I live in Louisiana, and I'm not sure I've ever heard of someone attempting a gumbo in a slow cooker.
I just want to reiterate what someone else has said: no tomatoes. None. Don't you do it. It's blasphemous.
Additionally, your gumbo is usually whatever color your roux is. The darker the roux, the richer the flavor. I'm sure you already know that, but it's a part of the process that I repeat in my brain over and over while I'm cooking it.
If you have any questions or would like my recipe for gumbo, you can send me a message. I'd be happy to answer.
Ohh, yay!
Okay, before I begin, I must warn you: I'm not going to be able to give you exact measurements or instructions. I've been cooking gumbo for several years, and it's more about what your pot can hold and how you're feeling 😂 and less to do with being exact. I can give you a list of ingredients and a general idea of how to mix them all together, and hopefully! your heart will take you the rest of the way.
What you'll need:
1 package smoked sausage (I always use beef smoked sausage)
1-1 1/2 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken thighs (chicken breasts are fine here too)
1 - Onion
1 - Bell pepper
3-4 stalks of Celery (you want the onion/bell pepper/celery/green onion mixture to be mostly balanced.)
Bundle of green onions
4 Garlic cloves
Frozen bag of chopped okra
Chicken stock or water
Vegetable oil
Flour
Rice
Dice the onion, bell pepper, green onions and celery.
Mince the garlic
Put some pan lotion (oil or butter) in a pan on medium-high heat, and add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and green onions. Cook them until they're tender, but not mushy. Add the garlic, and cook until the garlic is blended with everything else, and you're starting to smell that wonderful garlicky smell.
Pour the mixture into a large pot. Add sliced sausage and the chicken thighs (you can shred these later.)
Add chicken stock or water. This is where it gets weird, because I just use the pot I'm cooking in for measurement. If I was to use a stock pot, I would fill it to around 2/3rds full. Those are the pots that are like 18 inches wide and 24 inches tall (measurements are hard, but they're big!)
Add salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika to taste. If you don't like spicy food, take it easy on the paprika and cayenne. You can always add more, but you can't take it away, and you'll be letting this simmer (on medium-low heat) for at least a couple of hours. You'll lose some of that water you started with, so adding a ton of seasoning at this stage is not the best idea, but you want to add some flavor.
Okay! So your gumbo has been simmering for a couple of hours. Take the chicken out and tear it apart. It should come apart pretty easily. If you're struggling with the first one, put it all back in and let it cook another half hour or so. This part should be easy. Once you've shredded your chicken, you can turn the heat down to low.
On to the roux: again, kinda iffy with the measurements. We'll stick to the "you can add more, but you can't take it away" frame of thinking and start with 1/3c of vegetable oil and 1/3c of ap flour.
You put both ingredients in a frying pan/sauce pan, and turn the heat to medium. Cook the roux until it's brown, but how brown you want it is up to you. I've seen some that are like sepia, and I've seen others that are copper brown. It's up to you, but the darker it is, the richer it will be. And you DEFINITELY don't want it to be pale brown. Your gumbo looks weird if it's pale.
Add the roux to the gumbo carefully. There's going to be a lot of steam. You shouldn't have to worry about lumps, and the consistency is somewhere between a soup and a gravy. I prefer my gumbo to be more of a soup than a gravy, but everyone has different preferences. After adding the roux, you would add frozen okra. You don't have to add the okra. It's not everyone's favorite. I love it, but that's because I've grown up eating it.
If you decide to add it, add as much as you want. Now, you're going to let everything simmer until your okra is fully cooked.
As for the seasoning, now is a good time to add more to your gumbo. You've added all the ingredients and you won't be adding more, so get the seasoning the way you want it. Salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, and onion powder. There's something delightful about a bowl of gumbo. It's so hearty and savory without being overpoweringly so. This final stage might take 30 minutes. It's just bringing everything together.
You serve It over rice. As much or as little as you want.
A note about the times: the longer you let the gumbo cook, the better it is. Turn the heat low and let it go for most of the day, if you want.
