Crawfish Étouffée, full of tender seafood bites smothered in a spicy Cajun tomato based sauce and served over rice, is Southern comfort food at it's best!
This New Orleans classic can easily be made at home with this quick and easy recipe. I love to make a big batch and freeze it for when I crave spicy cajun food!
Why this recipe works:
Crawfish Étouffée satisfies all of my cravings.
The flavor is intense and the combination of the succulent crawfish, or langostino, paired with the creamy tomato based sauce is heaven to my taste buds. My recipe has just the right amount of spice too.
This recipe is definitely a keeper and a repeat performer in our house.
How do you make it?
- I like to make this recipe in my cast iron dutch oven on the stove top. I start by melting my butter to saute the holy trinity of vegetables until they are slightly soft. At that point I add my Cajun seasoning mix and flour and cook for a few minutes to form a roux.
- Next you'll stir in your tomatoes and cook until the tomato juices begin to brown on the bottom of the pan. This step only takes a few minutes.
- Whisking in chicken broth at this point loosens everything stuck to the bottom of the pan and forms a wonderful sauce with the thickness of a homemade gravy. This mixture is then simmered only a few minutes. At this point, I like to add some Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce.
- Finally, I stir in the crawfish, or langostino. I use them interchangeably. I'm sure some die hards would be infuriated, but it's what I do.
Can you use shrimp instead?
Shrimp étouffée is made the exact same way as my crawfish étouffée recipe here, except you swap out the shrimp for crawfish.
If you're starting with cooked shrimp, you only need to heat them in the sauce until they are heated through. If you're starting with raw shrimp, you're going to want to cook them in the sauce until they are pink and fully cooked through. This should only take a few minutes.
What is an étouffée sauce?
Simply put, etouffee is a dish found in both Cajun and Creole cuisine, where shellfish cooked in a flavorful sauce is served by smothering rice. As you might imagine, etouffee is popular in the New Orleans and surrounding areas.
The sauce generally starts with a light roux of flour and butter along with the "holy trinity" of Cajun vegetables which are onion, celery, and green pepper. You'll find this flavor combination in tons of Cajun dishes.
Sometimes tomatoes are added, which is exactly what I did for this recipe.
Fun fact...
The word étouffée is influenced by the word étouffer which means to smother. Also, estuver in French translates to the word stew.
Etouffée is basically defined as a Cajun stew that smothers rice.
The more you know...
What is the difference between étouffée and gumbo and jambalaya?
Oh my god! They are all so similar! What on earth is the difference, anyway?
Let me try to break it down for you, as I am just now figuring out the subtle differences myself.
All three are considered Cajun main dishes. The all use that holy trinity of vegetables: onion, celery, and bell pepper. Here are the few details that I think makes them different:
- Jambalaya is a dish that consists of meat, vegetables, and rice. It's all cooked together to form one cohesive dish.
- Gumbo is a mixture of meat and/or shellfish with vegetables in a thickened stock that's served alongside rice. Gumbo, however, more closely resembles a soup than a gravy.
- Etouffée is one type of shellfish that is mixed with a sauce that closely resembles a gravy and that mixture smothers rice.
Creole vs. Cajun food
Total disclosure: I had absolutely no idea how to answer this question so I started to do a little investigating.
According to Louisiana Travel, Creole cuisine uses tomatoes and proper Cajun food does not.
Cajun and Creole are two distinct cultures, and while over the years they continue to blend, there is still a vast distinction in Louisiana, and both have their own unique stories. A vastly simplified way to describe the two cuisines is to deem Creole cuisine as “city food” while Cajun cuisine is often referred to as “country food.”
Have you ever been to Louisiana? It's on my culinary wish list as far as destinations go. I would love to hear about your experiences and things you ate in the comments below!
