Creole Seafood Gumbo Recipe

Here it is, the final step in making gumbo. Take all of your hard work and prep and put it all together to make the final dish. Authentic New Orleans-style gumbo.

One thing to remember is to add your seafood and pulled chicken last. We want the seafood perfectly tender to be cooked through. And since the chicken is already cooked, we do not want it to be mushy and stringy.

As always, have fun! And may this dish become a part of your holiday repertoire�as it is with my family? After making gumbo and following the steps, you will see how easy it is and how you wish you had tackled this classic New Orleans dish sooner.

This is day 2. Let your stock simmer and gather all your meats.

Creole Seafood Gumbo Recipe

Ingredients:

Ingredients for Seafood Stock:

  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 cup yellow or white onion cut in half
  • 2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
  • 1 carrot roughly chopped
  • 1 head garlic, split in half
  • 1 pound shrimp shells
  • 4 sprigs thyme
  • 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
  • 1 lemon halved
  • 1 whole bay leaf

Ingredients for Fixin’s:

  • 1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 3 blue crabs cut into 4 pieces
  • 1 pound andouille sausage, sliced
  • 1 stalk celery diced
  • 1 green bell pepper, diced
  • 1 onion diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 rotisserie chicken meat pulled
  • 1 cup ham, roughly chopped

Instructions:

Seafood Stock

  1. Heat oil in a large pot over moderate heat. Add onions, celery, carrots, leeks, and garlic. Cook for about 3 minutes. Add the shrimp shells, thyme, black peppercorns, lemon and bay leaf and cover with 4 quarts of water. Reduce heat and let simmer for at least 2 hours. Strain through a fine sieve into a container. Let stock cool, cover, and refrigerate.

Fixin’s

  1. Gather all ingredients and individually place them in their separate containers.
  2. All meat can be stored together, except the chicken. Put that in last, we do not want it getting overcooked!
  • 3 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or leaves from 3 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 lemon cut in half
  • 1 capful crab boil
  • A few dashes of Louisiana hot sauce
  • fresh ground black pepper
  • basic creole seasoning spices Season to taste. Start off with 1 teaspoon.
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce Season to taste. Start off with 1 teaspoon.
  • kosher salt to taste Season to taste. Start off with 1/2 teaspoon
  1. Add the 3 tablespoons of oil to a heavy-bottomed cast-iron skillet. Add your celery, green bell peppers, onions, and garlic, and stir with a wooden spoon for 5 minutes.
  2. Add prepared roux to skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue stirring roux and vegetables for about 5 minutes.
  3. Start building your roux by adding your fixin’s. Blue crabs, meats (sausage, ham, gizzards). Add 3 quarts of stock to pot, thyme, bay leaves, crab boil, and lemon. (make sure to not get any seeds in the gumbo)
  4. Bring Gumbo to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 45-55 minutes. Stirring occasionally and skimming any fat from the surface.
  5. Remove lemon and add shrimp, rotisserie chicken, hot sauce, black pepper, creole seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, and salt.
  6. Garnish with crab meat and green onions.