Check out the recipe below, followed by photos, cooking tips, and reader reviews.
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Shrimp and sausage gumbo
(Ratings: )INGREDIENTS
- 1 pound raw shrimp peeled and deveined
- 4 links smoked Andouille sausage about 12 ounces, sliced
- 2 bell peppers red and orange, chopped
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 20 baby-cut carrots chopped (about 1 cup)
- 5 scallions sliced
- 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 4 cups chicken broth
For the roux:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup canola oil
For the cajun seasoning mix:
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon dry minced onion
- 1 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Assemble the cajun seasoning: Combine and mix the cajun seasoning ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Make the roux: Heat canola oil in a large pot or dutch oven (at least 5 quarts) over medium heat. Add butter and flour. Cook until the roux turns into a dark caramel color, about 15 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Cook the vegetables: Add chopped bell peppers, onions, and carrots to the pot with the roux. Stir until well mixed with the roux. Cook until the vegetables soften and become fragrant, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Simmer with liquids and spices: Add crushed tomatoes (including the liquid), chicken broth, scallions, and cajun seasoning mix to the same pot. Bring to a boil and then decrease heat to a simmer over medium heat. Cover with a lid and let simmer for 1 hour.
- Add shrimp and sausage: Uncover the pot. Add shrimp and sausage to the pot, mixing well. Let simmer until the shrimp is opaque and cooked, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve with rice.
This is not authentic gumbo; I don’t use celery (one of the 3 Cajun holy trinity ingredients; the others being onions and bell peppers), the okra vegetable, nor gumbo filé powder. I do, however, make a simple roux from flour, butter, and oil to serve as a thickener, and I make my own homemade cajun seasoning spice mix. This results in a gumbo that has the flavors and textures of traditional New Orleans gumbo and is very delicious, and at the same time is easy and uses common ingredients.
The hardest part of this one-pot shrimp and sausage gumbo is prepping all of the ingredients — slicing the sausage, deveining the shrimp, chopping bell peppers, slicing onions, chopping carrots, and so forth. For me, it’s worth it because this recipe cooks up a week’s worth of dinners and I love gumbo (really, any stew in general). But if you’re looking for a shortcut, I recommend buying mirepoix. That’s just a fancy name for a container of pre-diced onions, carrots, and celery. You should be able to find it in your local supermarket — I see it sold at my nearest Trader Joe’s — and it’ll save you time on prep work. I didn’t use mirepoix, as you’ll see in the recipe, but if you go this route then I suggest getting about 4-6 cups of mirepoix to substitute for the whole vegetables listed in the recipe.
Another way to save time is to buy cajun seasoning instead of making your own. It’s simple to make homemade cajun seasoning — it uses everyday spice ingredients — but if you decide to buy a cajun seasoning packet, you should aim to use 3-4 tablespoons of it.
What should you pair this gumbo with? My favorite is simple white rice. You can eat the gumbo by itself, but that’s such a waste of good stew; good stew should always be sopped by up delicious carbs. If you don’t want to use white rice, then I also recommend brown rice and quinoa, both of which would work well here.
Feel free to refrigerate or freeze pre-portioned servings of this gumbo for another day. Leftovers for this gumbo taste amazing after reheating. It’s as if the flavors got a better chance to get acquainted with each other.
We planned a trip to New Orleans for February so I thought I would start prepping our taste buds! This dish was amazing! I switched the carrots for celery because that’s what I had in my fridge but everything else followed to the recipe! I can’t wait to eat it again for lunch today!
Great recipe. The only thing missing is a bay leaf. Added that and a little more garlic, we love garlic, and it turned out perfect!!
I made it and added a few things like celery, crab and sea bass. It turned out delicious. Thank you
Love this easy recipe. I use uncooked Andouille sausage. Fry and slice it. It tastes even better as leftovers.
made it gluten free by making roux with coconut flour and cornstarch. thanks for a great recipe
Great idea. Thanks for sharing, Anita!
I made this with some ham mixed in as well as shrimp and sausage. Loved it except for the sausage way to spicy for me.
I choose this recipe verses other on Pinterest because it had carrots – it was delicious. I used kielbasa sausage because I didn’t have any andouille – it was still delicious. I also used celery – once again still delicious! Can’t go wrong with gumbo even if the recipe isn’t 100% Cajun in my opinion:)
Tried it first time. Verry hearty and delicious. Thank you! 🙂
Delish
Plan to make this does it freeze well?
