Give our Vegan Chicken and Sausage Gumbo a try for your next weekend project or special occasion!
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⚜️WHAT IS GUMBO?
There isn’t a more quintessential Louisiana dish than gumbo. Gumbo is a stew popular in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is typically ladled into a bowl and served with a scoop of rice on top. The two most common types of gumbo are seafood and non-seafood gumbos. The most popular non-seafood gumbo contains a combination of chicken and sausage, which is the inspiration for our recipe.
You should also know there probably isn’t another dish like gumbo the world over. Gumbo draws influence from African, French, Spanish, German, and Native American culinary traditions. The name “gumbo” comes from the West African word for okra, which suggests the original recipe for the dish was made with okra–a staple ingredient in African cooking. Filé powder–the dried and ground leaves of the sassafras tree–is often used to thicken gumbo. This ingredient is a contribution of the Chocktow Native Americans. In addition, “The Holy Trinity” of diced onions, celery and bell pepper has its origins in French cuisine. If you’ve ever had a taste of gumbo, you know it tastes like a melting pot!
💜 THE HOUSTON-NEW ORLEANS CONNECTION
In 2005, 250,000 people fled New Orleans for our hometown of Houston during the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Many of our friends and colleagues are among the 40,000 who stayed. We’ve been making the New Orleans Creole Gumbo recipe on Allrecipes for years. We are pleased to inform you that our adapted vegan version of this recipe has the stamp of approval from New Orleans natives.
💭 WHAT IS A ROUX?
Gumbo is one of our absolute favorite dishes to make. It’s a labor of love that starts with a characteristic dark roux. (That is, unless you live along the Gulf Coast, where pre-made roux is sold in grocery stores…in which case, lucky you!).
Real talk, gumbo literally begins and ends with your roux, which just so happens to be the most labor-intensive step to making the dish. Simply put, if your roux sucks, your gumbo will suck. So let’s talk about rouxs for a sec, shall we?
A roux (pronounced “roo”) is a fancy French term that means equal parts fat and flour cooked together and used as a thickening agent and/or flavor base for sauces, soups and stews, and the like. Butter is the fat traditionally used in French cuisine, and French cuisine is the backbone of Creole cooking.
🥣 HOW DO YOU MAKE A ROUX?
To make a roux, you melt your fat of choice in a pan, add flour, and cook–stirring constantly–until the desired color is reached. Rouxs vary in color from white to black, depending on the intended purpose. A light roux, for example, would be used to add richness to a sauce. Dark rouxs, however, are characteristic in Creole cookery. The darker the roux, the richer and nuttier the flavor. The color we are aiming for, for our gumbo is a deep brick red color. Achieving this color roux will require at least 20 minutes of constant stirring. The tricky part will be knowing when you’ve reached your desired color roux. If you cook your roux too long, it will burn. And guess what? You will have to start over 😩 So as a color reference, take a look at this jar of pre-made dark roux.
“THE HOLY TRINITY”
To the finished roux, you add an aromatic flavor base of diced onion, celery, and bell pepper–also known as “The Holy Trinity”. The Trinity–as it is also called–is a hallmark of Louisiana cooking. The Trinity is a derivative of the French mirepoix (pronounced “meer-pwa”), which is composed of diced onion, celery, and carrot.
💡RECIPE TIPS
For our vegan take on gumbo, we make the classic chicken and sausage version. We use jackfruit instead of chicken, as well as vegan sausages. Andouille sausage—which is a smoked Cajun sausage—is traditional, but we think the Field Roast Mexican Chipotle Sausages come closest in flavor (yes, even more so than Tofurky’s vegan andouille).
We also throw in vegan beef bouillon cubes and vegan Worcestershire sauce for added depth of flavor. Edward & Sons is our favorite brand of vegan bouillon cubes. If you can’t find vegan Worcestershire sauce, you can substitute soy sauce or tamari.
Lastly, to the traditional Trinity, we throw in carrots. Because, why not? It’s not traditional, but we always have carrots on hand. We could all use an added dose of beta carotene, right? 🥕
Make sure to check out our quick process video in Instagram Reels below. Enjoy!
-Val & Mani
DID YOU MAKE OUR VEGAN CHICKEN AND SAUSAGE GUMBO?
Did you make this recipe? We’d love to hear about it! Please comment and leave a 5-star🌟 rating below. Share your dish with us on Instagram and tag us @plantbased.passport. We would love to seeing your delicious creations! Still hungry? Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Pinterest for more global vegan recipes and travel tips!🍴✈️
💕 MORE VEGAN SOUP AND STEW RECIPES:
👩🏽🍳 RECIPE
Vegan Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
Ingredients
- 2 15-oz can young green jackfruit, drained, deseeded and sliced
- 1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning blend (such as Tony Chachere’s), divided
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or other neutral-flavored oil
- ½ cup all purpose AP flour
- ½ cup vegan butter
- ½ cup celery chopped
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 medium bell pepper chopped
- 3 carrots peeled & chopped
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 lb vegan sausage sliced
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 2 vegan beef bouillon cubes
- 1 teaspoon organic white sugar
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce such as Tabasco, or to taste
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1 14.5 ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes
- 10 oz fresh or frozen okra sliced
- 1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce or substitute soy sauce or tamari
- 2 teaspoon gumbo filé powder
- Steamed white rice to serve
- Green onions sliced, to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. On a lined baking sheet, arrange jackfruit. Whisk together avocado oil with 1 teaspoon of Creole seasoning and poultry seasoning. Pour mixture over jackfruit and toss to coat evenly. Bake for 20 minutes and set aside.
- Make a roux by whisking the flour and butter together in a large pot over medium-low heat to form a smooth mixture. Cook the roux, whisking constantly, until it turns a rich brick red. This can take 20 to 30 minutes. Whisk constantly or the roux will burn. Remove from heat and continue whisking until mixture stops cooking.
- Place the celery, carrots, onion, green bell pepper, and garlic into the work bowl of a food processor, and pulse until the vegetables are very finely chopped. Stir the vegetables into the roux. Cook over medium-low heat, until vegetables are tender—about 10 to 15 minutes. Add in sausage and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the vegetable broth and beef bouillon cubes and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and mix in the sugar, hot sauce, 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning, bay leaves, thyme, and diced tomatoes. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.
- Mix in jackfruit, okra and Worcestershire sauce, and simmer until flavors have melded–about 30 more minutes. Just before serving, stir in gumbo filé powder. Season with salt, pepper, and hot sauce, to taste.
- To serve, ladle gumbo into bowls, place a scoop of rice on top of the gumbo, and garnish with green onions. Enjoy!
This gumbo rocked my socks off. THANK YOU.
The roux was not as hard as I thought it would be to make. It was worth the effort. Really delicoius.