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Instant Pot Gumbo

Instant Pot Gumbo is so easy to make! Loaded with sausage, chicken and shrimp, this gumbo is BURSTING with creole flavors!

Instant Pot Gumbo with sausage, chicken, and shrimp being scooped from an Instant Pot in a ladle.

Instant Pot Gumbo

Instant Pot Gumbo is the perfect meal for a COLD day. Thick and hearty with a kick of creole spice that warms your insides. The Southern comfort food originates in Southern Louisiana. It can be made SO many different ways most gumbo dishes start with a basic, dark roux, peppers, onions, and celery. You can add a protein such as sausage, chicken, or shrimp as well. Or all three. I have tried several different varieties of gumbo over the years, but my favorite includes chicken, sausage, AND shrimp. I simply can’t pick a favorite meat to put in; I love them all!  True gumbo is usually thickened with okra and/or filé powder in addition to the roux. It really depends on your taste. Try it and see for yourself. You will love this recipe!

Additions and Substitutions for Instant Pot Gumbo

Instant Pot Gumbo can be changed up a million different ways, depending on your tastes and preferences. Follow the recipe as directed below for a spicy flavor and all the meats! But you can experiment with spices and other ingredients to make it exactly how you and your family like it.

  • Feel free to omit one or more of the meats. Sausage only, just chicken and shrimp, etc. Or go all out and add crab meat, lobster, whatever you like!
  • Some may argue that tomatoes do not belong in gumbo when others love the added flavor of tomatoes. I really think there is no wrong way. Personally, I am not the biggest fan of okra, so it is something I usually leave out. Make it according to your tastes, be creative, and you won’t be disappointed!
  • To make this gumbo gluten-free the most obvious choice would be to use a gluten-free flour in the place of regular all-purpose flour in the roux. We use Namaste flour from Costco or a homemade flour blend when substituting flour. If you want to avoid making a roux, you can always use filé powder and/or okra to thicken instead. The Tony Chachere’s seasoning is GF so you should be good using that as your Creole seasoning in this recipe.
  • You can make this recipe in a pressure cooker too. If your cooker doesn’t have a saute function, just saute your veggies and sausage in a separate pan, then add to the pressure cooker and follow the directions as listed below.

More Delicious Instant Pot Recipes

How to Make Instant Pot Gumbo

4.96 from 24 votes
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Instant Pot Gumbo

Prep Time:
10 mins
Cook Time:
35 mins
Total Time:
45 mins
 
Instant Pot Gumbo is so easy to make! Loaded with sausage, chicken and shrimp, this gumbo is BURSTING with creole flavors!
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American, Cajun/Creole
Keyword: Instant Pot Gumbo
Servings: 8 servings
Author: Erica
INGREDIENTS (with Amazon Links)
INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Set Instant Pot to "Saute" function and add olive oil. 

  2. Add peppers, onion, celery, garlic, and sausage. 

  3. Saute for 3-5 minutes or until vegetables become soft.

  4. Remove all vegetables and sausage. Set aside. 

  5. Immediately add butter to instant pot and stir, scraping up any cooked bits from the bottom of the pot. When butter is melted, add flour. 

  6. Cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly until dark brown, forming a roux. Turn cooker off. 

  7. Add chicken broth, cooked vegetables and sausage, chicken, Creole seasoning, diced tomatoes with chiles, fire roasted tomatoes, bay leaves, salt and pepper. 

  8. Close and lock the lid of the Instant Pot. Turn the steam release handle to “Sealing” position. 

  9. Press "Manual" and select “High Pressure." Set time to 20 minutes. When time is up, turn cooker off. 

  10. Quick release by turning valve to "venting". 

  11. When pressure is fully released, remove lid and stir in okra. Press "Saute", and cook uncovered for 5 minutes. Add shrimp and cook an additional 5 minutes or until shrimp is cooked through. 

  12. Remove and discard bay leaves. Serve with rice. 

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Reader Interactions

87 Comments

  4. This recipe gave us amazing results. My girls had been asking for gumbo, and this absolutely delivered. This recipe was very easy to follow and smelled perfectly delightful from the start. I’ve never had so many helpers in the kitchen trying to snitch a taste as it cooked.

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  6. I cooked this last night for my wife in our Instant Pot and it is delicious.
    We substituted Sweet Italian sausage to limit the heat factor and didn’t use shrimp.
    It was easy to follow the directions and it was outstanding.
    We’ll definitely make it again. Thank you

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  15. It was a pretty easy recipe to follow, your directions were explained nicely! I added a little tapatio for extra spice and it came out perfect! Thank you for this recipe!

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  16. “Burn” kept coming on. Afte the second time, I transferred everything to stovetop and finished cooking it there. What did I do wrong? All the liquids were there…

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  17. Omg!!! This is the best homemade gumbo I have ever tasted!!! Thank you sooo much for this delicious recipe! I made it exactly as directions said and it was PERFECT!!!

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    • This is assuming the okra is fresh and sliced. Adding it at the end makes it so it doesn’t get so mushy. You just want the okra to be fork-tender. If you want to use frozen okra you can add it earlier in the process. You can add it when you add the broth, cooked veggies, etc.. Hope this helps!

