An Uncomplicated Life Blog: Leftover Turkey Andouille Sausage Gumbo

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Leftover Turkey Andouille Sausage Gumbo

Looking for new flavors and a creative way to use up the dark meat from your holiday turkey?


Thanksgiving has come and gone and the next wave of holidays are quickly approaching! Basically, it's turkey season. And turkey season means leftovers. Lots of them too, if your family is like mine. While I love stuffing, and leftover-inspired sandwiches and soups, here's the deal: I can only eat so much butter-induced, sage-flavored, overly-rich food before I want to brush my teeth and not eat for a straight week! I also never know what to do with all the dark meat that gets picked over. This year, I did a massive "flavor change" and mixed things up with a big pot of gumbo. And let me please tell you, this will be a new tradition!

A great, healthy and tasty way to use up holiday turkey, especially the unpopular dark meat!


Any of you who cook regularly can understand me on this one: I think I'm a good cook, but it always tastes better when someone (mom, I'm looking at you!) makes it. So I rarely ever impress myself with my cooking - it's just good to really good. But y'all. Y'ALL. I straight up impressed myself with this pot of gumbo! Even as the cook, I wanted to lick my bowl clean!



Leftover Turkey Andouille Sausage Gumbo

- 1 package andouille sausage
- 1 C leftover turkey (I used all dark meat)
- 1 28oz can diced tomatoes
- 2 bell peppers (I used orange and red; green is classic but hubs hates green bell peppers)
- 1 medium onion
- 32oz vegetable stock
- 1/2 C flour
- 1/2 C olive oil
- 3-4 bay leaves
- 2t thyme
- 2T Worcestershire sauce
- 2 C uncooked rice (white or brown, we used brown)
- Salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste

Dice up the onion and bell peppers into medium bite-sized pieces. In about 2T of olive oil, saute in a large dutch oven style pan. When they've just turned soft, remove from pan and set aside. Slice the sausage into bite sized pieces. Add the remaining olive oil to the pan, and brown the sausage on medium-high heat.


Once the sausage is browned (you'll want a nice, deep color on it) add the flour to the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the leftover turkey. Pour about a half cup of the vegetable stock to the pan to "de-glaze" it (aka, get all the flour and sausage bits off the bottom of the pan with the liquid and stirring) and then add the remainder of the stock. Add the diced tomatoes, sauteed veggies, bay leaves, thyme and Worcestershire sauce. 

I love eating all these colors after a monochromatic holiday meal!
Reduce the heat to low and let simmer for an hour, uncovered and stirring occasionally. In a sauce pan, cook the rice. PRO TIP: If you want your rice to turn out fluffy and not sticky, use half the amount of water called for by the directions on the package. It took me over 30 years to figure that out! (Also works for fluffy quinoa - use half the water called for, always!) Taste the gumbo and season with salt and pepper to taste. I found that with the sausage, turkey and veggie stock, very little salt was needed!


Serve in a bowl, with the gumbo going in first, then spoon in a large spoonful of rice. Add hot sauce to taste. I paired mine with a Louisiana cane sugar root beer (LOVE being neighbors with Louisiana and having their products readily available in my Texas grocery stores!) and found that the sugar went really well with the spicy, savory gumbo. Enjoy some Leftover Turkey Andouille Sausage Gumbo!

17 comments:

  1. Hi, it looks like that is very easy to make. I am going to give it a try once. Thanx for explaining all in detail. Andrew

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  2. Yum, this looks delicious and perfect for a cold day!

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  3. This looks amazing--my husband would totally love it, too!

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  4. Such a great idea! I've been wondering what to do with my leftover turkey, maybe I'll try this tonight!

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  5. This sounds so good! We didn't take any turkey home but I need to keep this in mind for next year when the turkey quesadillas just don't cut it! xo, Biana -BlovedBoston

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  6. What a great idea! Looks delicious.

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  7. Abita root beer was my crave while I was preggo with E. And the gumbo looks good too. lol

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  8. WOW this is probably the best leftover turkey recipe I've seen!!! YUM!

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  9. That is the first thing I do when I go to NOLA is order a big ole bowl of gumbo. I love your spin on it with the turkey. We went to the Abita factory when we were there last and they were mixing the root beer with the dark beer and it was so unbelievably good! I am definitely saving this recipe!

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  10. This totally sounds like something my hubby would love. I love that it's something totally different from traditional leftover turkey soup. We have so much leftover turkey that I'm going to throw out this week while he's gone (no way I will eat it). Bad timing for a trip hubs!

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  11. That looks absolutely delicious! I bet Andrew would love it!

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  12. we didn't even have turkey for thanksgiving, let alone leftovers! can you believe it? i am pinning this for after christmas as KC's mom promised to step up to the plate where KC's grandma failed ;)

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  13. oooh this looks really good! I'd much prefer this to turkey soup (which I get kind of tired of...) Thanksgiving was in October for me, but I know where my Christmas leftovers are headed now!

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  14. Oh yum!! My family makes this every year with our left over turkey! It's the best way to put it to use!

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  15. so awesome, this sauce make the food so delicious. I cant wait to make it. Thank you so much !

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  16. How much celery are you supposed to use? Lots of pictures of celery and no mention of it in the recipe!

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