Delicious Green Gumbo: a Fusion of two Southern Staples
Green gumbo, also known as gumbo z’herbes, is a mouthwatering combination of fork-tender greens and hearty gumbo. Add andouille sausage, shrimp, and your choice of turkey or ham hocks to a roux to make the ultimate soul food side dish.
For more tasty veggie side dishes, try Roasted Balsamic Glazed Brussel Sprouts, Easy Oven Roasted Broccoli with Bacon, and The Best Sauteed Green Beans,
Gumbo greens combine savory greens with spicy gumbo, for a super delicious side dish, or main dish that is guaranteed to please everyone. If you love your greens with a nice chunk of turkey or smoked ham hocks, then this recipe will blow your mind!
The blend of meats, spices, and vegetables will have you slurping the bowl til the last drop!
Why you will love Gumbo Greens:
Comfort Food! This fusion of two southern side dishes is served hot. Cozy up with a bowl because it is so filling, flavorful, and satisfying.
Great Holiday Dish! This side dish takes time and effort so I like to make it for special occasions. Serve this for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter, alongside a holiday feast.
Customizable! You can switch up the type of greens, the kind of meat, or even make it meatless.
Where does green gumbo come from?
This gumbo greens recipe is inspired by gumbo z’herbes, a traditional Louisiana Lenten dish. Traditionally served every year on Holy Thursday and Good Friday.
The meatless gumbo usually contains assorted greens, including collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, beet greens, spinach, and kale. But it has to be an odd number of greens (although the reason is unclear, I am almost positive it is due to a superstition).
It was popularized in the 1960s by Leah Chase of New Orleans’ beloved Dooky Chase’s restaurant. While it used to be reserved for Holy Thursday and Good Friday, it is now enjoyed year-round, often with meat. This gumbo greens recipe includes meat but you can easily make it a vegetarian gumbo.
Ingredients for Green Gumbo Recipe
To make gumbo greens, you will need the following ingredients:
- Turkey wings: Alternatively, use ham hocks.
- Vegetable oil: Peanut oil is a good substitute.
- All purpose flour: This is necessary for the roux.
- Andouille sausage: Smoked sausage is a staple in Cajun cuisine.
- The Holy Trinity: Diced onion, green bell pepper, and celery are the flavor foundation of Cajun cuisine.
- Garlic cloves: Minced.
- Greens: Clean and chop them before adding them to the large pot.
- Water: This is the liquid base of your broth.
- Bay leaves: This lightens the overall flavor because this stew can be very rich.
- Seasoning: Season simply with cajun seasoning, salt, and black pepper to taste.
- Shrimp: Add these cleaned and deveined. (This ingredient is optional but recommended.)
How to Make Green Gumbo
Cook Turkey or Ham Hocks
Add either turkey wings or ham hocks to a large stock pot and submerge them with water. Bring the pot to a light boil over medium heat. Cook them for about one hour or until they are tender enough to fall off the bone. Periodically check them and add more water as needed,
Once tender, place them in a bowl to cool. Skim the top of the water that the turkey cooked in, to remove any foam or residue. Then set aside the water that the turkey wings cooked in.
Make Roux for Green Gumbo
While the wings are boiling, start on the roux. Add the vegetable oil to a heavy bottomed stock pot and heat it up over medium heat for about 1-2 minutes.
Whisk the oil while gently sprinkling in the flour. Keep stirring in order to ensure there are no lumps.
Continue cooking the roux over medium-low heat, and stir constantly with a whisk or a wooden spoon, until the roux is the color of chocolate. This will take about 15-20 minutes to achieve.
Add Andouille Sausage
Once the chocolate color is achieved, add in the andouille sausage to fry it up. Fry the sausage for about 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly to ensure the roux does not burn.
Once the sausage begins to brown, add the diced onions, bell peppers, and celery. Simmer the veggies along with the sausage, until they begin to soften (about 2 minutes). Add in the minced garlic and stir it around with the veggies and sausage for another minute.
Add Greens
Gently add the greens to the pot. They will initially overflow if the pot is not big enough. Use a large slotted spoon to mix them in with the roux and sausage. The greens will cook down, and you can continue adding them.
