AB Slow Cooker Seafood Gumbo | Slow Cooker Recipes

Name: Seafood Gumbo Recipe | #SoulFoodSunday | Crock Pot Recipe
Prep time: 25 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 120 ml vegetable oil; 65 g plain flour; 1 whole onion, roughly chopped; celery, roughly chopped; 1 whole green bell pepper, roughly chopped; boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into quarters; andouille sausage, sliced; 480 ml chicken broth; fire roasted diced tomatoes; 5 cloves garlic cloves; 2 tbsp Creole Kick seasoning; 7 sprigs fresh thyme; jumbo prawn, peeled and deveined; stone crab claws

Source video by Smokin' & Grillin with AB on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules and is marked for human review.

This is week four of AB's Soul Food Sundays: a chicken, andouille and seafood gumbo built the traditional way but finished in the Crock-Pot. The roux is made on the hob in a cast iron frying pan, whisked with equal parts oil and flour until it reaches a chocolatey colour, then the holy trinity of onion, celery and bell pepper is stirred in for a couple of minutes. Everything goes into the Crock-Pot with chicken thigh, andouille, fire roasted tomatoes, Creole seasoning, garlic, thyme and chicken broth for four hours on high. Jumbo prawn and crab claws go in at the very end for a final thirty minutes so the seafood stays tender and sweet.

Slow cooker notes: Source is already a slow cooker recipe, no adaptation required. The roux is built on the hob in a cast iron frying pan before going into the Crock-Pot, exactly as the chef does it, because a slow cooker cannot brown flour in oil.

Ingredients

Roux

120 mlvegetable oil
65 gplain flour

Holy trinity

1 wholeonion, roughly chopped
celery, roughly chopped
1 wholegreen bell pepper, roughly chopped

Gumbo base

boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into quarters
andouille sausage, sliced
480 mlchicken broth
fire roasted diced tomatoes
5 clovesgarlic cloves
2 tbspCreole Kick seasoning
7 sprigsfresh thyme

Seafood

jumbo prawn, peeled and deveined (add late)
stone crab claws (add late)

Method

Set a cast iron frying pan over medium-high heat and add the half cup of vegetable oil. Once the oil is up to temperature, slowly whisk in the flour a little at a time. Keep whisking without stopping. Adjust the heat down if the roux starts to bubble too hard; the point is to darken it, not to burn it. Carry on until the roux reaches a chocolatey colour.
~20 min
Tip the celery, onion and bell pepper into the roux and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes so the trinity gets coated and softens a touch.
~3 min
Scrape the roux and trinity into the Crock-Pot. Pour in the chicken broth, add the fire roasted diced tomatoes, garlic, andouille and the Creole Kick seasoning. Stir in layers so everything is evenly distributed.
~3 min
Add the quartered chicken thighs on top and lay the thyme sprigs across the surface.
~2 min
Cover and cook on High for 4 hours.
~240 min
Lift out and discard the thyme sprigs. Stir the gumbo and check the seasoning.
~2 min
Add the jumbo prawn and push them down under the surface so they are fully covered by the sauce. Add the crab claws on top. Cover and cook on High for a further 30 minutes.
~30 min
Ladle into bowls and serve. The gumbo will thicken further as it cools.
~3 min

Frequently asked

Do I really have to make the roux on the hob first?

Yes. A roux needs a hot pan and constant whisking to darken the flour into that chocolatey colour without burning. A slow cooker cannot do either. Build the roux in a cast iron frying pan, cook the trinity into it, then tip the lot into the Crock-Pot.

How dark should the roux be?

AB describes it as chocolatey. You want it well past tan, deep brown, but not black or acrid. If it starts bubbling too hard or smells scorched, pull the heat back.

Why does the seafood go in at the end?

Prawn and crab cook in minutes, so they would go rubbery over four hours. Add them for the last 30 minutes on High and they stay sweet and tender.

Can I use prawns instead of jumbo prawn?

Yes. Any large peeled and deveined raw prawns work. Push them under the sauce so they cook evenly in the final 30 minutes.

What if I cannot find andouille sausage?

A good smoked pork sausage with paprika will get you most of the way there. Chorizo works too if you accept a Spanish accent on the gumbo.

Extraction notes (transparency): Chef names every ingredient but gives quantities for only a few: half a cup of vegetable oil, half a cup of all-purpose flour, 2 cups of chicken broth, 1 whole bell pepper, 5 cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons of Creole Kick seasoning, and 6 to 7 sprigs of fresh thyme. Chicken thigh, andouille sausage, celery, onion, jumbo prawn, crab claws and fire roasted diced tomatoes are all shown but no quantity is stated, so those fields are null. Default servings guessed at 6 (standard family gumbo yield) as chef states no yield. Chef mentions 'a little okra' when tasting the finished gumbo but never adds okra during cooking, so okra is not listed as an ingredient. Cook time is source-stated (4 hours on high plus 30 minutes for the seafood); no Low setting was given by the chef.