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Gumbo is comfort for me. During the summer and fall, I love filling this dish with fresh local vegetables at the peak of their flavor: tomato, okra, zucchini, green beans, green peppers. During the winter, I make this with canned tomatoes and vegetables from the freezer and I love the rich, spicy sauce on a cold day. In the spring, I make a version of gumbo loaded with greens like escarole, kale, and collards.
What is gumbo?
Gumbo is a thick Creole and Cajun stew of tomatoes, vegetables, and meat. The Creole version usually features sausage, shrimp, and okra. The Cajun version usually omits the okra and features a variety of meats. Gumbo is typically served with plain white long-grain rice like Jasmine Rice or Basmati. I also serve it over gritz.
Every cook has a handful of basic, flexible, and forgiving recipes that can be used to empty the kitchen of perishable produce and meat and gumbo is one of mine.
What gives Gumbo its Flavor?
The unique flavor of Gumbo comes from the dark cajun roux that is used to thicken it. You can make your own dark cajun roux or you can buy cajun roux (like SAVOIE’S Old Fashioned Dark Roux 32oz). Roux lasts forever in the refrigerator. 1/4 cup of dark roux will thicken about 3 quarts or 12 servings of Gumbo. This dark roux adds a toasty nutty flavor to the stew that is unlike anything else. There is no substitute for this.
A good home-made broth and Worcestershire sauce adds an umami-rich flavor even before any meat is added. You could leave the meat out in this recipe and have an incredibly delicious vegetable gumbo.
Sausage is often featured in Gumbo and the best sausages to use are Andouille. Andouille is a spicy smoked sausage. In my previous life, I was a professional sausage maker. My andouille sausage recipe is one of my all-time favorite recipes from this time in my life and I sorely miss having this sausage regularly on hand. If you are feeling ambitious, I highly recommend giving it a try. You can also make Gumbo with chicken, shrimp, crawfish, crab, shellfish, and any combination of these.
The vegetables that are always present in any gumbo are onion, celery, and green bell pepper. These are called the “holy trinity” or “cajun mirepoix” in chef’s lingo. After that, you can add other types of peppers, summer squash, okra, collard greens, swiss chard or kale, or green onion. Pretty much anything you have on hand will work!
Gumbo For Camping
I love to take sausage gumbo camping. It’s fun to catch fish, crawfish, or crab to add to it. It’s easy to heat and serve with instant rice. And it’s super satisfying on a cold night, especially if you spice it up with lots of Tabasco. Simply measure out about 3/4 cups of gumbo for each person on the trip into a ziplock bag and freeze it ahead of time. This will double as an ice pack to keep your cooler cold until you thaw and serve it. Pull it out of the cooler with enough time to thaw and reheat over a medium-low flame until simmering, stirring occasionally.
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Simple Gumbo Recipe
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 3 quarts 1x
- Category: Soup/stew
- Method: Stove top
- Cuisine: Cajun
- Diet: Low Lactose
Description
This is a flexible recipe for gumbo. Customize it to the ingredients you have on hand. This recipe makes enough for a party or multiple meals.
Ingredients
1–2 Tablespoons oil
1 1/2 large onions, diced
6 celery stalks, diced
3 green bell peppers, diced
7 cups diced/crushed fresh tomatoes OR peeled and seeded fresh tomatoes OR 4 14oz cans diced tomatoes
3 cups okra, green bean and/or summer squash (fresh or frozen)
2 cups diced green onion
1 cup diced collard greens, swiss chard or kale (optional)
1/2 Tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 Tablespoon dried thyme
1/2 cup Worcestershire
1/4 cup dark cajun roux
1–3 lbs diced chicken breast, diced chicken thighs, andouille or linguica sausage, cooked Chaurice sausage, shrimp, crab, and/or crawfish
salt to taste
1/2 cup water or broth
Instructions
In a large heavy bottom pot, heat 1-2 tablespoons oil and sauté the onions, celery, and bell pepper until tender. If using cooked sausage, add it now as well.
Add the diced or crushed tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, and water/broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer.
Add the okra and/or summer squash and bring it back up to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the dark cajun roux and stir until dissolved and stew thickens. If you would prefer a thicker stew, add more roux. Stir in the green onions.
At this point, add the diced chicken breast, shrimp, crab, or crawfish and cook until just finished, about 5 more minutes. Alternatively, you could set aside a portion of this “Gumbo Base” to freeze for other meals and add the meat just to the portion you plan on serving tonight. For my family of 4, I fill two 1-quart freezer zip lock bags with Gumbo Base to freeze and add 1 lb of meat to the remaining quart to serve that night.
Serve with plain long grain rice like basmati or jasmine.
I can’t wait to make this for our next camping trip – thanks for the suggestion! We love gumbo in my house. I have never tried adding Worecestshire Sauce – what a great idea – thanks for sharing!
I love Gumbo but have never tried to make it – pinning this for later!
What a tasty recipe, I love the sound of the spicy dark cajun roux wit the cumin and thyme. Thanks for sharing.
This gumbo looks totally amazing! I can’t wait to try the recipe this weekend!
I’m not sure why, but I’ve never made a gumbo, so I’m dying to try your recipe. I have a big bunch of CSA collard greens ready to go!