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American Recipes

The Best Gumbo I’ve Ever Had! | Chef Jean-Pierre



Hello There Friends, Gumbo is one of my favorite dishes to make and of course to EAT as well! This recipe was inspired by my late friend Paul Prudhomme who taught me all about Louisiana cuisine. I am excited to be able to teach you all about this recipe and help you cook it just like Paul did! This recipe goes out to Paul. We love and miss you. ❤️

RECIPE LINK: https://chefjeanpierre.com/recipes/mains/gumbo/
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VIDEOS LINKS:
How to Thicken Anything: https://youtu.be/6cL0Bir0ZqY
Rue Cajun Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UCah5krCsz92urBnWqJZiUfQ
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❤️ Signed copy Chef Jean-Pierre’s Cookbook: https://chefjp-com.3dcartstores.com/Cooking-101-Book_p_163.html
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OUR CHANNEL:
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CHEF’S WEBSITE:
https://www.chefjeanpierre.com/
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49 Comments

  1. Justin Stanley

    9:18 The smells that come off that hot roux when you drop that trinity in there is like a religious experience…Gumbo is just awesome, and there are 100 different ways to make it, but it all starts the same way…

  2. Anonymous Hero

    This is legitimately a great recipe. Buy a pasture-raised, air-chilled young chicken 3-4 pounds. Butcher it into 8 pieces. Make a brother with the carcass and neck – simmer it in water with onion, celery, garlic, carrot, salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, thyme. Simmer 4 hours skimming scum occasionally and adding water if the solids are sticking out (or just rearrange them so they aren't sticking out). Strain through a strainer and save the liquid as broth – in the fridge it will separate fat to the top, which you usually will want to remove. In a dutch oven, warm 1/2 cup'ish – 1/2 inch deep – of clarified butter or cooking oil. In a mixing bowl, put a cup or two of flour and season it generously with dried thyme, garlic, oregano, basil, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Dredge the 8 chicken pieces thoroughly in it. Fry them for 5-7 minutes on each side in the 1/2" of clarified buttter or oil. Remove them to a plate. Scrape the bottom of the pan then add 1/2 cup of the flour dredge and stir a lot. Then probably add another 1/2 cup of the flour mixture and stir continuously over low-medium heat for 30 minutes until dark brown then add a chopped large onion and stir for a few minutes. Add a few chopped stalks of celery and a couple bell peppers and stir. add a few diced cloves of garlic and some louisiana hot sauce (or cayenne pepper and a dash of vinegar) and stir. Add your 4 cups of chicken stock that you got from the 3-4lb young chicken and stir and jack up the heat. Once its simmering turn down the heat and let it go a little while. Meanwhile cook the sausages and peel the shrimp. I added the bone-in pieces of chicken during the last stage, then took them out and fork-scraped all the meat off them. Then add all the meats (back) in for a few minutes until the shrimp are orange. Turn heat off, taste and stir in some more seasoning/salt as needed, stir in 2 tablespoons of gumbo file, maybe a 3rd, then ready to serve with rice or potatoes topped with scallions. THE DEEP DARK ROUX AND THE GUMBO FILE ARE THE KEYS OF THE DISH. I FOUND GUMBO FILE AT MY LOCAL GROCERY STORE NOT NEXT TO THE SPICES BUT NEXT TO THE SEAFOOD.

  6. Patricia deakin

    I remember many years ago in my domestic science class, we were told if you want white roux you use wooden spoon, if you want a brown roux use a metal spoon!

  8. Natasha Terran

    I'd heard about the dish Gumbo but had never given it much thought. It was something eaten in the USA with roots in the South but that's all I knew. This looks delicious and I'm keen on trying out the dark roux as that's also something I've never done. I'm off shopping today, I will add the ingredients to the list, although some of the seasoning might be tricky to source here in Spain.

    Wish me luck!

  9. Joel Hansen

    Paul Prudhomme makes my favorite andouille sausage! It’s made with chopped meats rather than the minced or ground meat used by most of the other brands.