Crawfish Étouffée
RECIPE VIDEO WILL AUTOPLAY
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup diced onion
- ½ cup diced green bell pepper
- ½ cup chopped celery
- 1 tablespoon Cajun Spice Seasoning
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ cup diced tomatoes
- 2 cups chicken stock
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 dash hot sauce (Tobasco)
- 12 ounces cooked crawfish (or substitute with langostino)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup sliced green onions
- 1 bay leaf
- cooked medium or long grain white rice (for serving)
Instructions
- Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat until butter begins to turn tan at the edges. Saute onion, celery, and green pepper in hot butter until softened, about 5 minutes. Add cajun seasoning and stir to combine.
- Sprinkle flour into vegetable mixture and saute until combined, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in tomatoes; cook until tomato juices begin to brown on bottom of pan, about 3 minutes. Whisk chicken broth into vegetable mixture, stirring until smooth. Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened and reduced to a gravy consistency, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce.
- Stir crawfish (or langostino) into etouffee sauce. Season with salt to taste.
- Serve over rice and garnish with green onions.
SGT Fon
you need to start off making the Roux first, a good lovingly made dark roux should take about 20 mins. also if you can boil the crawfish shells along with some veggies then reduce crawfish stock is always better then chicken in this dish. if you have trouble finding crawdads, you can substitute shrimp for them.just shell about 5 lbs and use them for the stock.also needs a clove or two of garlic...
Krissy
I wanna have dinner at your house! Sounds amazing!
Katie Campbell
SGT fan, you've got it right. I've never heard of making a roux with vegetables already in the pot. You can't properly, evenly brown a roux that way. The roux comes FIRST.
Also, as a Cajun cook who learned from MAMAs and PAPAs, I saw them use onion, bell pepper and green onions or onion tops always. Celery was the veggie that you could leave out if you didn't have it. Most always used all four. I can't even imagine a gumbo without 2 bunches of green onions. And it's not like you're adding onions on top of onions - onion tops are a whole different thing, and they add some prettiness to boot!
Yes, please go to Louisiana soon! Go to Lafayette and Vermilion parishes for an authentic Cajun experience and food, and New Orleans for Creole. And go for the culture and the people anywhere in South Louisiana. You'll feel you've traveled to a different country. There's no place on earth like it.
Who Noms the World
LOVE that you don't skimp out on the crawfish - the way an etouffee should be 😉
Emily
Hi Krissy, I actually live in Louisiana, was born and raised here. And I admit, though your blog is amazing, when I saw crawfish etoufee (from Oregon isn't it?) I was skeptical. But your dish and recipe look and sound authentic!! And your research on Cajun vs Creole was well done also! I couldn't have said it better myself.
Also Creole tends to be from the Spanish line morphed with some other cultures (makes sense being in the city right?) while Cajun is from the French settlers (the trappers, swampers and farmers who stayed to themselves more)
My mouth is watering right now and I don't have any crawfish on hand.
Krissy
Thank you so much, Emily? I'm always worried when I try to create a recipe from a certain region that I've never been. I feel super validated right now! Thank you!
Lisa
Any particular kind of diced tomatoes (caned) could I use paste or tomatoes sauce?
Krissy
Diced tomatoes are definitely different from both sauce and paste. You can use whole canned tomatoes and crush them yourself, or buy a can of diced tomatoes.
Vicki
I added some granulated garlic and a pinch of thyme and it was perfect.
Terri Jackson
This recipe is so good. Even my picky grandchildren ate 2 bowls and asked for the recipe. A keeper for sure!!!
Heather
Just a quick question: is the 174 calories with the rice or just the crawfish sauce? Really want to try this recipe!
Krissy
Just the crawfish sauce. Krissy
Leeann
We're trying your recipe tonight for company. He's from Louisiana, my grandmother was from Louisiana and I'm still learning. Sounds delish, thanks to everyone's suggestions and comments ... they really help! We'll let you know how it turns out!
Ljohns
Fantastic! Super authentic and delish. Really easy, thanks so much for a great recipe.
Camille
I’ve made this twice and it’s fabulous! I used shrimp because it’s hard to find crawfish here on the Oregon coast. I just bumped up the spice with more Cajun seasoning, hot sauce and red pepper flakes. Thanks for the great recipe.
Kourtney zhuchenya
First time making this. Not going to lie from pictures I was skeptical. But fear not! It’s THE BOMB!!!!!