Deciding what to serve with gumbo can be a challenging task. Gumbo is already full of so many vegetables, meats, and seasonings that it can be hard to find a good match.
Don’t worry. We can help you! We have found tons of fantastic side dishes that will taste delicious with your favorite gumbo recipe.
We like to serve lighter sides with gumbo since it is already so hearty and filling. A side dish that isn’t overly seasoned is also a good idea. Gumbo already has a lot of spice!
Shrimp Gumbo with Okra and Sausage
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Best Gumbo Side Dishes
Take a look at these 15 delicious side dish recipes that go well with gumbo. We tried to give a good variety of choices, so everyone has something!
1. Green Salad
Our spinach, strawberry, and asparagus salad is one of our favorite green salad recipes ever. It is so simple to make but has an incredible, strong flavor. The sweet strawberries taste great with spicy gumbo!
This fresh salad is made with baby spinach, asparagus, strawberries, goat cheese, and toasted almonds. Homemade red wine vinegar and mustard dressing are poured over the green salad, making it complete!
This green salad recipe is great to serve with gumbo in the spring when strawberries, spinach, and asparagus are all in season. Toss the salad together right before you are ready to enjoy it, so the veggies stay crisp and tender.
2. Potato Salad
Potato salad is a classic side dish to pair with gumbo soup. We especially love this lemon potato salad from Recipe Tin Eats. The bright lemon flavor goes really well with the spicy chicken gumbo or sausage gumbo.
Image Source: Recipe Tin Eats
This potato salad is made without mayo. Lemon juice, olive oil, black pepper, salt, garlic, and dijon mustard are the main seasonings in this dish. One bite will make your taste buds sing!
Be sure to use small, red potatoes or new potatoes. These little potatoes are tender and soft, perfect for potato salad!
3. Cheese Bread
Bread is always a good side dish to serve with gumbo. This cheese bread with extra garlic is an even better choice. This recipe from Archana’s Kitchen is simple and very delicious.
Image Source: Archana’s Kitchen
Olive oil and fresh garlic are sprinkled over a loaf of French bread. The bread is toasted until golden and warm.
Dried oregano adds a lot of flavor to the bread, but the big ingredient in this cheese bread is the shredded mozzarella cheese. Mozzarella cheese melts over the bread, making it salty, savory, and delicious.
Dip a piece of cheese bread into your favorite gumbo, and you are sure to enjoy every bite of your meal.
4. Crab Cakes
Chicken and sausage gumbo is the most common type of gumbo out there. Occasionally, we will also have seafood in the mix. Seafood gumbo is often made with shrimp, but we wanted to include crab in the gumbo meal.
Image Source: Jo Cooks
These crab cakes from Jo Cooks are the perfect way to get your seafood fix while also enjoying a delicious gumbo. The crab cakes are pan-fried, which gives them a nice crispy texture.
Add some cajun seasoning to the crab meat to make it match even better with your gumbo recipes. Spicy crab cakes are always a hit in our home!
5. Savory Bread Pudding
Savory bread pudding is a fun, new side dish that goes very well with gumbo. This recipe from Once Upon a Chef is made with sausage, so it pairs very well with sausage gumbo.
Image Source: Once Upon a Chef
Butter, sausage, and onion are sauteed together until the meat is brown. Cubed bread, eggs, and milk are added to the mix, and the bread pudding mix is left to sit overnight. This gives the bread time to absorb all the sausage and milk mix flavors.
Cook the bread pudding right before you’d like to serve it with gumbo. Consider making a Cajun cream sauce to pour over the bread pudding for a little extra spicy flavor. This meal sounds truly delicious!
6. French Bread
Homemade bread is irresistible. A fresh loaf of French bread, hot out of the oven, may be one of the best side dishes for gumbo. This recipe from Lil Luna makes two perfect loaves of bread.
Image Source: Lil Luna
Making homemade bread does take a little bit of time and planning. You need to wait for the yeast to rise the bread twice before going into the oven. However, the bread is well worth the wait!
Slice the bread and serve it with a healthy serving of butter. Try toasting the bread cubes into croutons to put in your gumbo. Homemade bread is perfect for your family dinner gumbo night!
7. Hush Puppies
Hush puppies are a classic southern cuisine side dish to serve with gumbo. They are easy to pop in your mouth and will definitely help make a complete meal.
Image Source: The Recipe Critic
Hush puppies are small balls of cornmeal batter. You can deep fry or bake hush puppies, depending on your preference. Either method will give you a crispy outside and tender cornmeal inside.
We love this recipe from The Recipe Critic. The hush puppies are perfectly seasoned. Be sure to use yellow cornmeal for the best, traditional results.
Hush puppies are best when fried fresh and eaten immediately. Serve them with a big bowl of dipping sauce or hot sauce. You can also dunk them right into your gumbo! This southern staple is the perfect combination with gumbo.
8. Roasted Peppers
Gumbo is often made with lots of veggies. When thinking of what to serve with gumbo, you may want to consider pairing the soup with some extra fresh vegetables. We love making these roasted bell peppers that have so much flavor and are incredibly simple.
