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My Instant Pot gumbo features tender chicken, juicy shrimp, and flavorful sausage in a spicy sauce. This recipe delivers authentic Louisiana flavor in less than an hour.

a bowl of sausage, chicken, and shrimp gumbo topped with rice, green onions, and parsley.

I love how quickly you can cook food in the Instant Pot. Some of my favorites are beef stew, crack chicken, and chicken and dumplings. This Instant Pot gumbo is our new favorite. We visited New Orleans last fall and I've been perfecting this gumbo recipe since. Serve with cornbread and Crystal hot sauce.

Why Our Recipe Is the Best: A Sprinkle of Food Science

We Cook Our Veggies In the Rendered Fat: This gives the whole dish so much more flavor than if you use a neutral oil.
We Make A Peanut Butter Roux: A peanut butter roux has a nuttier more complex flavor than a light roux but more thickening power than a light roux. (It doesn't use nuts it's name comes from its color).
We Use Carryover Cooking For the Shrimp: This helps ensure its juicy and never rubbery like when cooked over high heat.

Ingredient Notes and Shopping Tips

ingredients including shrimp, cajun seasoning, chicken thighs, andouille sausage, diced tomatoes, onion, pepper, and garlic.

Sausage: I like smoky and spicy flavor of Andouille sausage for Cajun cooking. You could also use another rope style sausage like kielbasa if you can't find it.
Shrimp: I like using larger shrimp at least 31-40 per pound. Grab gulf shrimp if you can find them as they tend to be sweeter. Avoid super small shrimp as they tend to shrink and overcook.
- You can use frozen shrimp if needed. Just thaw overnight in the fridge. Do not sure precooked shrimp.
Chicken Thighs: Thighs stay moist and juicy. You can use chicken breast it's just more likely to dry out or fall apart.
Cajun Seasoning: I like Tony Chachere's best.
White Pepper: White pepper has a milder, earthier flavor. If you can't find it add an extra half teaspoon of black pepper.
Broth: Grab low sodium broth to avoid an overly salty broth.
Tomatoes: I like fire roasted for an extra smoky flavor. If you don't like tomatoes you can leave these out entirely.
Bell Pepper: I suggest green bell pepper for this recipe. Red and yellow tend to be sweeter which doesn't work as well in this dish.
Rice: I like long grain white rice as its fluffy and doesn't clump together.

a 4 image collage showing how to make a roux, cook the vegetables, and built the broth for gumbo in the Instant pot.

Troubleshooting and Tips: Steal My Culinary School Secrets

Burn Warning: This is usually caused by not deglazing your pot. It also makes you miss out on SO much flavor. After adding the broth scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to loose all the browned bits from browning the meat or the roux.
Rubbery Shrimp: Never cook shrimp under high pressure as they'll get tough and rubbery. Cook them in the residual heat, this is all they need.
Overcooked Chicken: Be sure you use a quick release where you turn the pressure valve as soon as the time goes off. Allowing the pressure to release naturally will cause the chicken to keep cooking for several minutes.
Flavor Isn't Complex Enough: You didn't cook your roux long enough. It should look like dark peanut butter or light milk chocolate. Go by color not time. It should smell nutty and rich never burnt.
Tip: Pop the chicken in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to make it easier to dice.