Healthy Gumbo Recipe in the Crock Pot (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good gumbo? ›

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.

The thick stew with veggies, chicken, sausage and rice is so satisfying it makes a complete meal in one! This crockpot gumbo is great for weeknights because you can set it up the night before or in the morning and then it is ready to go when you get home.

Two well-known types of gumbo are seafood gumbo, which often includes shrimp, oysters and crabs, and chicken-and-sausage gumbo, made with andouille sausage. Okra gumbo utilizes okra to thicken the stew; common varieties include shrimp-and-okra or chicken-and-okra gumbo.

Filé powder – Filé powder, also known as gumbo filé, is an herbal powder made of ground-up sassafras leaves, a common herb found in Southern cooking. It has a tea-like, earthy smell that balances out the rich flavors of gumbo while also adding a natural thickener.

Some good gumbo seasonings include paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, dried thyme, and bay leaves. Additionally, you can add other seasonings to adjust the flavor, such as black pepper, ground cumin, white pepper, and file powder.

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.

Creole cooks in Louisiana usually prepare some variation of three basic recipes: a ''Creole gumbo'' that includes sausages, beef, veal, ham, chicken, whole crabs or shrimp and is thickened with roux and file powder; a simpler ''okra gumbo'' thickened with okra and including a variety of shellfish; and a ''gumbo aux ...

Put the sausage, the rest of the creole seasoning,and the cayenne in and raise the heat to bring to a soft boil. For about 10 Minutes. Reduce heat to a simmer, add uncooked chicken and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Does gumbo get better the longer it cooks? ›

And you can't rush it. A really great gumbo takes the better part of a day to make, from prepping the ingredients, to making a roux, to simmering everything low and slow. Slow cooking allows all of the flavors to marry together and keeps the gumbo from burning or over-reducing.

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.

Gumbo can be made with or without okra or filé powder. The preferred method in the historical New Orleans variation is with a French dark, even chocolate-like, roux. The flavor of the dish has its origins in many cultures. Creole gumbo generally contains shellfish, and a dark roux, filé, or both.

But seafood gumbos with shrimp and crabmeat are also popular. Many gumbo recipes use turkey, ham, crawfish, or oyster and several types of sausage are popular, from andouille to boudin rouge to cajun smoked sausage. Game meat can be used with duck, squirrel, and rabbit being very popular.

I like to add the “trinity” (onion, celery, bell pepper) to the roux before it gets to the desired color, because that'll help slow the cooking process. Once you have the roux the rest is simple. The longer you let the gumbo simmer the better it will be.

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.

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.