Hi there! I haven’t tried freezing it, so I can’t say for sure. My guess is that it will freeze well; let me know if you give it a try!
I have NEVER heard of gumbo with carrots…. and I am 57 years old and a New Orleans native! Replace the carrots with celery and garlic please and it would be more authentic… with a generous portion of fresh parsley at the end of the simmer!
True story, gumbo requires “the trinity”, onions, green pepper and celery, NO CARROTS. Garlic is a must as well!
the trinity is celery, onions, and carrots fyi. but yes i’d replace carrots.
Very easy and so good !!!
This recipe is so good! The Andouille sausage really makes it authentic. I fry then slice it. I also like to use smoked paprika. So easy. My whole family loves it!
Have made many times (similar)…..love you receipts
Has anyone made this in an instant pot? Or a crock pot I’d love to try this recipe but I often work late and using an instant pot or crock pot would help wonders
It was great- I was so pleased it turned out. Perfect for a snowy Chicago Sunday meal!
I make this almost the samw way. But I first fry the sausage, remove, than make the roux. Return the sausage when putting in the rest, along with chicken thighs that have skinned removed. I only add shrimp for the last 5 minutes of cooking.
Gumbo was born in Cajun country, the Lafayette area of Louisiana.
I am a proud cajun and have never heard of carrot in gumbo.
Tomatoes too are rarely used.
Actually, gumbo can be made with any combination of meats or seafood in a roux base.
We primarily use onion, celery, and bell pepper as flavoring vegetables and to give body to the gumbo.
Filet powder (sassafras root) can be added to the cooking pot or in the individual bowls after gumbo is served.
Okra is used as a flavoring and thickening agent.
Bon Appetite!
I made this and it was wonderful!
OMG OMG OMG!!!!So delicious!!
And your Cajun seasoning mix is amazing so I made it and put it in a jar and my husband can’t wait to use it when he BBQ’s!! I just joined your website and can’t wait to make EVERYTHING!!! Thank you
Penny Mefford
Hi Penny, you’re welcome and I’m so happy that you loved this!! I hope you guys enjoy using the Cajun seasoning mix 🙂
WOW! This dish was amazing! The flavors came together perfectly! I served it with rice as suggested. Comfort food at it’s best! Thank you!
Thank you Alisa for the kind review 🙂 So glad to hear you loved it!
2 questions: do you use 2 of each color bell pepper or 1 each? Also, in the ingredient list it calls for crushed tomatoes, but in the instructions it says diced tomatoes. Which is correct? Thanks in advance!
For the bell peppers, I use 1 red and 1 orange, so a total of 2 peppers. The recipe should say “crushed tomatoes” and I’ve edited the instructions to reflect that. Thanks for pointing that out! Let me know if you have other questions 🙂
Thanks so much! I made this tonight and it is delicious!! I’ll be adding it to our list!
This is an awesome recipe! Tried it tonight and it taste like restraint quality!
My son can’t eat shell fish so what other types of meat can I put in the gumbo I am in Australia so I am trying to figure out the products you use as we use your measurements or some of your ingredients like the sausage so makes it hard to cook this but I am going to give it a try
mean’t to say we don’t use your measurement or a lot of your ingredients
You can try adding your favorite seafood that isn’t shellfish, such as salmon. You can add it to the gumbo at the end and it’ll be done when the seafood is cooked through.
Gumbo is also made with a combination of Andouille sausage and chicken. The Andouille is distinctive, so a true Gumbo will be difficult to achieve without it. Smoked pork sausage with red pepper and/or paprika would be the nearest substitute. Besides the Andouille, the secret of Gumbo is in the roux. Don’t skimp on the time to cook this; the darker you make your roux, the more robust will be the flavor. And when the instructions say to stir constantly, it means to stir constantly!
You can make a chicken and sausage gumbo, but please don’t put carrots or tomatoes in it, we never put carrots and rarely use tomatoes, tomatoes makes it Creole not Cajun. Use onions, bell pepper and celery. If you put okra in it make sure you cook it down first because okra can make it slimy. You can buy the Trinity already cut up in the freezer section. Please make sure there is no carrots in it.
My family loved the gumbo. I did add celery, gumbo file and extra roux.
This was my first time cooking Gumbo on my own. This is straight to the point and extremely easy to do with these instructions. I should have probably cooked my Roux a little bit longer but I was worried about burning it so I just went with the Peanut Butter color. Even though it is still hot in Houston I wanted to cook something my family would love.