Instant Pot Gumbo is so easy to make! Loaded with sausage, chicken and shrimp, this gumbo is BURSTING with Creole flavors!
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.
- 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.
Gluten Free Gumbo
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 gluten-free so you should be good using that as your Creole seasoning in this recipe.
More Delicious Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage
- Sunday Pot Roast (Instant Pot Recipe
- Easiest Instant Pot Meatballs
- Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Instant Pot Goulash
How to Make Instant Pot Gumbo
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 1 onion diced
- 1 cup celery chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 13.5 ounces Andouille sausage cut into rounds
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1/3 cup butter
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 pound chicken cubed
- 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning (or to taste, we used Tony Chachere's)
- 10 ounces diced tomatoes with green chiles (aka Rotel tomatoes)
- 14 ounces fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper (or to taste)
- 1 cup okra sliced
- 1 pound shrimp peeled, deveined
- 4 cups cooked rice
Instructions
- Set Instant Pot to "Saute" function and add olive oil.
- Add peppers, onion, celery, garlic, and sausage.
- Saute for 3-5 minutes or until vegetables become soft.
- Remove all vegetables and sausage. Set aside.
- 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.
- Cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly until dark brown, forming a roux. Turn cooker off.
- Add chicken broth, cooked vegetables and sausage, chicken, Creole seasoning, diced tomatoes with chiles, fire roasted tomatoes, bay leaves, salt and pepper.
- Close and lock the lid of the Instant Pot. Turn the steam release handle to “Sealing” position.
- Press "Manual" and select “High Pressure." Set time to 20 minutes. When time is up, turn cooker off.
- Quick release by turning valve to "venting".
- 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.
- Remove and discard bay leaves. Serve with rice.
Equipment
- 6-Quart Instant Pot Pressure Cooker (See Instant Pot Note Below)
Mira says
Hi there, excited to try this recipe! Question – have you tried veggie broth with this before to make it vegetarian/pescetarian? Also, if using shrimp have you just put it in for the same time as you would the chicken or would you recommend cooking separate? Thanks so much!
Favorite Family Recipes says
Vegetarian broth should work fine! For the shrimp, you add it at the end and cook on the Saute mode for 5 minutes!
Lauren says
How spicy is this? I’m thinking about adding sliced jalapeños!
Favorite Family Recipes says
It’s not too spicy – and you can control the spice level by how much Creole seasoning you use and what level of spice your green chiles are. I think sliced jalapeños would be delicious!
Bruce says
Hello. I’m going to try and surprise my wife by making your recipe for her and am simply wondering whether to use raw or cooked shrimp as long as it is peeled and deveined beforehand?
Favorite Family Recipes says
You add the shrimp when it is raw! I hope your wife likes it! 🙂
Veleria Lewis says
Syummy I can taste it I’m making today it’s not cold just want some.
Max Cassidy says
I made this today, first time using my InstantPot, but I have a couple of concerns::
Directions say press the manual button and then pressure cook, but my Instantpot is new and has no manual button? Also, as it was warming up on the pressure cook time it said food burn food burn flashing on and off. Actually had burn some of the food stuck to the bottom. What has caused this issue?
Favorite Family Recipes says
If your Instant Pot doesn’t have a manual button, you can just put it on “High Pressure” – some pots have different setting options. When you put the butter in before the chicken, did you scrape the bottom of the pan clean? You have to scrape up any cooked on bits at that point, otherwise they will stick and they will burn. I hope this helps!
Beth says
Is the chicken cooked when you put it in?
Favorite Family Recipes says
Nope! You put it in uncooked!
Danielle says
My family and I love this recipe. I’ve made it several times. Thank you.
Ian says
Fantastic gumbo recipe for the instant pot. I followed it exactly, and made it a day ahead of time to let all the flavors meld. Truly delicious gumbo, a recipe I’ll be coming back to. Thank you so much!
Ken Thompson says
I forgot to put okra on my shopping list. I’m thinking the roux would be too thin with okra. Guess I’ll put it off another night and do pancakes for supper instead.