  11. Joey Fitzgerald

    Hi Chef,
    My dad comes from Louisiana Backwoods Cajun is he called himself. The only difference is is how he made his Roo he just took the flower put it in cast iron skillet Browned it, did it real slow it took quite some time to do it but you would get it to the dark brown color with no butter or oil and smell real nutty almost coffee smell. Here's your fresh chicken stock, but he would would switch it up you wouldn't make it a chicken, boudin sausage, we would also put in crab meat, clams, andouille sausage , shrimp and of course green onion,okra,and a 1/2 can of stewed tomatoes I really miss those days. I make it real close to him but of course he had the touch.

  13. Robert Worden

    one of my favorite recipes and your compound chicken version (from the master, Paul Prudhomme) was brilliantly presented. ANY home cook can reproduce this recipe, providing they FOLLOW THE RULE to NEVER take your eyes off the roux, Do that, and you are home. One of America's most complex and rewarding dishes explained with reverence, love and patience by our master-chef, Jean-Pierre. Thank You so much, merci beaucoup.

  15. Dan Webster

    I cooked some shrimp okra conecuh sausage gumbo tonight and my wife said it tasted like old school real deal back in the day gumbo.

  16. Sheilah Taylor

    You make the perfect roux color! Cajuns make it darker. But more liquid needed cause I use rice. I also like the clarified butter,instead of oil. Bravo🎉

  18. Ralf Zwanziger

    Did this last Saturday. Although I didn't find the Gumbo File Powder in all the shops I looked in, the dish was wonderful. Thank you for this recipe!

  20. BabyMakR

    My wife is allergic to shell fish. I know you say just leave it out, but could you replace the prawn with ordinary fish of some kind or would that fall apart and get lost? We both like fish and, like you, I think that seafood flavour is important for the dish.

  21. Ben Thompson

    Chef Jean-Pierre reminds me of the man who actually got me really interested in cooking. His name was Justin Wilson. He's dead now, he died a long time ago, this was back in the late 80s. He was on PBS. His claim to fame was his tag line. "I Gaaar aaahhhn teeee" He was always saying "I guarantee" in a long drawn out cajun accent. He'd tell stories when he was cooking. It was entertainment. Years later, I've been a Chef for my entire adult life, have a culinary degree from a major university, and one of my specialties is my Gumbo. So… when this guy says you need to stir your roux, LISTEN TO HIM! If you let it settle, it WILL BURN, and cannot be used. Roux can be used to thicken anything. New england clam chowder, use better for the roux, and only cook it 5 minutes or so, you want it light. There are blonde, medium, and dark roux. Blond for lighter things, like cream soups. Medium for something like pork or turkey gravy, or a bean soup. Dark for beef stew, gumbo, etc… Keep in mind what you're using the roux for. any fat or lipid can make a roux, equal parts fat and flour. So you could make a roux out of beef tallow for a beef stew, or oilive oil for tuscan bean soup, vegetable oil for a gravy. You want to pair the fat or lipid you're using to what you'll be thickening. So making a butter roux for baked beans wouldn't work too good, or a tallow roux for chicken corn chowder, etc… The roux is the second most important thing next to the stock.

  23. Moony Reel

    A thick gumbo is more like a stew. Gumbo I’m used to is more soupy and is added to rice to add texture, but your version looks delicious. I’d love to try it.

  24. Laura

    Being from Louisiana I give this a huge thumbs up !! Oh my my my how delicious chef .. I’m gonna print out ur recipe and make this .. have u thought abt doing a cookbook?? Just curious .. love ur channel .. ur the BEST 🎉🎉🎉

  28. Peter Avellaneda

    I can pretty much guarantee that’s delicious. He put like over 2 hours into it!! The only thing I could think it could use is some lime with tomato paste, and/or tomato sauce to add some acidity.

  29. Adrian C

    I'll give this recipe a try, but sage and thyme is hard to come by at my place, i search it up and it said to have kind of peppery taste

    been wondering if i can replace them with some ginger or any tropical substitutes?

  33. HyperactiveNeuron

    Paul Prudhomme was a legend. He will always be missed. He gave us gumbo Yaya too. We have a restaurant here named Gumbo Yaya and i think i need to go get a plate this week 😋

  34. Andrew Karl

    I’ve always made gumbo from my memories. Mine is great, but I may make some adjustments. Cheers.

  37. Mark K

    Chef JP is like my encyclopedia Britannica for cooking. Anytime I want to start exploring a new culinary tradition, I search here first. Gumbo!!

