As Sunny Anderson has proven on The Kitchen, truly crave-worthy comfort food doesn’t need more than one dish to make when it involves juicy chicken breasts combined with sliced andouille sausage and seasonings that will make you want to lick your plate clean. Trust us, you’ll want to introduce this hearty, satisfying dish into your regular meal rotation.
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Sunny Anderson’s Big Easy Chicken and Andouille File Gumbo
Total: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
Ingredients
3 Tbsp cooking oil
2 chicken breasts, gently pounded thin
2 lbs andouille sausage, sliced into 1-inch rounds
1 stick salted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Cajun seasoning, preferably Mama Mia’s For Whatever Seasoning
2 green bell peppers, seeded and chopped
1 white onion, finely chopped
4 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 jalapenos, finely chopped (seeds optional)
4 cloves garlic
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Enough chicken stock base for the 8-cup stock equivalent
2 bay leaves
2 Tbsp file powder, plus more for serving
Serving suggestions: cooked white rice and hot sauce, optional
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Directions
1. Add the oil, chicken and sausage rounds to a stockpot on medium-high heat. Sear the chicken to get color and sausage to get color and render fat, but not to cook fully. As the parts finish searing, use a slotted spoon to remove them and place on a plate, leaving the fat in the pot, about 10 minutes total.
2. Add the butter, flour and Cajun seasoning to the pot. Cook on medium heat, constantly stirring, until the roux becomes a rich, dark caramel color, 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Add the bell peppers, onions, celery, jalapenos and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, to coat, until everything gets tender, 5 to 8 minutes, then add the stock base and 8 cups water and stir to mix the base into the pot. Add the bay leaves and cover the pot to simmer until the gumbo is thickened, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
4. Add the reserved chicken and sausage, then stir in the file powder. Simmer, uncovered, for another 30 minutes.
5. Shred the chicken in the pot. Serve over rice with a shake of hot sauce and file powder.
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Watch the how-to video here