30-Minute Gumbo has lots of flavor from a dark roux, andouille sausage, and chicken. It’s a one pot meal with the taste of New Orleans and it’s so quick and easy to make. It’s perfect for a weeknight dinner and , of course, Mardi Gras.

Partially Make In Advance

There are a few steps that need to be done in advance to make this 30-Minute Gumbo, but they can be done up to 3 months in advance and they will yield multiple pots of gumbo.

Premake a dry roux in the oven that can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 months. You’ll have enough to make this recipe 4 times.
Chop up the ingredients for your Holy Trinity (onion, celery, and green pepper) and freeze them.

30 Minute Gumbo with chicken and Andouille sausage

Dark Flavorful Oven-Baked Roux

The flavor of gumbo comes from the roux and in order to make a richly flavored gumbo, you need to cook the roux until dark, and that is very time-consuming. It can easily take 30 to 40 minutes just to make a dark roux.

But there’s a way around that. An easy oven-baked roux. I had never tried one until I saw this recipe in Louisiana Cookin Magazine. They always have lots of great recipes.

To make it, flour is baked in the oven until the color of ground cinnamon. You do need to stir it often to make sure it doesn’t burn around the edges.

Before adding it to the gumbo, you whisk it together with 1 cup of chicken broth. The flavor will be exactly the same as it would be if you stood over the stove stirring for 40 minutes.

Another benefit of this 30-Minute Gumbo is there is very little fat used (no oil and only 2 tablespoons of butter). Typically you use equal parts of flour and vegetable oil or butter.

Give this quick and easy 30-Minute Gumbo recipe a try and you’ll see why it is a real winner.