Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Recipe - WonkyWonderful (2024)

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Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Recipe - WonkyWonderful? ›

Great gumbo starts with roux, a flavorful thickening agent made from equal parts fat and flour. Once the roux is a deep golden color, add diced veggies and sausage to the mix. Then, incorporate beef bouillon, hot sauce, tomatoes, and seasonings to intensify the flavor.

Great gumbo starts with roux, a flavorful thickening agent made from equal parts fat and flour. Once the roux is a deep golden color, add diced veggies and sausage to the mix. Then, incorporate beef bouillon, hot sauce, tomatoes, and seasonings to intensify the flavor.

Thou Shalt Always Use a Bowl. If you use a plate, it is not gumbo it is rice and gravy! Thou Shalt Only Use a Wooden Spoon. There is only one kind of spoon that can enter a gumbo pot and that is a wooden one.

The Sausage

In these cases, I've used a Kielbasa. If you want to save time, slice and cook your sausage in your gumbo. However, this adds extra fat and browning first will add to the flavor. For the browning method, slice the sausage and brown in a skillet.

Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add chicken, working in batches if necessary, and cook until browned, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to a large soup pot and pour broth over top.

First mix a little of the gumbo liquid with the dry roux to make a paste, then whisk that slurry into the rest of the gumbo and bring to a simmer. There really is no place for water in gumbo. Instead, create a flavorful broth. Even common, store-bought chicken broth adds more flavor than water.

Gumbo is much denser than a simple soup; the broth has a thick, almost viscous consistency. And that characteristic is most commonly created by making a roux, cooking flour and oil together until they thicken and darken. Otherwise, gumbo can be thickened with file, which is just powdered dried sassafras leaves.

I - Thou Shalt Never Use Tomatoes If we've learned anything from the Disney folks, it's this. Any cooyon with half a brain knows "Making Gumbo 101" contains this golden rule -- it's roux-based and not tomato-based! Tomatoes are for things like spaghetti sauce.

Turns out, your preference for tomatoes in gumbo comes down to whether you learned your skills from a Cajun cook or a Creole cook. (Learn about the difference here.) Cajun gumbo does not include tomatoes in the base, but Creole gumbo (typically shellfish or seafood gumbo) does call for tomatoes.

If a perishable food (such as meat or poultry) has been left out at room temperature overnight (more than two hours) it may not be safe. Discard it, even though it may look and smell good.

Can you put raw chicken in gumbo? ›

Please note: The meat does not need to be cooked through. It will cook as the gumbo cooks. Also, the chicken does not need to be chopped.

For the most flavor, use stock or broth in your gumbo instead of water. Whether you use chicken or vegetable stock, homemade or boxed, the stock will give your gumbo more depth and complexity.

Cook, skimming any foam that rises to the surface, until chicken is fall-from-the-bone tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. (Add water if necessary to keep chicken submerged in liquid.) Remove chicken to a heatproof bowl and set aside to cool.

For purposes of this discussion, we will limit our focus to plain old polished white rice. Even then, it comes in different sizes — short, long and medium grain. I prefer medium grain rice in a gumbo, because the grains puff up, the perfect medium for a gumbo. The thick gumbo juice sticks to the grains just right.

From a purist standpoint, you should use green bell peppers and yellow onions. You can use red peppers and white or red onions for a different flavor.

Use Water Instead of Stock

For the most flavor, use stock or broth in your gumbo instead of water. Whether you use chicken or vegetable stock, homemade or boxed, the stock will give your gumbo more depth and complexity.

Cooking the gumbo for a good three to four hours on simmer is imperative. "The long cooking time adds time for flavors to develop and ensures a burst of flavor," says Biffar. Make sure to give it time to let everything mesh together, this is not a dish to be rushed!

Filé can provide thickening when okra is not in season, in types of gumbo that use okra or a roux as a thickener for gumbo instead of filé. Sprinkled sparingly over gumbo as a seasoning and a thickening agent, filé powder adds a distinctive, earthy flavor and texture.

Turns out, your preference for tomatoes in gumbo comes down to whether you learned your skills from a Cajun cook or a Creole cook. (Learn about the difference here.) Cajun gumbo does not include tomatoes in the base, but Creole gumbo (typically shellfish or seafood gumbo) does call for tomatoes.