A simple gumbo recipe with lots of flavor additions. If you’d rather, you can skip the stew meat or substitute something else. Like many other gumbo recipes, I advise you to serve this one over rice.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 3 hrs 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 4 hrs |
| Servings: | 10 |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups chopped onion
- ¾ cup chopped celery
- 1 pound okra, chopped
- ¼ cup butter
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ pound cubed beef stew meat (Optional)
- 8 cups water
- 1 (16 ounce) can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
- 1 ½ teaspoons white sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 1 pinch ground black pepper
- 1 pound andouille sausage, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- ½ pound crabmeat, flaked
- 1 pound medium shrimp – peeled and deveined
- ½ teaspoon hot pepper sauce
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- ½ lemon
- file powder (see Note)
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook garlic, onions, celery, and okra, stirring constantly until golden brown. Set aside.
- In a large heavy-bottomed stock pot over medium-high heat, combine 1/4 cup butter and flour. Cook, stirring constantly, until the roux becomes chocolate brown. Stir in the vegetable mixture, and stew meat. Cook, stirring, until vegetables are tender, and meat is evenly brown. Stir in water, tomatoes, and sugar. Season with parsley, thyme, bay leaves, salt, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Add shrimp, crabmeat, and andouille to the stock pot. Stir in hot pepper sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Remove seeds from lemon and squeeze juice into the stock pot. Simmer an additional 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaves, sprinkle with filé powder, and serve over rice.
- Filé powder can be added off the heat to thicken the gumbo. If added while the gumbo is still cooking, it may become stringy and unpleasant. Fil é powder is ground sassafras leaves. It is available in many supermarkets.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 421 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 15 g |
| Cholesterol | 147 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 30 g |
| Saturated Fat | 12 g |
| Sodium | 1048 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 27 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This is a pretty standard concoction, Try using Zucchini or Summer squash. I’m from Boulder CO. Okra is not something you can find fresh here. Use a hot white onion, add an extra 1/4 tsp of Cayenne. The meat you use is not important. Any kind of smoked sausage, shrimp, clams, smoked oysters, hamburger, or whatever! I like adding a 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce too. Hooooo! Das gooood!
For health reasons I had to substitute spicy turkey sausage for the anduille sausage, and (hang on!) roasted halved Brussels sprouts for the okra. Guests loved it, but I prepare and eat a lot of NOLA foods, there is a slight taste difference. But not bad.
This was OUTSTANDING! And VERY forgiving! I made with venison kielbasa (2 rings), and andouille sausage. Served over brown rice. Added shrimp in at the end. Had to scrape a ton of fat off the top, but well worth it.
First time I made Gumbo and it was great. I can see how it can be very versatile. I used a mixture of various seafood, smoked sausage and beef.
I must say I’m preparing this gumbo right now and the aroma has taken over the house. I can’t wait to dig in!
Really enjoyed this gumbo! I always put the okra in at the very last…great flavor! Thanks for the recipe…:)
Tried many recipes over the last 20 years. The best so far! Family agrees. What I changed: chicken broth instead of water, fresh polish sausage instead of andoulle, 32 oz diced tomatoes, 2 lb of shrimp as my family are pot pickers lol
This was the best Gumbo I’ve ever made. I did add some mussels and crawfish and omitted the stew meat. It was even better the second day.
It was really good, My friends loved it, I will share and do it again…
Next time I would increase stew meat and decrease sausage
This was an easy to follow recipe for someone making gumbo for the first time. There was nothing left in the pot. Great recipe.
Very good–I have made gumbo many times from different recipes. The key to good gumbo is the roux. Do not stop stirring, and letting it reach a deep brown creates a much denser flavor. This gumbo isn’t the best I’ve had, but it’s very easy and if you use chicken, shrimp and andouille and omit the beef (as I did) you can cut an hour off the cooking time. The flavor develops slowly so is actually better on day #2. Like another poster here, I used Zatarain’s Cajun seasoning instead of just salt & pepper, and I added several dried red chiles to give it a little more zing. I also sprinkled file gumbo on each serving when i served it. This is a solid recipe and simple enough for a beginner.
This gumbo recipe is GREAT!!!! Ive made it 4 or 5 times and each time it gets better! Tonight I added chicken thighs to this recipe and loved it even more!
I have made this a ton of time! I always get rave reviews. I never use crab or okra, and usually add chicken instead. Delicious!
I have made this several times for large gatherings. It has instantly become a hit and had many recipe requests. The market in town was out of Okra. So of all things I substituted asparagus. You really wouldn’t think it would work, but it really did. I like to add a little extra cayenne and hot sauce to taste.
I did not eat this, so I am going strictly off of my husband. I decided to try my hand at gumbo and chose this recipe. He said it was very tasty, but felt it was missing some ‘kick’ as he called it. I used andouille and shrimp, as that was his request. I will most definitely make this again, but perhaps add some Creole seasoning in an effort to find the taste that he’s talking about. He did really like it and ate two bowls, he’s just looking for something additional in it, which I will find!
Turned out real good! I had to leave the seafood out because I have two picky eaters. I just added a chopped up chicken breast instead. And I used vegetable stock in place of water. Served it over rice. Yummy!
Will make it again … probably leave out the stew meat .. not needed.
This was delicious. Make sure you have time to make it. It takes time, but worth it. Added two packs of crab claw meat (don’t use imitation). Next time, I’ll use 1 1/2 bags of shrimp and the andouille sausage, Skip the celery. it was a very hearty meal. This went well with Jasmine rice.
This was the very 1st gumbo that I have ever made for my husband several years ago. (I don’t even eat gumbo & the smell makes me gag. It smells like pig slop). Now every time I look he’s asking me to make it for him again. I have no idea how it tastes but evidently it taste good to my husband (he’s originally from Houston TX). The only 2 things that I do is – delete the okra because he doesn’t like the slimy feeling that it leaves in his mouth – put chicken thighs, shrimp, beef, crab meat, snow crab legs & the sausage.
Had to add salt to our bowls, it was kind of bland, but otherwise very tasty.