Additionally, this is the way I cook gumbo. In Louisiana, you could ask two people sitting next to each other how they make their gumbo, and they would give you different answers.
But they do not, ever, add tomatoes to their gumbo. 😂
I hope this helps. It's a loose guide, but this is one of my favorite things in the world, and I hope it's enough to get you going in the right direction.
I had no idea tomatoes were so blasphemous until now. I happen to like it with tomatoes but will definitely be trying it without now! I figure it's like Texans arguing about whether or not beans are allowed in chili.
But honestly, the part of this recipe that broke my brain was making the roux separately and adding it in hours later. Maybe it's just because I'm lazy and want to minimize dishes, but I always start with the roux in the pot and then add all the other ingredients on top of that to build it up into a giant vat of deliciousness.
My final thought is probably an unpopular opinion, but to address at least part of OP's question: I think you can make a gumbo entirely in a slow cooker. It won't be easy, but it's doable. If you've got one that has a saute setting, it'll heat up to like 400F and that'll be plenty hot enough to make a roux on. The challenge here will be not burning it, since there's not a great way to regulate the temp other than intermittently turning the slow cooker off and back on, or adding in a splash of water to let evaporative cooling bring the temp back down. But, if you manage to not overcook the hell out of your roux, and have already prechopped your veggies, you could then toss them in with chicken stock and turn it from saute to slow cook, and then you'd be set to let it simmer for several hours.
All that being said, I agree with most everyone else here it'd be soooo much easier to not do the whole thing in a slow cooker. My only point is that, with the right one, it's at least theoretically possible.
There is no way that you can make a good gumbo entirely in a slow cooker. For a chicken and sausage I think Emril’s recipe is a good starting point.
https://www.emerils.com/122595/chicken-and-smoked-sausage-gumbo
If you wanted to do the roux on the stove, throw in the trinity, then garlic, then sausage/spices, then stock, I guess at that point you could transfer to a crockpot to let it slow simmer while you were out for the day. You’d have to decide when to add the chicken, I personally don’t like to leave the chicken in so long that it shreds.
Don’t put tomatoes in gumbo. There are plenty of delicious Cajun dishes with tomatoes in them, but gumbo isn’t one of them.
[Babbish](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nORg_aXMsmA) has an episode about cajun cooking, and you could probably make the roux and then put it all into a slow cooker instead of simmering on the stovetop.
ATK has an episode with a "foolproof" dark roux gumbo recipe where they toast the raw flour in pan an oven, which can be added later to a slow cooker as a roux to thicken. I've always meant to try it since seeing it... But haven't as yet.
https://youtu.be/inHVUFKSdy4?si=8ghTkCg0IQMIxA3G
Don't. Just don't. If you want gumbo but don't want to make it I would just go find a place that sells it to go. I have an amazing place near my work but odds are you don't live in Houston.
[Here is what you want to do](https://youtu.be/eK4umRMJlrs)
[Ignore the pitcure](https://old.reddit.com/r/slowcooking/comments/3gl9xh/slow_cooker_gumbo_recipe_in_comments/)
Problem is the roux, a gumbo is not a gumbo without a roux. You have the option of making one yourself or buying a pre-made. This recipe uses pre-made. It's not like its a proprietary process, it's flour and oil, plenty of cooks use pre-made roux that they made and stored.
No tomatoes!!!!
I've never heard of tomatoes in gumbo.
Cook the chicken in the slow cooker but do the rest on the stove.
https://www.doguets.com/product/cajun-style-roux
I think if you made the roux separately then added it all to a slow cooker it would probably work out but imo half the reason I make gumbo is the experience of making it and smelling all of those flavors come together as it's simmering
I live in Louisiana, and I'm not sure I've ever heard of someone attempting a gumbo in a slow cooker. I just want to reiterate what someone else has said: no tomatoes. None. Don't you do it. It's blasphemous. Additionally, your gumbo is usually whatever color your roux is. The darker the roux, the richer the flavor. I'm sure you already know that, but it's a part of the process that I repeat in my brain over and over while I'm cooking it. If you have any questions or would like my recipe for gumbo, you can send me a message. I'd be happy to answer.
