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!
Sauté vegetables: Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it begins to slightly brown around the edges. Sauté the onion, celery, and green pepper in the hot butter until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir only to prevent burning. Add the Cajun seasoning and stir to combine.
Make the roux: Sprinkle the flour onto the vegetable mixture, stir to coat, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
Add sauce ingredients: Stir in the tomatoes; cook until tomato juice begins to brown on the bottom of the pan, about 3 minutes. Whisk chicken broth into the vegetable mixture, stirring until smooth. Add the bay leaf. Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened and reduced to a gravy consistency, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce.
Warm seafood: Stir crawfish (or langostino) into etouffee sauce. Since the seafood is already cooked, cook it in the sauce just until it is heated through. Remove the pan from heat and taste. Season with salt, to taste. Remove bay leaf before serving.
Serve over white rice and garnish with green onions.
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Notes
Can easily replace crawfish with same quantities of cooked shrimp and/or langostino.