Large Batch Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
Chicken and Sausage Gumbo is the ultimate Louisiana comfort food! This gumbo starts with a dark roux as its base. Once the roux is ready and combined with water, add sautéed chopped green bell pepper, onion and celery to the pot. Sear the chicken and sausage, too, before throwing them in, and letting the gumbo cook low and slow for hours. From-scratch gumbo is a labor of love, but it's a delicious one that is perfect to serve to a crowd over rice.
Servings 40 servings
Calories 200kcal
Ingredients
Gumbo Roux
- 2 cups oil
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Gumbo
- 2 green bell peppers diced (about 2 cups when diced)
- 5 yellow onions small-medium, diced (about 6 cups when diced)
- 1 jalapeno pepper diced
- 8 celery stalks diced (about 2 cups when diced)
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1.5 lbs. chicken thighs boneless and skinless
- 2 lbs. chicken breasts boneless and skinless
- 1.5 lbs. Andouille pork sausage
- 1.25 lbs. sweet Italian pork sausages
- 1 gallon gallon water (16 cups)
- 64 oz. chicken stock (8 cups)
- Dark Roux recipe above
- Tony Chachere's Salt-Free Creole Seasoning to taste
- Green onions diced, for garnish
- Parsley diced, for garnish
Instructions
Make the Roux
- Heat a skillet over medium heat.
- Add oil. When warm, add flour.
- Brown the mixture over medium heat until dark brown, constantly stirring to ensure the flour mixture does not burn. It will smell nutty. (This will take between 30-45 minutes total.)
- Remove from the heat, and let cool slightly.
Make the Gumbo
- If making your own instead of using a jarred mix, make the roux. (This took 30-45 minutes.)
- Dice green bell peppers, yellow onions, jalapeno pepper, celery stalks and garlic. (This took me upwards of 45 minutes.)
- Bring water to a boil. Add the roux, and simmer, stirring occasionally until the roux has dissolved into the mixture.
- Sauté half of the onion, celery and bell pepper in the same pan you made the roux, adding 1-2 tablespoons of oil to coat the veggies. Cook until soft.
- Add to the simmering gumbo pot.
- Season the chicken with Salt-Free Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning.
- Pour a tablespoon of oil into the same pan you used for the veggies and the roux. Sear the chicken breasts. When browned (but not necessarily cooked through), drop into the simmering gumbo water.
- Sear the chicken thighs in the remaining oil until browned. Add to the gumbo water.
- Add the sausage to the pan. Add 2 tablespoons of water, and cover with a lid to steam. Cook until the outsides have firmed up. (Again: They don’t need to be completely cooked through.) Slice, then drop into the 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. Once it has cooked completely, we will pull it from the pan with tongs and shred, then add it back in.
- Sauté the garlic and the jalapeno in the juices left over from the meats.
- Add the rest of the onion, celery and bell pepper to the pan. Cook until soft, then deglaze with about ½ cup of the chicken stock. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pan before adding these to the gumbo pot.
- Add the rest of the chicken stock to the gumbo pot.
- Raise the heat to medium, and cover partially. Bring to a bubble. (You don’t want it to be a rolling boil, but you’ll want the gumbo to have some movement to start cooking the meats.) This should take anywhere from 15-25 minutes.
- Simmer for 2-3 hours, or however long you feel led. (We like to think the longer the gumbo cooks, the better it is.)
- Once the gumbo has finished cooking, shred the chicken using tongs and/or forks, and return the meat to the pot.
- Serve immediately with rice, green onions and gumbo file, or cover and store until the next day, when you will serve it!
Notes
This makes a HUGE batch of gumbo. You may half or even quarter it (rounding up to the nearest half pound for the meat) to make a smaller batch.
The roux can be made days in advance if you don't have time to put together the gumbo and the roux on the same day.
If using a jarred roux, use TWO cups of it in your gumbo. Add it straight into the boiling water like you would the homemade roux.
Nutrition
Serving: 1bowl of gumbo (without added rice) | Calories: 200kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 15g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 54mg | Sodium: 395mg | Sugar: 2g