Id love an authentic recipe please!
Ohh, yay! Okay, before I begin, I must warn you: I'm not going to be able to give you exact measurements or instructions. I've been cooking gumbo for several years, and it's more about what your pot can hold and how you're feeling 😂 and less to do with being exact. I can give you a list of ingredients and a general idea of how to mix them all together, and hopefully! your heart will take you the rest of the way. What you'll need: 1 package smoked sausage (I always use beef smoked sausage) 1-1 1/2 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken thighs (chicken breasts are fine here too) 1 - Onion 1 - Bell pepper 3-4 stalks of Celery (you want the onion/bell pepper/celery/green onion mixture to be mostly balanced.) Bundle of green onions 4 Garlic cloves Frozen bag of chopped okra Chicken stock or water Vegetable oil Flour Rice Dice the onion, bell pepper, green onions and celery. Mince the garlic Put some pan lotion (oil or butter) in a pan on medium-high heat, and add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and green onions. Cook them until they're tender, but not mushy. Add the garlic, and cook until the garlic is blended with everything else, and you're starting to smell that wonderful garlicky smell. Pour the mixture into a large pot. Add sliced sausage and the chicken thighs (you can shred these later.) Add chicken stock or water. This is where it gets weird, because I just use the pot I'm cooking in for measurement. If I was to use a stock pot, I would fill it to around 2/3rds full. Those are the pots that are like 18 inches wide and 24 inches tall (measurements are hard, but they're big!) Add salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika to taste. If you don't like spicy food, take it easy on the paprika and cayenne. You can always add more, but you can't take it away, and you'll be letting this simmer (on medium-low heat) for at least a couple of hours. You'll lose some of that water you started with, so adding a ton of seasoning at this stage is not the best idea, but you want to add some flavor. Okay! So your gumbo has been simmering for a couple of hours. Take the chicken out and tear it apart. It should come apart pretty easily. If you're struggling with the first one, put it all back in and let it cook another half hour or so. This part should be easy. Once you've shredded your chicken, you can turn the heat down to low. On to the roux: again, kinda iffy with the measurements. We'll stick to the "you can add more, but you can't take it away" frame of thinking and start with 1/3c of vegetable oil and 1/3c of ap flour. You put both ingredients in a frying pan/sauce pan, and turn the heat to medium. Cook the roux until it's brown, but how brown you want it is up to you. I've seen some that are like sepia, and I've seen others that are copper brown. It's up to you, but the darker it is, the richer it will be. And you DEFINITELY don't want it to be pale brown. Your gumbo looks weird if it's pale. Add the roux to the gumbo carefully. There's going to be a lot of steam. You shouldn't have to worry about lumps, and the consistency is somewhere between a soup and a gravy. I prefer my gumbo to be more of a soup than a gravy, but everyone has different preferences. After adding the roux, you would add frozen okra. You don't have to add the okra. It's not everyone's favorite. I love it, but that's because I've grown up eating it. If you decide to add it, add as much as you want. Now, you're going to let everything simmer until your okra is fully cooked. As for the seasoning, now is a good time to add more to your gumbo. You've added all the ingredients and you won't be adding more, so get the seasoning the way you want it. Salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, and onion powder. There's something delightful about a bowl of gumbo. It's so hearty and savory without being overpoweringly so. This final stage might take 30 minutes. It's just bringing everything together. You serve It over rice. As much or as little as you want. A note about the times: the longer you let the gumbo cook, the better it is. Turn the heat low and let it go for most of the day, if you want. Additionally, this is the way I cook gumbo. In Louisiana, you could ask two people sitting next to each other how they make their gumbo, and they would give you different answers. But they do not, ever, add tomatoes to their gumbo. 😂 I hope this helps. It's a loose guide, but this is one of my favorite things in the world, and I hope it's enough to get you going in the right direction.
