Several people have asked me recently about my gumbo recipe.

My family is not Cajun, I have never visited New Orleans, and I have not cooked for a living for a very long time.  Many people seem to be as provincial about their gumbo as they are about their favorite sports team.  I have enjoyed almost every bowl and variant of gumbo that I have ever tried–at least I cannot remember disliking one–and this is by no means the only way to make it.  Many people like shrimp or other seafood in their gumbo, and they are correct that it is no less tasty that way.  This is just the recipe that I use because it reminds me of a restaurant where I used to work.  This gumbo has such a nice balance of spice, smoke, and richness/fullness that I can usually make a full meal out of it.  It is also the only reason that I grew fresh okra in my backyard this summer (well, that, and COVID-19 disrupted supply chains in the spring and early summer, leaving me unable to find fresh okra in my local supermarket).

Preparation can be tricky, especially if you have never made gumbo from scratch before, but trust me when I say that the payoff is worth the effort.

Ingredients

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken tenderloins

1 lb. Andouille sausage–I’m fortunate to live in a rural community where I can get this really fresh and uncooked at the farmer’s market, but store-bought should be okay, too

1 lb. fresh okra, sliced into 1/2″-1″ pieces

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups diced yellow onion, 1/4″ dice

1 1/2 cups diced bell peppers, 1/4″ dice–I usually use one large green and one large red bell pepper

1/3 cup diced celery, 1/4″ dice

2 fresh garlic cloves, minced–I usually use 2-3 tablespoons of store-bought minced garlic, which you should be able to find in the produce section of your supermarket

2 cups diced canned tomatoes–remarkably, I have not tried this recipe yet with fresh tomatoes, and maybe I will the next time I make it, but you do you in the meantime

1 dried bay leaf

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon gumbo filé

1 quart chicken stock–ideally, as with all from-scratch soups and sauces, you would use homemade chicken stock, but not everyone has the kitchen, equipment, or other-food intake to be able to consistently produce a good chicken stock, so store-bought is absolutely fine

Preparation–The Night Beforehand

Put 2 lbs. of chicken tenderloins in a medium-sized pot, cover with 2 quarts of water, and bring to a rolling boil.  Once the water boils, turn the heat to its lowest setting and simmer, uncovered, for about 20-25 minutes.  Drain the water from the pot, transfer the chicken tenderloins to a baking sheet, and put it in the refrigerator.  Cooling your cooked chicken tenderloins overnight will make them very easy to handle tomorrow.

Brown the Andouille sausage in 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat.  As the skin starts to darken, begin turning frequently, about every minute or so.  You will be cooking the sausage further in the gumbo tomorrow, so even if you prefer your pork well-done, you are not going for crispy-bacon-level brownness.  You’re just going for a nice, even browning of the exterior of the sausage rope.  If you’re using fresh/uncooked Andouille sausage like I do, be aware that eventually the skin will rupture, and you may get grease on yourself or your kitchen or your stove.  If the skin does pop, that’s okay, but do not cook your sausage too much longer.  You want that grease to make it into your gumbo pot tomorrow, and again, your sausage will be cooked before your gumbo is ready to eat.  Remove the Andouille sausage from heat and, if you have room on your baking sheet, cool it with your chicken tenderloins overnight.  If you don’t have room, just use a plate–but you want to cool it for easy handling tomorrow.

Slice and dice your vegetables if you haven’t already.  Pro tip:  if chopping onions makes you cry, open your freezer door and stick your face in it for 10-15 seconds.  Store the onions, peppers, and celery together overnight.  In a medium-sized pot, add sliced okra and 1 cup of water.  Bring the water to a boil, cover, and reduce heat.  Continue to simmer about 7-9 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Do not become alarmed if your okra becomes slimy or stringy.  That happens when you cook okra.  Strain the okra in a colander and store overnight.

Preparation–Gumbo Day

Slice your cooled Andouille sausage into 1/4″-1/2″ slices, and set them aside.

Slice or shred (pull apart with your hands) your cooled chicken tenderloins.  Both ways taste good, but I usually slice the chicken because it’s much quicker than pulling apart 2 lbs. of chicken by hand, and you get heartier bites of meat in your gumbo once it’s finished.  Set aside your chicken.

In a large pot, melt 8 tablespoons (one stick) of unsalted butter over medium heat.  If you want your butter to melt more quickly, consider slicing it into pieces before you put it over heat.  Once your butter is melted, slowly stir in 1/2 cup flour.  Use a wire whisk.  Your hand is about to be over the stove for 15 minutes, so I encourage you to consider buying a long (at least 12″) whisk.  This combination of flour and butter is called roux, and it is what gives your gumbo its body.  If you ruin your roux, you’ll rue the day you ruined your roux, so it is important that you constantly stir it for about 15 minutes, taking care to prevent the flour from burning or sticking to the bottom of the pot.  (Think of burned popcorn, but worse.)  Your roux should bubble while it cooks, and it will slowly turn from a golden/yellow color to brown.  If you do it correctly, you’ll have a nice, even leather-colored brown roux.  This is the trickiest part of making gumbo, and it takes practice.  Don’t be discouraged if you have to wash out your pot and start over–but make sure you have back-up ingredients just in case.

Add your diced onions, bell peppers, and celery and minced garlic to your roux.  Make sure the vegetables become completely coated in the roux, and sauté for about 8-10 minutes or until the vegetables soften, stirring occasionally.  If you are worried about your roux crisping or burning, slightly lower your heat and add 1 tablespoon of butter.  (Move over, Paula Deen.)

Add your cooked okra, canned diced tomatoes, and sliced Andouille sausage.  Cook for about 10 minutes, again stirring occasionally.

Add your dried bay leaf, dried thyme, dried basil, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and salt.  Pour 1 quart of chicken stock into the pot.  Stir and mix thoroughly.  Simmer over low-medium heat, partially covered, for about 30 minutes.

Add your chicken pieces.  Stir and mix thoroughly.  Continue simmering another 15-20 minutes.

Turn off the heat.  While stirring, slowly sprinkle in your gumbo filé.  It should turn your gumbo from a brownish-red color to a brownish-green color, i.e., that is supposed to happen.  At this point, you can add more pepper or salt to taste, but I don’t think you’ll need either.  Your recipe should make nearly a full pot of gumbo.  I portion mine into Ziploc medium-sized twist-and-lock containers, which are easy to stack and store in random gaps in the refrigerator and hold enough gumbo for a nice soup-bowl-sized portion.  And while you portion for storage, you can fish out the random bay leaf that’s floating around in there somewhere.

Serve your gumbo over steamed rice.  There’s no need to get fancy here–the rice doesn’t complete your gumbo, it’s just a starch filler.  I use Uncle Ben’s 90-second whole-grain brown rice, which I cook in the microwave.

Enjoy!