Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Chicken & Andouille Gumbo
A dark-roux gumbo built on the holy trinity, simmered with smoky sausage and served over rice.
Cajun-Creole · advanced · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 90 min
~855 cal · 44g protein · 59g carbs · 47g fat · 3g fiber · 3g sugars · 11g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Gumbo is Louisiana's whole tangled history simmered into a single pot, a dish that could exist nowhere else. Even its name tells the story: it comes from a West African word for (ki ngombo), one of the traditional thickeners, and the dish layers that African heritage with French technique and Native American ingredients.
Those three strands are all present at once. The French contributed the , flour and fat cooked slowly to a deep brown; enslaved and free West Africans brought and much of the soul of the cooking; and the Choctaw contributed file powder, ground sassafras leaves used to thicken and flavour. Chicken and smoky andouille sausage make this a Creole-Cajun staple.
The is where cooks stake their pride: the darker you dare to take it, stirred patiently toward the colour of chocolate without letting it burn, the deeper and nuttier the gumbo. Ladled over rice, it is the definitive taste of Louisiana and one of America's greatest regional dishes.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut- and egg-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
1.5 lbs chicken thighs
12 oz andouille sausage, sliced
2/3 cup all-purpose flour (for the )
2/3 cup
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 cup , sliced
6 cups chicken or vegetable
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp Cajun seasoning
2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
to taste salt and black pepper
to taste hot sauce, to serve
2 bay leaves
a handful , to finish
optional filé powder, to finish
Hard to find? a few extra okra pods in the pot - covers file's thickening job; its sassafras, root-beer earthiness has no stand-in, so the pot becomes a fine okra gumbo instead
4 cups cooked white rice
Instructions
1
Make the roux: whisk the oil and flour in a heavy pot over medium-low heat, stirring near-constantly, for 25 to 40 minutes, until it reaches the colour of melted milk chocolate and darker.
✎ Chef’s note
The roux is the soul of gumbo and it can scorch in seconds. Stir constantly, keep the heat moderate, and do not walk away: a burnt roux must be thrown out and restarted. It tells you where it is by smell, going from raw flour to toasted popcorn to nutty coffee.
2
Add the onion, pepper, and celery straight into the hot roux (it will sizzle and stop the browning) and cook 5 minutes, then the garlic, thyme, cayenne, and parsley for a minute more.
✎ Chef’s note
Those three vegetables have a name in Louisiana: the holy trinity. Adding them cold to the hot roux is also what stops it cooking any further, which is why they go in the instant the colour is right.
3
Whisk in the stock gradually, then add the seasoning, bay leaves, sausage, and chicken (or beans).
4
Simmer uncovered for 45 minutes, skimming, then add the okra for the last 20 minutes.
5
Pull out and shred the chicken, return it to the pot, and season.
6
Serve over rice with scallions and a dusting of file powder.
South Louisiana Cajun home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Louisiana. Louisiana simmers Cajun and Creole soul, gumbo, jambalaya, and étouffée built on the 'holy trinity' of onion, celery, and pepper. French, African, and Spanish roots meet in the roux-thickened pot.
🗺️
United States. American cooking is regional and migration-shaped, Lowcountry shrimp and grits, Tex-Mex, New England seafood, Cajun gumbo, and Californian produce. Indigenous, African, European, Latin, and Asian traditions collide into a constantly reinventing national table.
🌍
North America. Almost every regional cooking here records who arrived and on what terms. Enslaved West Africans brought rice, okra, black-eyed peas and the techniques behind Lowcountry and Creole food; Chinese railway labour and later Italian, Jewish, Mexican and Vietnamese arrivals built the way the cities eat; and Indigenous foodways sit underneath all of it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Whisk.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Chicken & Andouille Gumbo?
A dark-roux gumbo built on the holy trinity, simmered with smoky sausage and served over rice.
Where does Chicken & Andouille Gumbo come from?
Chicken & Andouille Gumbo is a Cajun-Creole dish from Louisiana, United States.
Can Chicken & Andouille Gumbo be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Chicken & Andouille Gumbo recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Chicken & Andouille Gumbo safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Chicken & Andouille Gumbo take to make?
About 120 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 90 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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