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        • Possibly– you can add the frozen okra around the same time as the fresh is recommended but you will want to just make sure it cooks through. I have heard of others adding the frozen at the time of the other veggies without complaint so I am assuming it still turns out ok? I have only done it as mentioned in the recipe.

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  21. SO FREAKING GOOD! My new favorite. How much more time would I need to set my instant pot to if I wanted to double this recipe. May be making for a big family dinner with in-laws.

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  24. We made this about 6 weeks ago and it was a huge success. My husband is Cajun and his family tradition is chicken ONLY in the gumbo, no sausage, no shrimp, but this was a winner for sure. And who knew butter and flour would make a roux so quickly? I’ve spent too many hours of my life stirring oil and flour on the stovetop but this recipe was spot on for the flavor. Because we don’t like heat, we swapped out the andouille sausage for a garlic pecan-smoked pork sausage. The only change we’ll make next time is to cook the frozen okra for a shorter period because we like ours a little firm. This recipe made 8 generous servings and freezes well which makes it good for the two of us-cook a little rice, grab the file power and we’re good to go.

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  28. I have never eaten gumbo let alone make it myself! This was amazing!! And so easy to make! We doubled the garlic to six cloves, used 4 bay leaves and used 3 tsp of creole seasoning for some added spice. Will definitely make again!!

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  29. This was a great recipe with easy to follow instructions. I used turkey sausage and chicken wings. I also added extra Creole spice for more flavor. It was wonderful! Thank you for this recipe, I will use it again!

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  30. Just made this for dinner and wow!! It’s so good!!

    I made several changes based on what I had – used smoked East Texas Hot Link sausage, 1 large chicken breast, 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup flour, and omitted okra and shrimp. Absolutely loved this and was happy to make that roux in only 5 min instead of the hour+ I saw on other recipes!

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  31. My 3 adult sons all agree that this recipe is “sick”. The whole family loves it and I finally found a gumbo recipe that is so easy to make that I plan to use it regularly. All the boys are great cooks too and now have the recipe to cook for their wives. I made it exactly to the recipe except used the extra-hot Rotel for a bit more punch. Everyone says that a good roux is hard to make but I found it super easy with this method. Oh, I do like it a tiny bit thicker so not having file I used about 2 Tbs of corn starch to thicken it up. Pure preference and not necessary at all. Ingredients were all easily obtainable at the grocery store, including the Tony’s seasoning.

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  32. From south Louisiana.. there are NO tomatoes in gumbo!!!

    The roux& water need to be boiled slowly for at least 3 hours.

    Now you have an acceptable dish.

    reply to comment

    • Since it’s not your recipe, I find it absurd you have the gall to say “now you have an acceptable dish”. The entire point of the Instant Pot is to reduce cook time drastically. Perhaps try it and don’t be such a jerk on other people’s blogs.

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  33. Have made this twice now…first go round was a bit too spicey for us wimpy non Cajuns ( but we still ate every bit with some sort of fire killer like bread or crackers LOL) substituted the andouillie sausage with smoked garlic sausage and just garlic diced tomatoes instead of the fire roasted..but still used Tonys liberally..Used all 3 meats..and frozen okra added at the end. Not sure my roux got dark enough….didn’t have real butter just smart balance… But it still came out great!! My grown kids liked it since it is keto friendly without any rice..This one is a keeper…Thanks

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  34. I would keep my PC just for this recipe alone!! The only changes I make are to use file powder instead of okra, though next time I will probably use both. I also substitute a pound of crab meat for the shrimp. This is an amazing dish and we make it quite often now! Everyone who tries it asks for the recipe! Thank you Thank you

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  36. I used this recipe to teach my mom how to use her instant pot I got her for Christmas. She picked the recipe and everyone absolutely loved it. I will be making it again tomorrow for my husband who has been extremely excited.

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  37. I have made this recipe twice now and love it. Although, for some reason, liquid spews out through the sealing cap during venting making a mess. I’m wondering if my sausage has too much fat content because the mess is pretty oily. The second time I skipped the butter and only used olive oil thinking that would help.??? May just do it on the stove top next time.

    reply to comment

    • This is probably because your IP is too full– you may want to reduce the amount of liquid in the recipe (you can add it later if you need to). There should be lines in your IP, including a “Max Fill” line. I can usually get away with filling it a little more than the max-fill line but I have noticed if I fill it too full, I will have the same problem. Another thing you can do to reduce this is to set the pressure for 5-10 minutes less and then let it natural release for 10-20 minutes or so. Hope this helps!

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  38. This was my first time making gumbo, and it was fantastic. I did not have a red pepper, so used two green ones instead and left out celery because I didn’t have any on hand. Otherwise followed everything to a T. I did use canola oil instead of olive, and when making the roux added a bit more oil to the butter/flour mix. I wasn’t sure it got dark enough, but everything tasted delicious. Served over brown rice with a side of cornbread, and I can’t wait to make it again!

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  39. Ok, I must admit this southern gal was skeptical about making gumbo in my Instant Pot but decided to give it a try. Aside from adding a bit of oil to the butter to help the roux not burn, I followed the recipe to a T and it was delicious. Thanks so much for sharing a fabulous recipe!

    —
    “In a world where you can be anything…
    be kind, or at least do no harm.” ♥

    reply to comment

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