Cajun Soup Recipe

What feels like a hundred years ago, which in reality was 2016, I took a 30 week French cooking class at The Seasoned Farmhouse in Columbus. I met a lot of people all different ages and backgrounds but what we all had in common was we liked to cook, wanted to learn different things in the kitchen and of course eat. During those weeks, our Chef Tricia, threw in a day of cooking cajun recipes, which I certainly didn't have a lot of exposure to living in Ohio. 

We cooked a Chicken & Andouille Smoked Sausage Gumbo from the book of Paul Preudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen. We also made a cajun meatloaf and a shrimp etouffe but I enjoyed the gumbo the most and I decided to dust off the recipe we made and make it again in 2023. I admit I didn't stick closely to the recipe, which most southerners who know how to make gumbo would know doubt have something to say about that and I know. I'm not trying to be them. I'm just trying to make a tasty soup. 

To make this tasty gumbo you will need meat. Well, a few veggies and spices but mostly meat. This can be changed to your liking. You can have a lot more shrimp vs chicken and sausage or a lot of sausage and no shrimp. You do you. 

I have 4 bone in skin on thighs, a pound of shrimp (tails on please), Worcestershire, Cajun seasoning, onions, celery and green bell pepper, garlic paste, bacon, tomato paste, a can of diced tomatoes and a jar of reduced sodium chicken bouillon from Better Then Bouillon and about 6 cups of water.

First off cook your chicken about an hour before you start the soup so it cool down and you can pick the meat from the bones first. Liberally use your cajun seasoning, salt and pepper on that chicken and brown chicken, skin side down. Put the chicken in a hot pan for about 8 minutes until golden brown. Then place in a 400 degree oven until cooked through about 20 or until a thermometer reaches 165. My mom always asks, "How do you know when your chicken is done? Mine never comes out right. I guess I cook it too long." Well, yes. Yes, you do. Use a thermometer people! 

Using the same pot as you browned the chicken in, brown off the sausages and bacon. I did the kielbasa sausage and some italian sausage first. I added the italian sausage because I had about 2 oz left in the fridge and I thought, why not? It just added another layer of flavor to the soup but if you don't have it you don't have to add it. Then I removed the sausage and browned the bacon. Not sure I would add the bacon the next time, I honestly couldn't tell it was in the soup and if I'm going to eat bacon I want to KNOW I'm eating bacon. Y'know? After the bacon, brown the shrimp, which should take a minute or two to cook and remove to the side as well.

After browning the sausage meats, remove from the pan and leave some of the drippings but remove if its too much. Next, up is to saute your onion, celery and bell pepper in the pan drippings until tender. Then add your garlic and tomato paste. Here's a tip a lot of people don't know about. Cook your tomato paste in the pan before adding any liquid. Kinda like cooking raw flour in a pan before adding liquid. Speaking of, add a couple tablespoons of flour and cook a few minutes to help thicken your soup. Your veggies should look like it has hairy red fur on it at this point. Finally, add your diced tomatoes, Worcestershire, and stock to the pan or add the BTB paste and water. Either way it will work. 

Add your chicken and sausage to the pot and simmer to reduce your gumbo to your liking. You can add the chicken bones to the soup as well to get out any remaining flavor they have to offer. You can bundle them in some cheese cloth for easy removal. Of course throughout the cooking process you can add salt and pepper and more cajun seasoning to taste. The cajun seasoning that everyone uses will be different. I just used the Kroger brand cajun seasoning and I used around 3 tablespoons. I used it on the chicken, the sausages, shrimp and the veggies. If you want it really hot, use cayenne pepper as much as you like. I unfortunately, have very little tolerance for heat. It just ruins the taste of food for me and makes me use an entire box of tissues when I eat so no thank you.

When your soup has reduced about an hour, add the shrimp to reheat. Top with parsley or chopped green onion. Serve it over rice, cheesey grits or just a bowl with french bread either way you will be happy. I have not made this in anything other than my dutch oven so I assume you can make this in your Instapot on the saute setting. I have one but only use it for large or tough bits of meat but you do you. Below is my recipe for gumbo and cheesey grits. Your welcome.

Gumbo with Grits Recipe

For the Grits

2C white or yellow coarse grits or cornmeal

6C water

2C whole milk

2tsp salt

½ to 1C heavy cream

4T butter

6oz of sharp shredded cheddar

For the Gravy

1lb Large shrimp peeled and deveined with tail on

2-3T cajun seasoning

12 oz cooked Andouille sausages or kielbasa or a combo (4 links)

3lbs. bone in chicken thighs

5 slices thick cut bacon cut into ¼” pieces

1/4C flour

1C yellow onion diced

1C green pepper diced

3 stalks celery diced

3 large cloves of garlic pressed or minced

1T fresh thyme or 1tsp dried.

3-4C chicken stock

1 14oz can diced tomatoes

1 small bunch of green onions thickly sliced

1-2T Worcestershire sauce

1/4tsp Tabasco sauce or to taste

2T butter

Fresh chopped parsley

Directions

For the shrimp: Sprinkle shrimp with 1-2T of Cajun seasoning and set aside.

For the chicken: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Season the chicken with Cajun seasoning generously and salt and pepper. On medium high heat, in a heavy bottom pan, put 1-2T canola oil and wait until the oil shimmers a little. Place the chicken skin side down and cook until deep golden brown about 5-7 min. Turn and cook the opposite side 3-4 min. Place chicken on cookie sheet and finish cooking in the oven about 20 min. or until the chicken is 165 degrees.

For the Sausage/bacon/shrimp: In a heavy bottom pot, brown the sausage and remove from the pan to a bowl. Leave about 1-2T of fat in the pan. Cook the bacon in the pan until crispy and remove to bowl with the sausage. Add the shrimp and cook on both sides 2-3 minutes per side and remove.

Remove most of the fat leaving 1-2T.

In the same pan, cook the onion, green bell pepper and celery until softened and the moisture has evaporated. Add garlic, thyme and 1-2tsp of Cajun seasoning. Add flour and cook 1-2 minutes. Add canned tomatoes and stock.

Remove chicken skin from the chicken. Remove the meat and pull into strips or dice.

Add the chicken, sausage, ½ bacon and shrimp to the gravy and simmer until thickened 30 min. to 1 hour.

Add half of the green onion, Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce. Check for seasoning.

For the Grits

In a large pot, bring the water, milk and salt to a boil. Whisk in grits. Let simmer until thickened and grits are cooked. Add butter, cheese and cream. Add salt to taste.

Serve

Place grits in a bowl and cover with gravy. Top with parsley, green onion and bacon.