Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo

If you’ve never had gumbo, you will love the rich flavor of this dish. I’m craving it right now just thinking about it. Our Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo freezer meal is bright, colorful and tasty with a little bit of heat and a whole lot of protein. It’s the kind of comforting, filling meals your family will ask for over and over again.

Gumbo is one of those meals that is just ideal for freezer meal food prep. Take a hint from the first paragraph, and prep several bags all at once to save you time later. If you can get the sausage on sale, that’s the perfect time to stock up and stock your freezer. You’ll get everything into the bag on a weekend, add it to your freezer stack, then come back and thaw it overnight, dumping it straight into a slow cooker on a busy weekday morning. Perfection in a bag.

If you want lots of recipes you can dump in a slow cooker, you’ll love our Freezer Meal Dump Stack Bundle. Not sure about the method yet? Give another recipe a whirl first — Easy Make Ahead Chicken Curry is one of our faves.

Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 lb. garlic sausage ring or chorizo or andouille sausage, sliced
• 1 onion diced
• 1 red bell pepper diced
• 2 stick celery chopped
• 3 clove garlic minced
• 28 oz. diced tomatoes
• 5 oz. tomato paste
• 2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp. thyme
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cup chicken broth
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• hot sauce to taste
• 1 cup frozen okra optional, chopped
• 1 lb. large shrimp raw, peeled and deveined

Ingredients for the Day of Cooking

• 3 Tbsp. butter optional, for day of cooking
• 1/4 cup flour optional, for day of cooking

How to Make Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo

Assembly Instructions

1. Add all ingredients except shrimp to a large resealable freezer bag, remove excess air, and seal.
2. Place shrimp in medium freezer bag.
3. Staple bags together above the seal and freeze.

Cooking Instructions

1. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
2. Place large bag ingredients in slow cooker and cook on low 6-7 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
3. Add shrimp in the last 30 minutes.
4. If cooking on high, add shrimp along with large bag contents.
5. Optional: Make a roux on the stovetop by melting 3 Tbsp. butter and adding 1/4 cup flour, whisking on medium heat until mixture becomes brown, about 4 minutes. Add the roux to the slow cooker towards end of cooking to thicken gumbo.
6. Serve gumbo over rice.

My roux didn’t work. How can I fix it?

The key to a roux is this. The longer you cook the roux, the more flavor it develops and the less thickening power it has. A light roux will thicken faster and more than a dark roux. The trick is to get the right balance because the roux does add flavor you want! If it didn’t thicken your gumbo at all you probably cooked it too long. You can also try adding it to the gumbo earlier next time.

This recipe is just a little too spicy for me. What are my options?

Try one of these options to tame the heat.

• Add brown sugar at the end of cooking. (up to a quarter cup)
• Add peanut butter at the end of cooking. (the fat helps absorb the heat).
• Add sour cream, Crème fraîche, or Greek yogurt to your plate.

The flavor falls just a little flat — what happened?

Tomato based sauces can do that, depending on the quality of the brand and the age of the product, how long it is cooked, etc. Add the juice of one lemon or a couple squirts of lemon juice from a bottle near the end of cooking to bring back that brightness you are missing.

Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo Recipe Ideas

If you use the okra in the recipe (it is optional) you may not need to thicken the gumbo since okra is a natural thickening agent.

Ancho chili powder, red pepper flakes, or more hot sauce are all in the right flavor space to bring more heat to this recipe. Alternatively, you can dice up a hot pepper such as jalepeno or habenero, remove the seeds, and add that to the crock pot. Wear gloves and take precautions not to touch your face while dicing peppers.

Use vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth if desired.

In addition to sausage and shrimp, you can add diced, boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts to this dish. This is an easy way to add a couple of servings at the end of a long day when friends get invited over by teens, neighbors pop by, or your adult child asks if they can drop by for dinner! Just dice and saute a chicken thigh for each extra person and add it to the crockpot.

How do I store Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo

Refrigerate the leftovers as soon as possible in an airtight container. The shrimp will only keep safely for one or two days. The flavor of the gumbo deepens over time, so this makes a great leftover meal for the next day and can be microwaved for reheating or the stovetop in a saucepan works too.

What to Serve with Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo

This is a one pot all in one meal and doesn’t need anything else, especially when served over rice as recommended. If you want to add something, hot crusty bread, biscuits, rolls, or cornbread all work really well. A rich creamy salad (ranch, Caesar, blue cheese) will be a nice contrast.

Print

Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

3 hrs

Total Time

3 hrs 15 mins

 

Servings: 6

Calories: 316 kcal

Ingredients

Ingredients for the Freezer Bags

• 1 lb. garlic sausage ring or chorizo or andouille sausage sliced
• 1 onion diced
• 1 red bell pepper diced
• 2 stick celery chopped
• 3 clove garlic minced
• 28 oz. diced tomatoes
• 5 oz. tomato paste
• 2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp. thyme
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cup chicken broth
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• hot sauce to taste
• 1 cup frozen okra optional chopped
• 1 lb. large shrimp raw peeled and deveined

Ingredients for the Day of Cooking

• 3 Tbsp. butter optional
• 1/4 cup flour optional

Instructions

Assembly Instructions

1. Add all ingredients except shrimp to a large resealable freezer bag, remove excess air, and seal.
2. Place shrimp in medium freezer bag.
3. Staple bags together above the seal and freeze.

Cooking Instructions

1. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
2. Place large bag ingredients in slow cooker and cook on low 6-7 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
3. Add shrimp in the last 30 minutes.
4. If cooking on high, add shrimp along with large bag contents.
5. Optional: Make a roux on the stovetop by melting 3 Tbsp. butter and adding 1/4 cup flour, whisking on medium heat until mixture becomes brown, about 4 minutes. Add to slow cooker towards end of cooking to thicken gumbo.
6. Serve gumbo over rice.