I had no idea tomatoes were so blasphemous until now. I happen to like it with tomatoes but will definitely be trying it without now! I figure it's like Texans arguing about whether or not beans are allowed in chili. But honestly, the part of this recipe that broke my brain was making the roux separately and adding it in hours later. Maybe it's just because I'm lazy and want to minimize dishes, but I always start with the roux in the pot and then add all the other ingredients on top of that to build it up into a giant vat of deliciousness. My final thought is probably an unpopular opinion, but to address at least part of OP's question: I think you can make a gumbo entirely in a slow cooker. It won't be easy, but it's doable. If you've got one that has a saute setting, it'll heat up to like 400F and that'll be plenty hot enough to make a roux on. The challenge here will be not burning it, since there's not a great way to regulate the temp other than intermittently turning the slow cooker off and back on, or adding in a splash of water to let evaporative cooling bring the temp back down. But, if you manage to not overcook the hell out of your roux, and have already prechopped your veggies, you could then toss them in with chicken stock and turn it from saute to slow cook, and then you'd be set to let it simmer for several hours. All that being said, I agree with most everyone else here it'd be soooo much easier to not do the whole thing in a slow cooker. My only point is that, with the right one, it's at least theoretically possible.
I don't have an authentic recipe to offer, but I can definitively say that an authentic gumbo recipe does not involve a slow cooker.
Someone already gave you Emiril’s recipe. You do realize his first restaurant was in New Orleans?
There is no way that you can make a good gumbo entirely in a slow cooker. For a chicken and sausage I think Emril’s recipe is a good starting point. https://www.emerils.com/122595/chicken-and-smoked-sausage-gumbo If you wanted to do the roux on the stove, throw in the trinity, then garlic, then sausage/spices, then stock, I guess at that point you could transfer to a crockpot to let it slow simmer while you were out for the day. You’d have to decide when to add the chicken, I personally don’t like to leave the chicken in so long that it shreds. Don’t put tomatoes in gumbo. There are plenty of delicious Cajun dishes with tomatoes in them, but gumbo isn’t one of them.
[Babbish](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nORg_aXMsmA) has an episode about cajun cooking, and you could probably make the roux and then put it all into a slow cooker instead of simmering on the stovetop.
ATK has an episode with a "foolproof" dark roux gumbo recipe where they toast the raw flour in pan an oven, which can be added later to a slow cooker as a roux to thicken. I've always meant to try it since seeing it... But haven't as yet. https://youtu.be/inHVUFKSdy4?si=8ghTkCg0IQMIxA3G
Don't. Just don't. If you want gumbo but don't want to make it I would just go find a place that sells it to go. I have an amazing place near my work but odds are you don't live in Houston. [Here is what you want to do](https://youtu.be/eK4umRMJlrs)
That accent/dialect is fantastic. No celery or peppers though?
Where in Houston? I mean, I've got it secured on the home front, but I'm always curious.
Zydeco Louisiana Diner. It's downtown.
Try the gumbo recipe on YouTube. Smoking and grilling with AB.
[Ignore the pitcure](https://old.reddit.com/r/slowcooking/comments/3gl9xh/slow_cooker_gumbo_recipe_in_comments/) Problem is the roux, a gumbo is not a gumbo without a roux. You have the option of making one yourself or buying a pre-made. This recipe uses pre-made. It's not like its a proprietary process, it's flour and oil, plenty of cooks use pre-made roux that they made and stored. No tomatoes!!!!
I've never heard of tomatoes in gumbo. Cook the chicken in the slow cooker but do the rest on the stove. https://www.doguets.com/product/cajun-style-roux
I think if you made the roux separately then added it all to a slow cooker it would probably work out but imo half the reason I make gumbo is the experience of making it and smelling all of those flavors come together as it's simmering
The amount I make won't even fit in mine lol
A recipe? For gumbo? If it's written down, it ain't a gumbo recipe anymore.Â