Gluten-Free Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

I modified my mother's chicken and sausage gumbo recipe to make it gluten-free. Good gumbo is hard to find for my friend with a wheat allergy. The wheat flour roux is the key ingredient for any gumbo. After experimenting with a few gluten-free alternatives, I find that a light brown millet flour roux thickens the gumbo and gives an excellent taste nearly equal to wheat flour. Most people won't notice the difference.

• Preparation Time: 20 mins
• Cooking Time: 2 hr
• Total Time: 2 hr 20 mins
• Calories: 438 Calories

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons salt
• ¾ cup vegetable oil
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 white onion, chopped
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• ½ cup chopped green onion
• 6 cups water, or more as needed
• 1 pound andouille sausage, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 cup millet flour
• 1 tablespoon file powder
• 1 (3 pound) whole chicken, or more to taste

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Place chicken in a 6- to 8-quart stockpot and pour in enough water to completely cover the chicken; bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until chicken is no longer pink at the bone and juices run clear, about 1 hour. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).

Step 2

Remove chicken from water and place on a work surface to cool, retaining the resulting chicken stock in the stockpot.

Step 3

Cook and stir millet flour and vegetable oil together in a large frying pan or skillet over medium heat until roux is smooth and slightly darker than peanut butter, about 10 minutes.

Step 4

Mix onion, green bell pepper, and garlic into roux; cook and stir over low heat until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer onion-roux mixture to stockpot with chicken stock.

Step 5

Bring chicken stock mixture to a simmer over medium heat; add andouille sausage, celery, green onion, bay leaves, salt, thyme, and cayenne pepper and simmer for 1 hour.

Step 6

Remove skin from cooked chicken and discard. Pull meat from the bones and chop into bite-size pieces; discard carcass. Add chicken meat to broth mixture and simmer until chicken is heated through, 5 to 10 minutes.

Step 7

Remove stockpot from heat, stir file powder into gumbo, and remove and discard bay leaves.