This is a great dish! Don't let it intimadate you. I use chicken breast instead of awhole chicken. Smoked sausage instead of andouille, because the andouille is really too spicy for my young children, and shrimp. I also don't use the file powder, and I still get rave reviews! It's my 'go to' dish these days for guests. Everyone thinks it must be hard to make,but it is really so simple!Thanks

This recipe is really great. Only thing different I did was add onion, garlic & used a can of Rotel tomatoes instead on Italian style. Also added some crawfish because I love it. I have even made it with a bone-in boston butt that was left over. Excellent recipe, just added things I really like to it. And no one says gumbo is a "quick fix meal". If you want it to turn out right you have to do it the right way with no shortcuts or substitutions just to save time, not fair to complain in a review when you dont do it the right way to begin with. This is an excellent recipe, thank you for sharing.

To start off, I made the roux in the microwave using the following method: mix 3/4 cups of oil and flour in a glass measuring cup and microwave on high, uncovered, for 6 to 7 minutes. Check and stir at 6 minutes and continued cooking on high for up to a minute more to reach the desired color brown. Add 1 cup celery and 2 cups chopped green bell pepper to roux and cook on high for 3 minutes more. Add 4 cloves garlic, minced and 2 Tbsp. dried parsley and saute on high for 2 minutes more. Voila! perfect roux mixed with veggies in less than 15 minutes and practically no stirring. I also cooked the gumbo in the slow cooker on low for 6 hrs adding 1 cup non-instant rice in last hour. I used smoked sausage, 1 1/2 lbs. boneless chicken, didn't precook the okra (I used frozen), used 14.5 oz can of Italian stewed tomatoes, and added 1/2 lb. cooked shrimp with the rice. I kept the spices the same except for the red pepper; I used 1/8 tsp. The results were wonderful, but beware this recipe makes a big batch. Don't know if I'll be making this again b/c it was a lot of work. Anyway, thanks for posting even though I altered the recipe quite a bit. BTW served with Corn Casserole II from this site.

It was decent gumbo. Put the okra in the last 10 minutes of cooking or it will fall apart.

Loved this. Next time I'm making it with shrimp, crab and sausage. Oh and you forgot the ONION!! (the trinity...onion, celery and bell pepper) It was also a little bland so I added a few tablespoons of Cajun Seasoning.

I threw everything into the pot at once, using frozen kielbasa, frozen okra, and frozen broth and chicken I had put away. This made the recipe VERY quick and easy. Cutting back on the meat made the recipe low calorie and fairly healthy, too.

I've been making this recipe for at least 5 years now -it is awesome! I am revising my last review due to my frustration with subsequent reviews. Please, don't "short cut" this one with canned stock and chicken breasts. Seriously, I've made it both ways. Its good "short-cutted", but it is unbelievable if made using the stewed chicken and broth. The only changes I make are to add onion and to brown the sausage before adding to reduce the fat.

I made this one yesterday. It was my first time ever making gumbo, but WOW! It was total success. I also made alterations to the recipie. I used part of Emeril's Chicken and Sausage Gumbo recipie and used the trinity (onions, bell pepper, and celery). Added 3 cloves of garlic too. My fiance likes his gumbo THICK so you can eat it with a fork. I added an extra pound of chicken, and instead of half a cup of flour and half a cup of oil, Emeril used 1 cup of oil and 1 cup of flour for extra thickness. Roux turned out great, but was time consuming. Being a gumbo lover, I understand that this is the most crucial part of making gumbo so it was okay. I also omitted the tomatoes, because homestyle Lousiana Gumbo usually does not have tomatoes. I also used Tony Chechrerre's instead of the seasoning mix and I used Earl Campbell's spicy sausage instead of andoullie. Also, omitted the okra cause fiance does not like it. My fiance said it could have used more salt, but I am sick (can't taste too much now) and would rather under season it than over season it. He gave it two thumbs and a big toe up. I say that it's a great base for a recipie, but the whole point of cooking is too make it your own. Stop following recipies to the T. Sometimes you have to freestyle a bit to get recipies (especially soul food) the way you want it.

Cher Christine, you cannnot have a proper Cajun dish without the "Trinity", i.e., ONIONS, celery and bell peppers. I would saute the trinity for a few minutes, adding the Pope (garlic) about half way through before adding the tomatos. Adding file powder to hot gumbo 15 minutes before serving will make a some thick dish.

good stuff

this is very good gumbo. although many simply taste like thin red beans and rice, this actually has a really nice flavor to it. dont saute the okra, but cook the sauage in its place. food is love and this recipe shows it...

This is a great recipe with a little tweaking. I used a whole chicken cut up, 1 bag of frozen sliced okra (I skip that part where the okra had to be cooked, I think it's unnecessary) I add a 28 oz can of whole tomatoes - crushed, added a chopped onion, I double all the spices, Double the sausage, slice the sausage and brown it (you can also use Italian Hot sausage and it turns out great, if not better) then I also add about 6 cups more chicken stock. With these changes this is probably the best gumbo I've ever had. Thanks for sharing.

Great recipe, I knew how to make Gumbo just had problems with my Roux, lots of great additions, the only additions I added was Crab and Shrimp...mmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmm GOOD!!!

This was delicious! I did make a few changes. I started out with maybe one to two strips of bacon that I chopped up in the pan. Added one med onion (we love onion) and the okra once the bacon had browned a bit. Made the oil and flour in a separate pan and added the stock to that pan then poured it all into my big dutch oven with the bacon, onion, okra mix. then added the rest of the ingredients as listed. I did use orange pepper instead of green and I also added about 1/2 head of green cabbage that I chopped up since I am always trying to get in more veggies. Did not use the File Powder as I didn't have any but did sprinkle in some Wondra Flour towards the end. Also didn't add the tsp of Cayenne, just a sprinkling as the Andouille was spicy and I didn't want to over do the heat. Served over long grain brown rice which I cooked in the remaining chicken stock. Very Good and got rave reviews from guests and hubby.

The spices in this recipe are great. It was easy to alter it slightly for our tender mouths - we just used smoked sausage instead of andouille which is a little too hot for us. I did add like 5-6 drops of hot sauce for that underlying 'kick of taste'. I cut down time spent by using chicken tenders. Browned them lightly with a mirepoix (carrots/onions/celery)and then added the rest of the ingredients. Also a can of fireroasted tomatoes and garlic in with the italian added another depth of flavor. Super nice recipe - we served it with Sweet Thai Black Rice - and it's mildly nutty flavor and color really added awesome visual and flavor interest.

Now this is the best comfort recipe ever! Spicy and good!

Everyone LOVED this.

This recipe was alright. It came out way too spicy for my husband and I and we both love spicy foods. I actually had to add milk at the end to try and cut the spiciness.

Very good recipe. I made a few modifications, based on the spices I had on hand and left out the okra. I definitely agree that it's worth the time to brown the roux properly--I say as dark as you can get without burning it! I think I took between 30 and 45 minutes to accomplish this, with the heat a little lower than medium.