  38. palladin331

    Wonderful, Chef! I know gumbo comes in many different combinations, but I thought I'd pass along my mother's New Orleans gumbo. She was born there in 1914 and made her gumbo in a more French or German style. She reduced her tomatoes/onions/flour combination virtually to a red-brown paste, and then replaced the water. Then she added the shrimp and served over rice. Her mother also cooked a whole crab in the sauce for incredible flavor.

  41. Observer

    My mom, who was born and raised in Louisiana, got lucky about 65 years ago. She was in a grocery store in Louisiana and started a conversation with a lady about gumbo. My mom had been making gumbo for a few years but thought that she would like to try a different recipe. This lady was kind enough to share her recipe with my mom. It is a chicken and sausage gumbo…not a seafood gumbo. I'll say more about that later.
    To make a long story short, my mom passed the recipe down to all her children. Even though all of us in the family would go nuts with jubilation every time she made it while we were growing up, I didn't start making it myself until around 1988. The rest of the siblings and several of the grandchildren started making it between 2000 – 2010.
    How does it compare to other gumbos? I don't know exactly the comments others have given to different family members, so I will share what they have said to me. Basically, things such as: "I have been making gumbo for decades and I have never had gumbo this good." …or, "I was born and raised in Louisiana, and I have always had comments that my gumbo is the best they have ever had anywhere, but I am shocked out of my mind because your gumbo is not only the best I have ever had, it is by far better than mine."
    I could go on and on about the comments I have gotten from many different gumbo makers through the years. I am talking about people who prided themselves on being able to make gumbo better than anybody else on the planet. Here is something more amazing: Not once have I heard someone who hasn't had it previously say that my gumbo is not the best they have ever had after they tasted it.
    It is typical for them to say, "Oh my god" or, "You have got to be kidding me" or, "Never in a million years did I think I would ever taste better gumbo than my own."
    Now, am I bragging about my ability to make gumbo? I don't really feel that way because any knucklehead can make gumbo as good if they are willing to be patient and work hard. I normally make 36 quarts. Believe me, it took many years of experimenting for me to finally get the recipe correct for that much gumbo because my mom taught me how to make it while making 8 quarts.
    Why couldn't I just multiply what she made by 4.5 to get my recipe for 36 quarts? Because she never wrote down her recipe. It was always just in her head, the same way that mine has always been in my head. A few years before she passed away, she congratulated me for being able to turn it into such a large recipe. I told her that it took a lot of experimenting and frustration to finally get it right.
    I made 36 quarts for a church gathering about 12 years ago. My mom was there and told me that the gumbo I served that day was as good as any of the gumbo she had ever made. I disagreed and always told her that hers was the best in the world. I kid you not when I say that I used to eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner during the years I was trying to perfect the large recipe…and I never got tired of eating it.
    She died in late 2021. Sitting beside her hospital bed and weeping unto I couldn't cry anymore was the hardest thing I have ever endured. Not because we lost her as we had expected it for a few years. It was because she had fallen in her house a week before and broke a vertebra in her back. Consequently, she spent the last several days in terrible pain before she passed away.
    I never put bell peppers or celery in my gumbo. The darkness of the roux is relative, but I can say that I have never made it as light as Jean Pierre does. Mine is about the same as dark chocolate, whereas his is about as dark as milk chocolate. I am not faulting what he does because his is probably very tasty.
    The only way I ever add seafood to my gumbo is to put it in a smaller pot that we will consume that day. Why? Because seafood in gumbo tends to get rubbery and take on a bad taste if it is reheated. That bad taste also goes into the broth.
    On average, it takes me 13 hours to make my 36-quart gumbo recipe, which is done in three different pots. I freeze it after it has cooled and put it into gallon freezer baggies. I don't fill them all the way because I get 14-16 bags from the recipe. I don't put the rice in those baggies. It is pure gumbo. I fix the rice the day we want to eat it and just add it in. Whenever we want some gumbo, I take a bag out of the freezer, and it lasts my wife and me two days.

  42. X1 348

    Add Okra or it is not gumbo. Like making an onion soup and there is no onion. Gumbo = Okra.

  49. Luke Cluderay

    Am I the only person that see him put half cooked bloody chicken in the pot and then literally 10 seconds later he tasted the sauce for seasoning? Not something that I would want to do to be honest

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