Super Simple Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

We love this recipe so much because it's delicious and EASY to make! I started coming up with pinterest inspired recipes that I could do in a crock pot while I was working on my master's degree because I had NO time to cook a meal when I came home from work. Most of my recipes involve very little prep and then dumping everything into a big crock pot. We love this because you dump it and forget about it until it's time to eat and then there are a lot of leftovers (at least for us because there's only two of us). I'm sure you could do this in an instant pot, but I don't have one, so I can't instruct you on that.:)

Here are a couple notes on the ingredients and instructions:

1. Crock pot: you don't have to use a crock pot and frozen chicken. Sometimes I'll do thawed chicken in a big pot on the stove. I cut the chicken up small and cook in a little bit of oil, then add the rest of the ingredients.

2. Chicken: I like to use boneless skinless chicken breast because they are easy. I buy the thawed packages at the grocery store, cut off the fat, and store 2 in a plastic bag in the freezer. I do 2 because we eat 2 at a time.

3. Smoked sausage: I use Eckrich smoked sausage, but any sausage will do. I slice it up and throw it in the crock pot. If I use fresh ingredients in a big pot, I like to brown the sausage up a little bit with the fresh chicken.

4. Potatoes: I use the bag of small potatoes because you can just throw them all in. If you prefer to buy big potatoes, just cut them up to the size you want. :)

5. Red bell pepper and jalapeno: When I bring these home from the grocery store, sometimes we dice these up, put them in a plastic baggy, and freeze them. This makes the "dumping" in a crock pot really easy when you don't have much time during the week to cook. If you prefer fresh veggies, you can dice these before throwing them in either the crock pot or big boiling pot on the stove.

6. Okra: You could buy fresh okra but I buy frozen okra so it stays good for a long time. I use about half a bag and I throw it in at the end because it literally disintegrates in the hot soup. LOL I wait until the soup is done and while it's hot, I throw it in.

7. Onion: I usually cut these up right before I cook because they keep for a long time any way. I don't have to worry about them going bad quickly like other veggies.

8. Chicken broth: I use a chicken bouillon cube and water instead of chicken broth but either one is fine...you just need some liquid in there to make it soupy. If your gumbo isn't soupy, add more liquid. Or maybe you don't want it soupy...add less liquid :)

9. Louisiana Cajun Seasoning: The chicken broth can be salty, so be careful with this seasoning. Start with sprinkling it over the whole pot and add more later if you think you need it.

10. White rice: I LOOOOVE steamed white rice so I pretty much eat this with every dinner. I like the added texture of white rice in this soup. I have a rice cooker and it makes perfect rice every time. It just gives it that little boost that makes the soup great. If you can't eat rice, try cauliflower rice. Not as yummy but it works fine.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. Please let me know if you have any questions and I'd be happy to help.

I post regularly about what I'm cooking on my Instagram stories, so you can follow my cooking journey there if you want (@preacherswife_jessica).