of Tabasco Sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Shrimp and Sausage Easy Gumbo Recipe …It’s What’s for Dinner.
Wonderful recipe. Looking forward to trying it.
Thanks Robin. Let me know what you think. It’s sure popular around our house.