Healthy Gumbo Recipe (Perfect for Your Mardi Gras)
Mardi Gras may be canceled this year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a trip to flavor town with some Cajun Cuisine. Mardi is the French word for Tuesday, and Gras translates to “fat,” so it should be no surprise we celebrate Mardi Gras on “Fat Tuesday,” otherwise known as Shrove Tuesday.
I wanted to create a healthy, satisfying gumbo recipe that won’t make you walk away feeling like you understand why they call it “Fat” Tuesday but that still provides all of the flavor the day inspires.
Healthy Gumbo Recipe
Servings: 12
Calories: 262kcal
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup bacon fat add 1 additional tbsp of bacon fat for best results
- ½ cup flour
- ½ cup celery chopped
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 bell pepper chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ½ lb Andouille sausage
- 4 cups beef broth
- 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
- ½ lb chicken cooked
- ½ lb crabmeat
- 1½ lbs shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 tbsp amino acids
- 1-2 tbsp hot sauce
- 1-2 tbsp Cajun seasoning blend
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 10 oz okra cut
Instructions
- It begins with my favorite part—cooking bacon. Reserve bacon fat and snack on bacon while cooking.
- Combine 1/3 cup bacon fat with flour over medium heat until a roux forms.
- Continue stirring until a paste forms and turns a deep orange-brown color.
- Add celery, onion, bell pepper, and garlic.
- Add Andouille sausage and 1 cup of broth.
- Add tomatoes, cooked chicken, crabmeat, shrimp, aminos, hot sauce, Cajun Seasoning, bay leaves, and thyme.
- Gradually stir in remaining 3 cups of broth.
- In a separate pot, stir 1 Tbsp of bacon grease with vinegar and add sliced okra; cook down until okra is soft.
- Add okra to gumbo, and simmer for 45 – 60 minutes.
- Serve atop rice or cauliflower rice.
- Put on some fun Fat Tuesday tunes and enjoy this healthy gumbo recipe!
Notes
Chef Note: You can add whatever seafood or proteins you enjoy. I kind of threw all of my favorites into this healthy gumbo recipe, but you can choose 1 or 2 if you prefer. Chef Note: I like things really spicy, so I am sometimes a little heavy handed with the hot sauce. If heat isn’t your thing, you can absolutely decrease or even omit this part. Chef Note: For those of you who haven’t joined the cauliflower rice parade yet, this would be the perfect dish to experiment with. I made this for a dinner party, and my guests were none the wiser. If you want to toss it in a frying pan before hand and get it a little crispier, that might be a good transitional step.
Nutrition
Fiber: 1.6g | Calories: 262kcal | Fat: 10.5g | Protein: 29g | Carbohydrates: 11g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!