Last Updated on 17th December 2021 by
Sausage gumbo is integral part of Louisiana Cajun cuisine. It’s one of those foods that people immediately think of when you talk about Cajun dishes. Gumbo can be served on its own as a soup or with rice mixed in or on the side.
Most gumbo is made using a very strongly flavored stock, like beef or chicken stock. You can make that from scratch by cooking a meat with the bone in when making your gumbo. Or you can use stock veggie bought in a carton from the grocery.
Gumbo usually has a thickener as well, traditionally using file powder. That powder is derived from the sassafras plant, and if you I’ve heard of the recent FDA ban on sassafras, you might be wondering if file powder can still be used to make authentic gumbo.
Recent findings from the FDA have shown that sassafras powder contains safrole, which is a carcinogenic. Especially when it is cooked, safrole can have carcinogenic effects, particularly when it is used in large doses. Because of that, sassafras and sarsaparilla have been banned, therefore effectively banning file powder.
A substitute has to be found for the powder, and the most common substitute used to make gumbo and to thicken it is okra. If you are following a recipe that uses file powder, you can simply substitute it out for okra. To do that, you need 2 cups of okra for each tablespoon of file powder. You can use cornstarch as well, but it won’t have the same flavour as the okra or file powder.
In order to substitute cornstarch in for file powder, you have to mix together 2 teaspoons of cornstarch and a tablespoon of water for each tablespoon that the recipe calls for some file powder.
I going to share with you the best chicken and sausage gumbo recipe. I think it makes sense to add chicken into the gumbo, since you are traditionally supposed to have strong stock flavour to the gumbo. Adding the chicken right into the recipe with the bone in makes for the most authentic gumbo flavour and texture. The flavour from the bones will seep out into the broth and permeate the gumbo, giving it that wonderful chicken flavour.
Like the file powder, you can substitute your stock and just buy stock off the shelf in carton. I don’t think it gives quite the same flavour, but it’s up to you, if you want to make this dish a little easier to put together. For the best chicken in sausage gumbo recipe ever, though, I definitely recommend putting fresh chicken into your gumbo as you make it.
Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Recipe
Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Recipe
Ingredients
- 3-4 pounds of chicken, sliced small with bone pieces
- 1 ⅓ cups of smoked sausage
- 1 bay leaf
- 9 cups of chicken broth
- 2 cups of rice , cooked
- 1 tsp of garlic, minced
- ¾ cup of chopped onion
- ¾ cup of chopped green pepper
- ¾ cup of chopped celery
- 1 ½ cups of flour
- 1 tsp of garlic powder
- 1 cup of okra, chopped
- 2 ½ cups cups of vegetable oil
- 1 ½ tsp of cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp of black pepper
- 1 ¼ tsp of white pepper
- 1 tsp of powdered mustard
- 1 ½ tsp of paprika
Instructions
- Set the chicken aside in a bowl and then mix together your mustard powder, salt, the different peppers, cayenne pepper, garlic, okra, and paprika. Take about 4 teaspoons of this mixture and rub the chicken with it.
- Pour your flour into a separate bowl and add in 2 teaspoons of your leftover space next. Combine well.
- Heat oil up in a large skillet (at least 10 inches). Coat your chicken in the flour mixture and shake off any extra flour. Keep the remaining flour to the side.
- Once the oil is hot and starting to smoke, place your chicken in with the skin side facing down. You should cook your chicken for about two minutes on each side. You know it's cooked when it is golden brown on that side. Flip over and cook the second side for about 3 minutes until it ground. You don't want to crowd your pan, so cook your chicken in small enough batches to leave enough room for all the chicken to cook thoroughly. Then, use paper towels to drain out and dab the oil from the chicken.
- The next step for this gumbo recipe chicken and sausage is to drain off the fat from the skillet. Keep about 1 cup of fat remaining. The fat you have drained off needs to be used to make a roux. You'll heat this in a pan on high heat until the fatty oil is starting to smoke. Add in the remaining seasoned flour and stir quickly with a wire whisk. Keep stirring and cooking until your flower and fatty oil turn golden brown. Don't allow it to burn, and what you've made here is a roux.
- Then, you take your celery, green pepper, and onion and add them to the roux and mix together. Then, take this pan off of the heat.
- Cook your broth until it starts to boil. Then, add in half a cup of your roux mixture and stir quickly. Keep adding in your roux 1/2 cup at a time, continuing to stir quickly as you add it.
- Next, to make Louisiana gumbo recipe chicken and sausage, we need to add in your smoked sausage and stir that. While you stir quickly allow it to keep cooking for about 15 minutes.
- Add in your chicken, garlic, and bay leaf. Cook for another 40 minutes on a medium to low heat and stir every so often.
- Take the chicken out of your crockpot gumbo recipe chicken and sausage. Remove the chicken from the bones and get rid of the bones. They have served their purpose at this point. Cut your chicken into smaller pieces and place it back into the pot. You can serve your gumbo with rice.
Easy Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Recipe
The recipe I gave you up above can be a little complicated and intimidating at first. There’s a lot of steps to it, and you can cut those down to make a simpler chicken and sausage gumbo recipe, okra being optional.
You can simplify this recipe by purchasing a gumbo recipe mix. Make sure the sausage you buy is already cooked and you can even go for precooked chicken too. You can take a rotisserie chicken and cut your pieces off of that for a quick chicken addition to what’s basically going to be a dish that you warm up. What will take the longest for the entire dish is the rice, which will need to be cooked.
Simply add in your sausage in chicken pieces to a pot of chicken broth and gumbo seasoning. You won’t have flavour that is as potent and as authentic as the sausage and chicken gumbo recipe I gave you above, but it will still be a gumbo.
Gumbo Recipe Seafood Chicken and Sausage
A lot of gumbo is made with seafood, and the most common seafood to add to a recipe like this is shrimp. I would think the chicken may be a little too much meat if you have sausage and shrimp as well, but it’s up to you how much meat you want to have in this dish.
Shrimp doesn’t take very long to cook, so you can add it in in the last 10 minutes of your gumbo recipe. Some people also add in red snapper or crab meat to the gumbo. Others will get rid of the sausage and chicken altogether and make a completely seafood gumbo, using fish filet, crab, and shrimp.
Is the Spiciness Necessary?
No matter what kind of meat you use, for Cajun chicken and sausage gumbo recipe or authentic Cajun gumbo, make sure you’re adding a little bit of spiciness to your gumbo. Some cayenne pepper can add a nice bite to it, as can a little pepper sauce.
Just about any recipe for chicken and sausage gumbo will call for spicy flavour, but you can make it as hot or mild as you prefer. Some people will prefer a whole lot more heat than the cayenne pepper can give it, adding in pepper sauce, hot sauce, or spicier pepper powder for some real heat.
Keep that in mind if you’re using other recipes, as they might call for more heat than you like. Traditional Cajun food tends to be very spicy, and if you’re not used to it, the recipes you find may be spicier than what you can handle.
I hope you feel ready now to make chicken sausage and shrimp gumbo recipe from scratch or from some pre-made items in the grocery. No matter how you make it, this is something you have to try at least once in your life.
I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!
