Crawfish Étouffée is another one of those New Orleans classics that is so easy to make and is so over-the-top delicious. The creamy sauce, tender crawfish, and perfect amount of Creole seasoning make this a knockout dinner.
🥘 Ingredient Notes
- Salted Butter
- Diced Bacon
- Diced Celery
- Diced Onion
- Minced Garlic
- Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning
- Flour (I used All-Purpose Flour to make this post, but I have made it Gluten-Free using Arrowroot Powder or Tapioca Starch in the past)
- Chicken Stock or Seafood Stock
- Kosher Salt
- Dried Thyme
- Dried Parsley
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Heavy Cream
- Louisiana Crawfish Tails
For Serving
- Green Onion Rice
- Sliced Green Onions
🍽 Equipment Needed
- A Large Pot or Dutch Oven
- A Rubber Spatula
- A Sharp Knife and Cutting Board
- Measuring Spoons/Measuring Cups
🥣 How to Make It
Begin by heating a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. If you have not already done so, dice up your vegetables and bacon. (Picture 1)
Add diced bacon and butter and let the butter melt as the bacon crisps up. (Pictures 2 - 4)
Next, do your best to scrape the bits of bacon off of the bottom of the pot, then add the onions, celery, and green pepper to the melted butter and bacon. (Picture 5)
Cook for 2 - 3 minutes, then add minced garlic and cook until the onions are translucent and soft. The garlic should also become fragrant. (Picture 6)
Now, add the Creole seasoning and let that cook for about a minute. It will smell so good!(Picture 7)
Then sprinkle the flour over the vegetable/Creole seasoning mixture and stir it until it thickens almost into a paste. Continue stirring while this cooks so the flour doesn't burn to the bottom of the pot - it should take about one minute. (Picture 8 - 9)
Now gradually add the stock to this mixture. I start with about a third of the stock, then let it start to simmer a little before adding the remainder of it. (Picture 10)
Bring this to a gentle boil/simmer (Picture 11) then add tomatoes, parsley, thyme, kosher salt, and Worcestershire sauce. (Pictures 12 - 13) Return to a simmer, then stir in cream. (Picture 14)
Simmer uncovered over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Picture 15)
Finally, add the crawfish tails. Mix to combine then quickly return the étouffée to a simmer and remove it from the heat. The crawfish tails are already cooked so they will get rubbery if cooked too long.
Serve immediately with green onion rice (or plain white rice) and a sprinkle of green onions on top.
🍳 Serving Suggestions & Uses
We love to serve Crawfish Étouffée with Green Onion Rice or over some fried catfish fillets some to make Catfish Atchafalaya - a huge plate of fried catfish smothered in Crawfish Étouffée with a heaping scoop of Green Onion Rice. It is hands down, one of my favorite dinners of all time.
🥫 Storage/Shelf Life/Reheating
Crawfish Étouffée leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2 - 3 days. It can be reheated over low heat, but again, do not overcook it as the crawfish will get tough.
If you are not going to eat all of the étouffée within 2 - 3 days, you can freeze it for several months. Let it defrost in the refrigerator then reheat on the stove over low heat.
📋 Tips
- Do not overcook your crawfish - crawfish tails are already cooked so they will get very chewy if they get cooked for too long.
- Use any kind of tomatoes that you can find - cherry, creole tomatoes, diced in a can, roma - this is such a great recipe because of the flexibility.
- If you don't have crawfish, you can use shrimp instead. If using shrimp, they can be seared for a few minutes on each side then simmered in the étouffée sauce until they are no longer pink.
🌶️ Other Great Cajun & Creole Recipes
Have You Tried This Recipe?
Please rate it and leave a comment below. I would love to hear what you think!
Crawfish Étouffée
Equipment
- a 5 quart dutch oven or a large pot
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 - 3 ounces smoked bacon, diced I use 3 - 4 strips depending on how thick it is.
- ½ cup white or yellow onion finely diced
- ½ cup green bell pepper finely diced
- ¼ cup celery finely diced
- ½ tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning
- ⅛ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken broth
- ½ cup tomatoes chopped, I quartered fresh cherry tomatoes from our garden.
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 pound peeled Crawfish tails
For Serving
- Green Onion Rice
- green onions, chopped
Instructions
- Begin by heating a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. If you have not already done so, dice up your vegetables and bacon.
- Add diced bacon and butter and let the butter melt as the bacon crisps up.
- When the bacon is crispy, do your best to scrape the bits of bacon off of the bottom of the pot.
- Now add the onions, celery, and green pepper to the melted butter and bacon. Cook for 2 - 3 minutes.
- Next, add minced garlic.
- Continue cooking until the onions are translucent and soft. The garlic should also become fragrant.
- Now, add the Creole seasoning and let that cook for about a minute. It will smell so good!
- Then sprinkle the flour over the vegetable/Creole seasoning mixture and stir it until it thickens almost into a paste.
- Continue stirring while this cooks so the flour doesn't burn to the bottom of the pot - it should take about one minute.
- Now gradually add the stock to this mixture. I start with about a third of the stock, then let it start to simmer a little before adding the remainder of it.
- Bring this to a gentle boil/simmer.
- Next, add tomatoes, parsley, thyme, kosher salt, and Worcestershire sauce.
- Return to a simmer, then stir in cream.
- Simmer uncovered over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Finally, add the crawfish tails. Mix to combine then return the étouffée to a simmer and remove from heat. The crawfish tails are already cooked so they will get rubbery if cooked too long.
- Serve immediately with green onion rice (or plain white rice) and a sprinkle of green onions on top.
Notes
- Do not overcook your crawfish - crawfish tails are already cooked so they will get very chewy if they get cooked for too long.
- Use any kind of tomatoes that you can find - this is such a great recipe because of the flexibility.
- If you don't have crawfish, you can use shrimp instead. If using shrimp, they can be seared for a few minutes on each side then simmered in the étouffée sauce until no longer pink.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is approximate and is automatically calculated, so should only be used as a guide.
Please let me know what you think about the recipe :)