C Buckley says
I really like this recipe, however I cannot understand how it’s possible to do this in 45 mins. Takes me 2hrs or more. Also I’m not sure I agree with the roux to liquid ratio, I think it needs more roux.
Jasmine Pilgeram says
If I were making a Whole 30 version of this could I substitute arrowroot flour and ghee in place of the reg. flour and butter in equal parts? Can’t wait to try your recipe!
Echo Blickenstaff says
We have not tested those substitutions in this recipe, but I don’t see a reason why it wouldn’t work. It may change the texture and taste a little, but the overall result should be fine.
Debra says
Would it be possible to make this recipe in slow cooker? What would procedure be if using slow cooker. Thank you
Favorite Family Recipes says
I haven’t tried making it in a slow cooker so I’m not sure! If I were going to try it in the slow cooker I would try it as follows:
1. Follow steps 1-6, but in a pan instead of the instant pot.
2. Follow step 7, but put everything in the crock pot.
3. Cook for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low.
4. Add okra and shrimp and cook on high for another 30 minutes. Remove bay leaves and stir.
I hope this helps! Again, I haven’t tried it this way, but this is how I would do it.
Amanda says
Tried this recipe tonight and it was soooo good! The only substitutions I made was leaving out the celery, using jalapeño sausage and I made Traditional roux in a separate pan (it took for ever but I had never tried it before and wanted to give it a shot!) I also Dumped a box of cooked zatarans jumbalya rice into the pot when it was done cooking. This was my first time to try gumbo and I was Not disappointed!
Echo Blickenstaff says
Thank you for sharing your substitutions! I’m so glad the recipe was a success for you!
Kimberly says
Burned food in the bottom of the InstantPot, even though I followed the instructions precisely. More trouble than just cooking it the traditional way.
Favorite Family Recipes says
I’m so sorry this method didn’t work for you. Instant Pots can be tricky when you are cooking tomato-based sauces. If you were to try this recipe again I would suggest making sure that when you add the butter you scrape up every cooked bit on the bottom of the pan, and maybe adding extra water or chicken broth right before putting the lid on. Again, I am sorry you had a bad experience, but I hope you’ll give some of our recipes another try!
Lisalia says
YUMMY! My family is loving all the delicious things I’m making with my new instant pot. This was so good and everyone loved it.
Jessica says
Love gumbo but had never thought to make in the IP. What a game changer on how much time it takes!
Larry Rosenthal says
This is in regular rotation here, because it’s fabulous, and I’ve made it dozens of times. The odd thing, and it only ever happens with this recipe, is that the Instant Pot has never, ever come to pressure. I’m wondering if anyone else has had this experience? It’s still wonderful. Fully cooked. Very odd.
Christy Fisher says
This was simple and really yummy
Tilda says
I made this today in my instant pot and it was absolutely delicious. I left out the shrimp and the okra and I didn’t put the bay leaves in. It was Cajun alright. This is a comfort food for sure. This is a keeper.
LG says
Does your calorie count per serving include the rice you add at the end?
Favorite Family Recipes says
It does!
Janet Njoku says
This recipe is a winner! After getting thru the prep it’s super easy! I added crabmeat and some crab claws and a bit of file at the end and it was absolutely delicious! Even my 7 year old enjoyed this dish.
Echo Blickenstaff says
Thank you for the review! We are so happy you like the recipe – and thank you for sharing your additions!
Kristyn says
This was my first time making gumbo and it came out great! Very happy with this recipe
M says
This was great. We used the Rotel but omitted the other tomatoes. Definitely will make this again.
Ahram says
This is a great recipe and the flavor profile is amazing. The only thing I will do differently next time is to add the chicken in with the sausage and the veggies during the sauté process prior to pressure cooking. Adding raw chicken and pressure cooking it resulted in the chicken meat becoming fibrous and causing the broth to be thick and not clear.
Debbie Turk says
This has to be the best instant pot Gumbo I have ever had…we are from Maryland by the bay, so I add crab and oysters to this after it has finished cooking…It is so easy to fix and it taste just as good or even better than my old from scratch recipe to make Gumbo..Thank you for this recipe…D.