Creole Seafood Gumbo Recipe (2024)

Creole Seafood Gumbo is rich, delicious, and so hearty. It is a bowl of New Orleans comfort that will take your taste buds on a trip to the Big Easy.

This recipe is authentic Creole seafood gumbo, from my mother-in-law, who grew up in New Orleans. It is Creole Gumbo, which means – GASP – it has tomatoes and okra in it. That’s how her family always made it, so don’t let that stop you from trying it – it is SO good.

🥘 Ingredients Needed

To Make a Roux:

• All-Purpose Flour (For gluten-free, use a gluten-free flour substitute that is NOT made with rice flour as the rice flour burns really fast. My Paleo Chicken and Sausage Gumbo post has some more tips )
• Oil – I like to use a fairly flavorless oil like vegetable, canola, avocado, or light-tasting olive oil.

For the Gumbo:

• Okra – Sliced, frozen or fresh will both work. (I like to bake the okra in the oven at 350°F while the roux is cooking, tossing every 5 – 10 minutes. This will help get rid of the sliminess that everyone hates.)
• Seafood – Our family likes to use peeled, washed, and deveined RAW shrimp (pre-cooked shrimp will get very tough and chewy) and crab claw meat (I recommend spreading the meat onto a plate and picking out any shells – they are not a fun surprise to bite into!) If you can get fresh crab claws, they add a lot of flavor to the broth, but they are a pain to eat in soup form. You can use oysters, but the texture of cooked oysters in soup is kind of chalky and weird – our family is not a fan of it. They overcook really easily. We prefer to eat oysters in their purest forms – raw and chargrilled!

For Serving/Garnish:

• Steamed White Rice – I always make white rice in my instant pot. (You could also use green onion rice for a fun twist!)
• Tabasco Sauce – Tabasco or Crystal Hot Sauce is a common addition to gumbo to give it a little more flavor.
• Green Onions – We don’t always add green onions, but the freshness and bite that they add is really tasty.
• Some people even put potato salad on their gumbo but that is not a tradition my family participates in.

🍽 Equipment Needed

• A Large Stock Pot or Gumbo Pot – I am about to inherit my husband’s grandmother’s gumbo pot (they called her Maw) and I am SO excited. If you can find one at an estate sale or antique store, a Magnalite gumbo pot is THE pot to use. The newer ones are made in China and the quality is not as good, so definitely try to find an old one.
• A Sharp Knife and a Cutting Board
• Measuring Cups and Spoons
• Optionally, a Baking Sheet with a Non-Stick Mat on top to pre-bake the okra to make it less slimy.
• A spatula – A flat wooden spatula is awesome for making a roux but I also like to use my regular old rubber spatulas as well. (I linked the spatulas that I use – they are all one solid piece so they are SO much easier to clean and don’t grow mold in that awkward sleeve space.)

🥣 How to Make It

1. In a large stockpot or gumbo pot, heat the oil over medium heat, then stir in the flour. Cook until roux is your desired color – a dark brownish color, almost the color of a Hershey bar, works best. You will need to stir the roux pretty frequently so that it doesn’t burn, but if you park your cutting board next to the stove, you can get all your vegetables diced up while the roux cooks.
2. While cooking the roux, you can also bake your okra in the oven – about 350°F for 30 minutes, stirring as needed. (This will help get rid of that slimy okra texture that so many people hate.)
3. Add the holy trinity (celery, onions, and green peppers) to the roux.
4. Stir until the onions are translucent – about 3 minutes.
5. Then add the canned tomatoes with their juice, along with the bay leaves, Tabasco sauce, cayenne, thyme, kosher salt, black pepper, and Worcestershire sauce.
6. Add the okra next and stir until well combined.
7. Gradually stir in water or seafood stock and bring to a boil.
8. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Stirring as needed.
9. Finally, add the crab meat and raw shrimp and cook for 10 more minutes, covered.
10. Add the fresh parsley and remove from heat to serve.
11. Serve over rice with a splash of Tabasco sauce and ENJOY!

🙋‍♀️ Frequently Asked Questions

What to Serve with Seafood Gumbo

Serve seafood gumbo with freshly made white rice, a little Tabasco Sauce, and a side of fresh, crunchy French Bread.

🥫 Storage/Shelf Life/Reheating

Once cooled, store seafood gumbo in an airtight container in the refrigerator. (Putting hot gumbo directly into a sealed container and chilling immediately can cause the gumbo to sour.) If you want to chill gumbo quickly, you can fill a sink with ice and put the gumbo pot directly on the ice. Stir the gumbo as the ice cools it from the outside and this will drop the temperature quickly without watering it down.

You can also try my new favorite method – put the gumbo in containers with the lid off and point your highest-powered fan at them. Stir every few minutes to make sure all of the gumbo gets cooled off. (Just make sure that you don’t point the fan at things that can go flying, like the fridge that has things stuck to it with magnets. Speaking from experience, things that are not held down can fly all over the kitchen. )

Reheat seafood gumbo slowly over low heat so as to not overcook the shrimp. Seafood Gumbo is best eaten within two or three days, or it should be stored in the freezer.

✏️ Helpful Tips

• A lot of people like oysters in seafood gumbo, but I don’t like the texture of them – they get both gritty and gummy at the same time, and that just isn’t my favorite texture.
• Make sure you go through your crab meat and pick out any shell pieces. Those don’t feel good when you bite them! You can also toss whole claws into the gumbo to flavor the broth if you can get them for a reasonable price. They are hard to eat when slippery from gumbo broth, but they sure are tasty!
• Do not put hot gumbo into the fridge – seafood gumbo especially can spoil if it is sealed up and then refrigerated while it is still hot.