Now gently pour the water from the turkey wings into the pot with the roux and vegetables. Add additional water to just cover the greens.
Add the cajun seasoning and bay leaves into the pot and stir well to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning by adding more salt and pepper to taste.
Cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add Turkey Wings
As the greens cook, remove the meat from the bones of the turkey wings and place it in a separate bowl.
Once all of the meat has been removed from the bone, add it to the gumbo greens. Stir the mixture up well, cover with a lid, and continue to cook for another hour.
Taste the greens for seasoning, and adjust to taste.
If you are adding shrimp: add your cleaned and deveined shrimp to the gumbo greens for the last 30 minutes of cooking.
Once done, the greens should be fork-tender, and delicious. Finally, ENJOY!
Tips and variations for the Best Gumbo Greens
- Rinse your greens thoroughly before adding them to the pot. The quickest way to ruin green gumbo is to have gritty bits because you did not wash your vegetables.
- Be patient when making your roux. You will need to stir often over the span of 20 minutes.
- Use a heavy bottomed pot because this ensures the roux does not burn.
- Avoid bitter tasting greens by generously seasoning them.
FAQ
What is a traditional gumbo made of?
Gumbo is a rich stew usually filled made with stock, meat, and shellfish. However, there are variations across regions.
What is the difference between Creole gumbo and Cajun gumbo?
Creole gumbo usually includes tomatoes, shellfish, and a dark roux. It sometimes has okra and filé powder too. Cajun gumbo contains chicken and does not include tomatoes.
What is the secret ingredient in green gumbo?
A roux is essential to gumbo greens. It enriches the flavor and improves the texture.
More holiday side dishes you’ll love
- Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows
- Deluxe Cheesy Hash Browns
- Delicious Steakhouse Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 large Turkey wings or ham hock
- 1 cup Vegetable oil
- 1 ¼ cup All purpose flour
- 1 pound Andouille sausage
- 1 whole Onion diced
- 1 Green bell pepper diced
- 2 stalks Celery diced
- 3 cloves Garlic minced
- 10 cups Greens cleaned and chopped (collards, mustards, turnips, kale)
- 10 cups Water
- 2 whole Bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 pound Shrimp cleaned and deveined (optional but recommended)
Instructions
- Add the turkey wings (or ham hocks) to a large stock pot and cover them with water. Bring the pot to a light boil over medium heat. Cook the turkey wings for about one hour, or until they are tender enough to fall off of the bone. Check them periodically and add more water as needed.
- Once they are tender, remove them from the pot and place them in a bowl to cool. Skim the top of the water that the turkey cooked in, to remove any foam or residue. Set aside the water that the turkey wings cooked in.
- While the wings are boiling, start on the roux.
TO MAKE THE ROUX:
- Add the vegetable oil to a heavy bottomed stock pot and heat it up over medium heat for about 1-2 minutes.
- Now use a whisk to stir the oil while you gently sprinkle in the flour. Continue to stir to ensure there are no lumps.
- Continue cooking the roux over medium-low heat, and stir constantly with a whisk or a wooden spoon, until the roux is the color of chocolate. This will take about 15-20 minutes to achieve.
- Once the chocolate color is achieved, add in the andouille sausage to fry it up.
- Fry the sausage for about 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly to ensure the roux does not burn.
- Once the sausage begins to brown, add in the diced onions, bell peppers, and celery. Simmer the vegetables along with the sausage, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add in the minced garlic and stir it around with the veggies and sausage for about one minute.
- Gently add the greens to the pot. They will initially overflow if the pot is not big enough. Use a large spoon to mix them in with the roux and sausage.The greens will cook down, and you can continue adding them.
- Now Gently pour the water from the turkey wings into the pot with the roux and vegetables. Add additional water to just cover the greens.
- Add the cajun seasoning and bay leaves into the pot and stir well to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning by adding more salt and pepper to taste.
- Cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes.
REMOVE THE MEAT FROM THE TURKEY WINGS:
- While the greens are cooking, remove the meat from the bones of the turkey wings and place it in a separate bowl.
- Once all of the meat has been removed from the bone, add it into the gumbo greens. Stir the mixture up well, and cover with a lid and continue to cook for another hour.
