This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy.
Instant Pot Gumbo is so easy to make! Loaded with andouille sausage, chicken, and shrimp, this gumbo is BURSTING with Creole and Cajun 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. This southern comfort food originates in New Orleans, Louisiana. Like jambalaya, it can be made so many different ways. Most gumbo dishes start with a basic roux, peppers, onions, and celery. You can add a protein such as sausage, pork, chicken, or shrimp as well. I’ve 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 gumbo filé powder in addition to the roux. It really depends on your taste. Try a big bowl 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 any seafood such as crab meat, fish, 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.
- In addition to the natural flavors of the ingredients, you can play with the seasonings by adding black pepper, hot sauce, cayenne pepper, chili pepper, thyme, paprika, liquid smoke, and more garlic.
- You can make this recipe in a pressure cooker too. If your cooker doesn’t have a sauté function, just sauté your veggies and sausage in a separate pan, then add to the pressure cooker and follow the directions as listed below.
How To Get A Dark Roux
You can make this gumbo recipe with a simple roux (we made this recipe with a simple, light roux) or if you prefer your gumbo to have that rich, dark color, you can make a “dark roux”. Keep in mind, that by making a “dark roux” you are adding another 35-40 minutes to your cook time. To make a dark roux, simply cook your roux longer until it gets to be a deep, golden brown color and this takes time. Keep a close eye on it and stir it constantly because you want it to be dark, but not burnt. Follow the rest of the recipe as indicated below.
Avoid The Instant Pot “Burn” Notice
Because you are making the roux first instead of adding a thickener at the end, you may be more likely to get the dreaded “burn” warning on your Instant Pot. If you notice your gumbo is really thick (like gravy) after adding all the rest of the ingredients, you may want to add up to 1 cup more broth. Don’t worry, if you think it is going to be too thin, you can always thicken it again before serving by adding 3 tablespoons of cornstarch to ¼ cup cold water and stirring it into your gumbo after releasing pressure.
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.
Read Next: 27 BEST Instant Pot Recipes
More Delicious Instant Pot Recipes
How to Make Gumbo in the Instant Pot
Instant Pot Gumbo
Video
Equipment
- Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
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 "Sauté" function and add olive oil. Add peppers, onion, celery, garlic, and sausage.
- Sauté 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 forming a light roux. If you want to make a "dark roux", cook for 30-40 minutes until the roux becomes a dark, golden brown color. 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 (see notes above about avoiding the "burn" notice).
- 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 "Sauté", 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.
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!
Thank you for sharing your substitutions! I’m so glad the recipe was a success for you!
Would it be possible to make this recipe in slow cooker? What would procedure be if using slow cooker. Thank you
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Is the chicken cooked when you put it in?
Nope! You put it in uncooked!
My family and I love this recipe. I’ve made it several times. Thank you.
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!
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?
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!
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?
You add the shrimp when it is raw! I hope your wife likes it! 🙂
Syummy I can taste it I’m making today it’s not cold just want some.
How spicy is this? I’m thinking about adding sliced jalapeños!
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!
This came out amazing! I left out the okra and heard no complaints.
Easy, delicious. Even my kids (who are pretty picky) enjoyed it!
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!
Vegetarian broth should work fine! For the shrimp, you add it at the end and cook on the Saute mode for 5 minutes!
Made this tonight for the first time. Excellent 👌 !!!! Did change some things like prepping ingredients and lower sodium but very good!
I got a burn message on my instapot 3 times smh
I loved this, not the labor intensive gumbo I use to make, so much less mess. I didn’t do the roux, gluten intolerance, used okra and gumbo file. More stew like but delicious all the same.
My first time making gumbo. Very yummy!! I would be careful with the shrimp. I wished I had pretty cooked the shrimp. And used crawfish. But definitely will be using this recipe again!!
Excellent, I didn’t change a thing.
Thank you! First time to make a gumbo from scratch. Only my 4th IP recipe. My husband and I couldn’t stop raving about how good this was! And I love how easy it was!! I added a few extra spices on my own but this recipe stands alone as great on its own.
Flavorful and easy to make. My husband liked it too.
Wow. I made this tonight and my husband gave it a ten! He is the type that never gives a ten. He is a nine point something kind of person even on other amazing dishes. After ten years, I finally got a 10! Thank you for this incredible recipe.
Wow!!! I can’t think of a better compliment than this. Thank you so much for coming back and telling us! It is ALWAYS a win when we can win over husbands/kids. Thanks for the 5-stars!
I made this for my family (my husband and extremely picky 2 boys – 13 & 8) last week and they all loved it so much that we’re making it again tonight. Thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe!
Hi Tiffany- So glad you liked this recipe! It is always a big WIN when we can win over the picky eaters! Thanks for the 5-stars!
I’m excited to try this tomorrow! One silly question…after releasing and it’s time to add the okra for 5 min and then the shrimp for another 5 min., is this with or without everything else in the pot? Thanks!
It’s WITH everything in the pot. Hope this helps!