Image Source: the Daring Gourmet
Try this easy recipe from the Daring Gourmet. Bell peppers are sliced in half then placed on a sheet pan to roast. Add a few chopped onions to the tray for extra flavor. Peel off the blackened skins to reveal soft, tender peppers.
Roasted peppers are a basic side dish that goes with seafood gumbo with shrimp, Louisiana-style gumbo, or your favorite recipe for chicken gumbo. It is really great with anything!
9. White Rice
One of the best side dishes to serve with gumbo is simple white rice. Gumbo is often poured over steamed white rice to make a complete meal. We love this perfect, easy white rice recipe from A Clean Bake.
Image Source: A Clean Bake
White rice grains are added to a slow cooker with water. The rice slowly cooks for several hours, letting the grains absorb the water slowly. The result is tender, delicious rice that will taste fantastic with any chicken, sausage, or shrimp gumbo.
Use arborio rice for the best results. You can also use brown rice, but it may need to cook for about an hour longer.
Try adding a few seasonings to the white rice, letting it absorb some flavors as it cooks. Scoop some butter into the slow cooker at the end of the cooking process to give the rice a creamier texture. Rice is so versatile and flexible that you really can’t go wrong with this side dish.
10. Mashed Potatoes
Still searching for what to serve with gumbo? Try making traditional, delicious mashed potatoes. This yummy recipe from Natasha’s Kitchen will help you make some of the best potatoes you have ever had!
Image Source: Natasha’s Kitchen
The trick to this potato recipe is the type of potato used. Yukon gold potatoes have the perfect amount of starch, making creamy, tender, irresistible potatoes.
Try using sweet potatoes instead. Sweet potato mash will taste delicious with your gumbo!
11. Fried Okra
Fried okra may be one of our favorite side dishes to serve with smoky flavor gumbo. This recipe from A Spicy Southern Kitchen will show you how to make crispy, tender okra that will melt in your mouth.
Image Source: A Spicy Southern Kitchen
The key to making perfect fried okra is to soak the okra well. This helps tenderize the vegetable and make it less sticky.
This fried okra is so good that it could easily be served in New Orleans or on any southern table. Okra is a classic and sweet contrast to spicy gumbo.
Serve your fried okra with a dipping sauce. It tastes great with spicy aioli or a dark roux-based sauce. You can also pop the okra right into the bowl of gumbo for an interesting crunchy combination.
12. Spinach Madeline
Spinach Madeline is a wonderful make-ahead side dish to pair with gumbo. Try this recipe from Just a Pinch, and we know you will fall in love with the juicy, creamy spinach.
Image Source: Just a Pinch
Frozen spinach is mixed with a blend of spices and milk. The mix is layered into a casserole dish, and buttery breadcrumbs are sprinkled over the top. The bold flavors of the creamy spinach are delicious next to gumbo.
13. Deviled Eggs
Deviled eggs are always a good side for any type of gumbo. You really can’t go wrong with this recipe from Downshiftology. Follow the directions exactly, and you will create the most tender, delicious deviled eggs you have ever had!
Image Source: Downshiftology
Hard-boiled eggs, mayonnaise, vinegar, salt, pepper, and paprika are all you need to make this tasty side. Make the eggs in advance, so you have less cooking to do later on. Deviled eggs actually get better if they are allowed to sit and marinate for a few days!
A meal made of deviled eggs and spicy gumbo sounds like a dream. Add a glass of pinot gris or sauvignon blanc to the table, and your dinner is complete!
14. Corn on the Cob
The perfect corn on the cob is not hard to make. Follow this recipe from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, and you will have one of the best side dishes for gumbo ready to serve in just minutes.
Image Source: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
Fresh corn cobs, a little sugar, and some vinegar are all you need to cook this side dish. The sugar sweetens the cob corn as it cooks, and the vinegar helps keep the kernels crunchy.
Serve the corn on the cob or cut it off and use the kernels to make creamed corn. Creamed corn is another fantastic side to pair with your favorite gumbo recipes.
Cooking corn on the cob to go with your gumbo is an especially good idea in the summer when corn is in season. Look for corn at your local farmstand. It does taste so much better when freshly picked!
15. Cornbread
Cornbread is definitely the answer to the question of what to serve with gumbo. It may be the best gumbo side dish on our list. We especially love this bacon cheddar cornbread from the Pioneer Woman.
Image Source: Pioneer Woman
Bacon is crisped in a large skillet and then chopped into small bacon bits. The bacon bits are mixed into the cheddar cornbread batter, and then the batter is poured back into the skillet.
Cooking the cornbread in the bacon drippings adds so much flavor to the dish. Add a little chili powder to make the cornbread have a nice, spicy kick.
Serve this yummy cornbread with your favorite chicken, sausage, or shrimp gumbo. It goes well with all kinds of gumbo! A slice of bacon cornbread, a big bowl of gumbo, and a glass of white wine is the perfect meal.
Delicious Gumbo Sides for Seafood Gumbo and Chicken Gumbo
There are many mouthwatering side dishes you can pair with your favorite gumbo recipes. Choose one of our amazing recipes and let us know what you think. Grab a slice of lemon pie for dessert, and you will be in southern cuisine heaven! Enjoy.
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