- Taste the greens for seasoning, and adjust to taste.
- If you are adding shrimp: add your cleaned and deveined shrimp to the gumbo greens for the last 30 minutes of cooking.
- Greens should be fork tender, and delicious, now ENJOY!
Amazing
Yum
The best
Made a big batch of this for Thanksgiving after seeing your video on Instagram. Thank you for my family’s new favorite greens! We used smoked neck bones instead of turkey and it was delicious!
They are delicious! Thanks for the review!
I was invited here by the owner of this website to give an account of my tedious historic research on the green gumbo seen here called gumbo z’herbes in Louisiana. I posted the comment on a Green gumbo video on YouTube under a screen name derived from one of my other colonial Louisiana descended family surnames. Here’s the comment, it’s long like an article (lol) so I ask, please bear with me as I include great information (I edited it a bit from my original comment for better understanding):
“Green gumbo is a dish from south Louisiana that we locals in south Louisiana call “gumbo z’herbes”. We pronounce it as “gumbo zab”, with zab rhyming with jab or cab. It has a long history in south Louisiana tied to our culture and the Catholic religion.
The history of gumbo z’herbes in south Louisiana starts with its origin from two European soups that arrived to Old Louisiana from France and Germany. One was from France, one from Germany. Both were versions of each other. They would be combined and further evolved in south Louisiana to become gumbo z’herbes. The real name of gumbo z’herbes is gombó aux herbes in Louisiana French, later corrupted to gombó z’herbes and then to gumbo z’herbes later on. Gumbó z’herbes is written with a z as an alternate form (nowadays the common form) because it’s based on phonetic French pronunciation of aux + herbes. The name “aux herbes” in the name gumbo z’herbes comes from the green soup from France called potage aux herbes that is a green soup that usually uses 9 different types of greens. Potage aux herbes from France is the original ancestor to gumbo z’herbes. In Louisiana, the name potage was changed to gombó in Louisiana french and then later to gumbo in south Louisiana english, as gumbos in Louisiana are a local class of stew-like soups that are somewhere between a soup and a stew.
Although gumbo z’herbes is eaten year-round across south Louisiana for any daily meal, special occasion or celebration including Mardi Gras, it’s especially associated with south Louisiana Catholic food tradition. It holds a special place in our religious practices. It’s traditionally eaten on Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday) during Holy Week in the Catholic denomination and it’s tradition to use 7 or 9 types of greens when making it. The green soup from Germany I mentioned, uses 7 greens to make and is eaten specifically on Holy Thursday and is called seven green soup (Sieben Kräutersuppe) in some parts of Germany and green Thursday soup (Gründonnerstagsuppe) in other parts of Germany. You can see the 7 or 9 green tradition of gumbo z’herbes comes from French (9) and German (7) influence, as well as the Holy Thursday and Catholic tradition. Both the French and German soups are green soups that are similar to each other and both are the origin of the Louisiana version and its associated name, cultural and religious aspects. Gumbo z’herbes however, has evolved to become it’s own dish with its own local south Louisiana identity.
As we see, the original ancestor of gumbo z’herbes is the French potage aux herbes, but the influence from the 7 green Holy Thursday German soup is significant and the blending of the two is seen in blending of styles, the number of greens used (7 or 9) and it being eaten on Holy Thursday and important in the Catholic denomination of Christianity. This history is verified in historic literature from Louisiana. I have accessed historic records, historic cookbooks, historic literature, historic witness accounts, historic and modern food studies and historic audio from various historical and modern Louisiana archives in relation to gumbo z’herbes. I’ve done this for most of south Louisiana’s cuisine. The french were in Louisiana since 1699 (and first explored in 1682) and the Germans were in Louisiana since 1721 and both were colonial Louisiana populations with tremendous influence over the traditional foodways in south Louisiana since Louisiana’s earliest years.
And that’s all folks! Thanks for reading, and thanks for the invite!
P.S. To the author of this site, if you would like any further commentary on south Louisiana food dishes with associated history from me, just ask. I’d be honored. I full of this stuff 🙂
Thanks Robert 🙂