This ultimate gumbo recipe is filled with shrimp, crab, chicken, sausage, vegetables, and Cajun spices. Serve it over rice with garlic bread and a cold beer. Be sure to have salt, red pepper flakes, and additional filé powder on the table.
Ingredients
- medium shrimp: 4 pound
- quarts water: 2 piece
- corn oil: 0.5 cup
- all-purpose flour: 0.5 cup
- chicken broth: 1 cup
- water: 1 cup
- whole chicken: 1 piece (3 pound)
- tomatoes: 5 piece (chopped)
- medium onions: 2 piece (chopped)
- stalks celery: 5 piece (chopped)
- medium green bell pepper: 1 piece (chopped)
- garlic: 4 clove (minced)
- seafood seasoning (such as Old Bay®): 2 Tbsp
- salt: 1 Tbsp
- ground cayenne pepper: 1 Tbsp
- bay leaves: 2 piece
- crabmeat: 3 cans (6 ounce cans, drained)
- andouille sausage: 1 pound (diced)
- file powder: 2 Tbsp
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Peel and devein shrimp. Place shrimp into a bowl; cover and refrigerate until needed. Place shrimp heads and shells into a large pot.
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Pour 2 quarts water into the pot, cover, and simmer over medium-low heat until liquid is reduced by half. Strain out and discard shrimp heads and shells. Reserve shrimp broth.
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Heat oil in a very large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add flour; cook and stir with a long-handled spoon until dark brown and flour puffs and starts to absorb oil, 10 to 15 minutes. Slowly stir in chicken broth and 1 cup water. Place chicken into the pot; add tomatoes, onions, celery, bell pepper, garlic, seafood seasoning, salt, cayenne pepper, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and cook until chicken is no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, about 1 1/2 hours. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone, should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).
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Remove chicken from the pot and set aside until cool enough to handle. Remove and discard bones; chop meat into 1-inch pieces.
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Return chopped chicken to the pot, along with reserved shrimp broth, crabmeat, sausage, shrimp, and filé powder; stir from the bottom of the pot to combine. Bring to a boil, then immediately remove from the heat.
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Stir gumbo from the bottom for 1 minute. Remove bay leaves and serve.
