Name: Shrimp Étouffée
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 65 min
Total time: 75 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter; 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; 1 1/2 cups chopped onion; 1 cup chopped bell peppers; 1 cup chopped celery; 6 cloves garlic (minced); 1 cup petit diced tomatoes (undrained); 1 teaspoon Kosher salt; 1 Tablespoon Creole seasoning; 2 cups chicken stock; 2 pounds large head-on shrimp (16 to 20 count per pound, peeled and deveined (about 14 ounces cleaned)); 2 Tablespoons minced parsley leaves; Cooked white rice (for serving); Minced parsley or thinly sliced green onion tops (for garnish)

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Shrimp Étouffée is Classic New Orleans at its best. It’s perfect for Mardi Gras or anytime with spicy shrimp cooked in a delicious roux based sauce. The sauce for the Shrimp Étouffée can be made ahead of time. Right before serving, add the shrimp and cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Laissez les Bon Temps Rouler!

Étouffée is a roux based dish served over rice, and is found in both Cajun and Creole cuisines. It’s made with the “trinity” and is typically finished off with either crawfish or shrimp.

Ingredients for Shrimp Étouffée

Shrimp Étouffée uses classic New Orleans ingredients.

Shrimp – I guess it goes without saying that you need to use shrimp! I always use fresh shrimp. I’m fortunate to live along the Gulf Coast where fresh shrimp is plentiful.
The Roux – Roux is the foundation for this delicious recipe. It only uses two ingredients – butter and flour.
The Trinity Plus Garlic – Many classic New Orleans dishes use the trinity of onions, celery and bell pepper. I used a combination of red, green and yellow bell pepper, but you could use just green bell pepper.
Seasonings – The only needed seasonings are salt and Creole seasoning. For the Creole seasoning, I use Emeril’s Essence.
The Liquid – Petit Diced Tomatoes add both color and flavor to this delicious dish. Chicken broth rounds out the flavor!
The Garnish – I like to add a garnish of minced fresh parsley, sliced green onion tops or a combination of the two when I serve the dish.

Cleaning the Shrimp for Shrimp Étouffée

Generally, I always buy fresh shrimp – with the head and shells still on (Photo 1). The reason is that I feel that I’m getting the freshest shrimp this way.

However, the most time-consuming part of making the Shrimp Étouffée was cleaning the shrimp, i.e., removing the heads (Photo 2), peeling the shrimp, and deveining them (Photo 3).

Anyone who thinks that deveining the shrimp is unnecessary, must have never actually seen how gross the vein can be! The fresher the shrimp, the easier it is to remove the vein.

I actually remove not only the vein on the top of the shrimp, but also the much smaller vein on the bottom (Photos 4 and 5). Out of the two pounds that I started with, I ended up with just under 14 ounces of cleaned shrimp (Photo 6).

Making the Shrimp Étouffée

The second most time-consuming part of making the Shrimp Étouffée is cutting up the vegetables. However once everything is cut up, the dish comes together pretty quickly and easily.

I started by making a butter and flour roux in a Dutch oven. I cooked it over medium heat until the roux about the color of peanut butter. This took around 5 minutes.

Then I added the onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic to the roux (Photo 7). I cooked the mixture for about 10 minutes. During this time, I stirred the mixture often with my roux paddle.

After 10 minutes, I added the tomatoes, salt, and Creole seasoning, and cooked the tomatoes for several minutes (Photo 8). Then, I added the chicken stock, and brought the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly until it was thickened (Photo 9).

I reduced the heat to low, and simmered the Étouffée uncovered for 45 minutes until the vegetables were tender. During this time, I stirred the mixture occasionally. When the vegetables were tender, I increased the heat to medium and added the shrimp (Photo 10). I cooked the shrimp for about 5 minutes until they were cooked through.

Finally, I added some minced parsley, and stirred to ensure that everything was well combined.

I served the Shrimp Étouffée with white rice and a freshly baked baguette. Laissez les Bon Temps Rouler – Yum!

Chula’s Expert Tips

If possible, use fresh shrimp. However, if you don’t have the option of fresh shrimp, you can use frozen. Just allow them to thaw by placing the shrimp in a colander and running cold water over them.
I like to make the roux with butter. However, you could also make the roux the more traditional way by using oil instead of butter.
Watch the roux carefully – it can burn very quickly. Also, stir the flour and butter constantly.
The addition of the trinity will stop the roux from getting any darker. Therefore, make sure that the roux is the desired color before adding the vegetables.
I like to use low sodium chicken broth. That way, I can adjust the salt more easily to my preference.
I always serve the Shrimp Étouffée with rice. I like to pack the rice in a 2.75-inch round mold. If you don’t have a mold, you could also use a large ice cream scoop or just spoon the rice into the dish.
You can make the Shrimp Étouffée ahead of time up to the point of adding the shrimp. Shrimp cook very quickly and can become rubbery if cooked too long. Therefore, add the shrimp at the very last minute.

Other Classic New Orleans Dishes

If you’re looking for amazing classic New Orleans recipes to make for Mardi Gras or any time for that matter, you should also check out the following:

Cajun Chicken Fricassee – This recipe is the Cajun version of the French Chicken Fricassee that is made with a traditional roux, and contains the holy trinity highlighted with Cajun seasonings. It’s easy to make and incredible to taste!
Red Beans and Rice – In New Orleans, red beans are a cultural tradition dating back hundreds of years. Through the years, Red Beans and Rice was the quintessential dish associated with Mondays.
Spicy New Orleans Jambalaya -Nothing speaks classic New Orleans cuisine like Spicy New Orleans Jambalaya. Laizzez les bons temps rouler with this delicious one-pot meal that’s perfect for Mardi Gras or any time for that matter.
Beef Grillades and Smoked Gouda Grits -Beef Grillades (pronounced ɡree-yahds) and Grits is a classic New Orleans dish. The beef is cooked in a flavorful gravy accented with the Trinity of onion, celery, and bell pepper until it is fork tender.
Pasta Jambalaya – Replace the rice in a traditional jambalaya with pasta to create an unforgettable meal!
Spicy New Orleans Shrimp Creole – Shrimp Creole is a classic New Orleans dish with both Spanish and French undertones. It consists of shrimp cooked in a spicy mixture of diced tomatoes and the trinity of onion, celery and bell pepper.

This is an update from January 18, 2019. I added new pictures and a video. Also, I updated the text a bit.

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