Turkey Gumbo
Smoked Turkey Gumbo with smoked sausage and shrimp is a slow cooked dish that is the kind of comfort food to warm you right up on a cold day.
Gumbo is a rich and hearty stew-like soup served over rice and a staple of Louisiana cuisine. It has become one of our very favorite comfort food meals and the perfect way to enjoy leftover smoked turkey.
Ingredients for Turkey Gumbo:
- Olive oil
- Onions
- Bell Peppers
- Celery
- Carrots
- Garlic
- Okra
- Smoked Turkey
- Smoked Sausage
- Shrimp
- Chicken Broth
- Oil or Butter
- Flour
- Brown Sugar
- Kosher Salt
- Onion Flakes
- Smoked Paprika
- Black Pepper
- Ground Cumin
- Cooked Rice for serving
- Parsley for garnish, optional
How to Make Gumbo:
- Dice the vegetables and cook in olive oil over medium heat. Carrots are not traditional in Gumbo but a few extra veggies won’t hurt anything and makes it a little more hearty.
- Cook until softened. Set aside.
- Make the roux by combining oil or butter and flour in a heavy sauce pan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Cook until roux becomes a dark peanut butter color. This will take about 30 to 40 minutes. Do not leave the roux unattended, it will easily burn and you will have to start over.
- Add broth, cooked vegetables and roux to a dutch oven or soup pan and mix well, cooking over medium-high heat.
- Stir in smoked turkey.
- Next, add smoked sausage slices.
- Mix brown sugar, salt and spices together. Brown sugar is not typically added to gumbo, but we love it and you’ll just have to try it. It’s not enough to make the gumbo sweet, it just balances out the flavor.
- Stir into gumbo, cooking until mixture comes to a low boil and starts to thicken, about 20 – 30 minutes.
- Lastly, stir in shrimp and lower to simmer.
- Stir often and simmer about 10 minutes until shrimp is cooked through.
- Serve over cooked rice.
Gumbo makes a big batch and gets even better the next day.
How to Store and Reheat:
Store in an airtight container like these handy deli containers in the refrigerator up to 3 days.
Freeze gumbo in a deli container or zip top freezer bag up to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator before reheating.
Reheat in a pan over medium heat, stirring often. Cook about 8- 10 minutes until heated through.
Gumbo Variations:
Gumbo is easily adapted to what you have on hand. It can be made with andouille sausage, brisket smoked sausage or smoked venison summer sausage is what we used in this recipe.
We used leftover smoked apple cider turkey but smoked chicken or any leftover turkey or chicken works great.
Shrimp, fish and crab meat are also common additions.
Spice up your gumbo with red pepper or add a little hot sauce when you serve it. We tend to prefer ours on the milder side but many folks like it spicy.
We are sure this isn’t like your grandma’s gumbo recipe and we wouldn’t dare to say that it is even a comparable version but it was delicious and filling on a cold day. So good that there might have been a scuffle over who got the last bowl the next day.
What to Serve with Gumbo:
We served our gumbo with Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits, cornbread or garlic bread are also great side dishes. I’ve heard that potato salad is another favorite to serve with gumbo.
If you are looking for some hearty and delicious comfort food, make a big pot of gumbo, it is so tasty and completely satisfying.
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Turkey Gumbo
Ingredients
for the roux
- 1 ½ cups butter or oil
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
for the gumbo
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cups diced bell peppers
- 3 cups diced onions
- 3 cups diced celery
- 2 cups sliced carrots
- 1 cup sliced okra
- ¼ cup minced garlic
- 4 quarts chicken or turkey broth
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons onion flakes
- 2 tablespoons black pepper
- 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 pound smoked turkey
- 1 pound smoked sausage sliced
- 1 pound shrimp peeled and deveined
- 4 cups Cooked rice for serving
- fresh parsley for garnish optional
Instructions
- Add oil or butter to a heavy saucepan with the flour. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring continually. Cook until roux is the color of dark peanut butter, about 30 - 40 minutes. Set aside.
- In a large dutch oven or soup pan, add olive oil, onions, celery, bell peppers, carrots, okra and garlic. Cook over medium heat until vegetables soften.
- Mix in broth and roux, mixing until well combined,
- Stir in smoked turkey and sliced smoked sausage and cook over medium- high heat until mixture comes to a low boil. Cook about 20 minutes or until thickened.
- Add shrimp and lower to simmer.
- Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until shrimp is cooked through.
- Serve over rice and garnish with parsley.
Brown Sugar? Carrots? At least you got the roux part correct.
I agree with KJunn. Carrots and Brown sugar don’t belong in a real Gumbo. Don’t post recipes that will make people think Cajun food isn’t good. Real Gumbo is outstanding and BTW, spicy, never mild.
You must have lost your mind – brown sugar and carrots. Call it a soup but not gumbo
This is an abomination against God. Brown sugar, carrots, how has no one mentioned cumin? The psychopath that wrote this recipe should be incarcerated immediately for the general safety of others.
You don’t make a gumbo with butter and flour….that makes a blond roux, mostly used for etoufee. For gumbo you use oil and flour to make a choclate colored roux. And you surely don’t use carrots and brown sugar. The normal ratio of the greens is simple: 1 cup onion to a half cup bell pepper and half cup celery. And there ain’t NO carrots or brown sugar in gumbo!!!!