Gumbo makes a delicious meal any time of the year. Get this wonderful recipe, along with the quick-fix version for an amazing Gumbo you’ll love to make!

Gumbo | ©addapinch.com

This easy recipe makes a delicious, flavorful, and amazing gumbo recipe. While not a classic gumbo recipe, it is always a crowd-favorite recipe.

How to Make Easy Gumbo Recipe

Ingredients

Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full listing of ingredients, instructions, notes, and estimated nutritional information.

For this recipe, you’ll need a whole chicken, butter, onion, celery, bell pepper, okra, garlic, smoked sausage, smoked ham, diced tomatoes, diced tomatoes with peppers, navy beans, Ole Bay seasoning, bay leaves, chicken stock, raw shrimp, and cooked white rice.

Step-by-Step Instructions

  • Place the chicken into a large Dutch oven. Cover with water plus about 2 inches. Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer for about 2 hours. Remove chicken from water and set aside to cool. Add butter, onion, celery, bell pepper, okra, and garlic to chicken stock.
  • Pull the chicken from the bone and add back to the stock. Add in the sliced Polish sausage, and ham. Cook for about 10 minutes to allow all the juices to be incorporated.
  • Pour in diced tomatoes and diced tomatoes with peppers. Smash Navy beans with a fork while in the can and then pour them into the Dutch oven along with Ole Bay seasoning and bay leaves.
  • Bring to a boil and stir in additional chicken stock. Cook for 10-15 minutes and then stir in shrimp. Cook until shrimp has turned pink, about 5 more minutes.
  • Remove bay leaves from the Dutch oven and Dutch oven from the heat. Serve over rice (optional) or by itself.
Gumbo | ©addapinch.com

Recipe Variations

Shorten the cooking time. I’ve included cooking the whole chicken for this recipe. That causes the recipe cooking time to be over 2 hours. However, don’t shy away from this recipe because of that. To make this recipe more quickly, switch out rotisserie chicken and take a look at the notes section of the recipe card for the changes in how to prepare it. It takes this recipe from the two-plus hours down to about 30 minutes!

Gumbo | ©addapinch.com

You may also want to try my quick shrimp and sausage gumbo recipe. It is delicious, too!

Here’s our Gumbo recipe. I can’t wait to hear how you like it.

Gumbo Recipe

4.84 from 6 votes
Gumbo makes a delicious meal anytime of the year. Get this wonderful recipe, along with the quick-fix version for an amazing Gumbo you’ll love to make!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 40 minutes
Servings: 10

Ingredients 

  • 1 (2-3) pound whole chicken
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 2 medium onion, diced
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 2 bell pepper, deseeded and diced
  • 2 cups sliced okra
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 pound smoked sausage, cut into 1-inch slices
  • 1 cup diced smoked ham
  • 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, , with juices
  • 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes with peppers, , with juices
  • 1 (10-ounce) can Navy beans
  • 2 tablespoons Ole Bay seasoning
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 cups chicken stock or broth,
  • 1 pound raw small shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cleaned
  • 4 cups cooked white rice, optional

Instructions 

  • Place chicken into a large Dutch oven. Cover with water plus about 2 inches. Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer for about 2 hours. Remove chicken from water and set-aside to cool. Add butter, onion, celery, bell pepper, okra, and garlic to chicken stock.
  • Pull chicken from the bone and add back to the stock. Add in Polish sausage, and ham. Cook for about 10 minutes to allow all the juices to incorporate.
  • Pour in diced tomatoes and diced tomatoes with peppers. Smash Navy beans with a fork while in the can and then pour into the Gumbo along with Ole Bay seasoning and bay leaves.
  • Bring Gumbo to a boil and stir in additional chicken stock. Cook for 10-15 minutes and then stir in shrimp. Cook until shrimp has turned pink, about 5 more minutes.
  • Remove bay leaves from the Gumbo and the Dutch oven from the heat. Serve Gubmo over rice (optional) or by itself.

Notes

Alternately, you may use a rotisserie chicken rather than cooking a whole chicken, if desired. If doing so, I recommend the following changes to recipe: Heat Dutch oven over medium heat. Melt butter and add onion, celery, bell pepper, okra and garlic. Saute until tender, about 3-5 minutes. Continue with remaining steps of the original recipe and add 4 cups of chicken stock to Gumbo when recipe calls for 2 cups. Using rotisserie chicken will reduce cooking time by 2 hours.

Nutrition

Calories: 408kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 30g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 157mg | Sodium: 1016mg | Potassium: 543mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 558IU | Vitamin C: 28mg | Calcium: 71mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Enjoy!
Robyn xo

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About Robyn

Robyn Stone is a cookbook author, wife, mom, and passionate home cook. Her tested and trusted recipes give readers the confidence to cook recipes the whole family will love. Robyn has been featured on Food Network, People, Southern Living, and more.

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Recipe Review




46 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I absolutely love this recipe! I’m making it today for about the 5th time. I will be serving it at an upcoming party.
    Thank you so much!

  2. You people read too fast, all the correct input is there. Go back and you will see. I had no trouble following all ingredients and when to add.

  3. This is a great Recipe I am Diabetic and I can eat this ,I am glad it’s not spicy because my digestive system can’t handle it so thank you for posting it .

    1. I used a 5 quart stock pot and it worked just fine for me. Love how simple the recipe is. I’m making it again tomorrow for Sunday dinner. 

  4. 5 stars
    This was awesome. I made it tonight for dinner and was so happy I tried it. I did a couple minor tweaks but a great base recipe to go off of!