Shrimp Etouffee (Easy Cajun Recipe) (2024)

FAQs

What is etouffee sauce made of? ›

What's in an Étouffée Sauce? Étouffée is a type of stew if you want to get technical. It's made with a roux, onion, celery, and bell pepper (the holy trinity), tomato, garlic, hot sauce, and either shrimp, crawfish, or chicken.

For an effortless etouffée, toss some crawfish, shrimp or chicken into our sauce blend of onions, bell peppers, celery and spices. Serve over rice and enjoy.

Etouffee can be found in both Creole and Cajun cuisine, with slight but important differences in the seasoning and preparation of each version. Creole etouffee uses a traditional French-style roux made from butter and flour while the roux for Cajun etouffee is made with oil, lard, or other animal fats.

Etouffee is a French word, which translated literally means “smothered” or “suffocated.” However, in relation to food, it refers to a method of cooking where seafood is smothered in vegetables with a tomato-based sauce, resulting in a stew-like seafood dish.

To make my etoufee spicy, I use Louisiana sauce. Louisiana sauce is the best because it has the perfect balance of spicy to acidity, and limited ingredients.

For the spice blend: Whisk paprika, thyme, oregano, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, white pepper, and black pepper together in a small bowl.

While both dishes use a broth base—like shrimp stock, crawfish tail stock, or chicken broth—étouffée has a thicker, gravy-like consistency because chefs make it with a roux (a mixture of all-purpose flour and butter). Gumbo, on the other hand, is thinner than étouffée, with a soupy stew broth.

Gumbo and etouffee both start with the vegetable trinity of Cajun seasonings (bay leaf, paprika, and cayenne), but etouffee tends to be lighter and almost sweet in flavor, while gumbo is deep and savory.

Share. The word étouffée (pronounced eh-too-fey) comes from the French word“to smother.” The best way to describe this dish is a very thick stew, seasoned to perfection and chock full of delicious, plump crawfish (or shrimp) served over rice.

What is an interesting fact about etouffee? ›

Étouffée or etouffee ( AY-too-FAY) is a dish found in both Cajun and Creole cuisine typically served with shellfish over rice. The dish employs a technique known as smothering, a popular method of cooking in the Cajun and Creole areas of southwest Louisiana.

The color of the roux will change the flavor of the étouffée, from mild and light with a sweet shrimp flavor for a blond roux, to dark, slightly bitter, and complex for a darker brown one.

"It's definitely Cajun not to use tomatoes," Williams said. "And you have to think, 'Why is that?' It's probably just because tomatoes weren't available in that area.

You want the étouffée to be thick, but not ridiculously thick—-think of it like a thick pasta sauce. Now add your spices! Tony Chachere's Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, Worcestershire sauce and Louisiana hot sauce. Bring to a boil and stir.

Turns out, your preference for tomatoes in gumbo comes down to whether you learned your skills from a Cajun cook or a Creole cook. (Learn about the difference here.) Cajun gumbo does not include tomatoes in the base, but Creole gumbo (typically shellfish or seafood gumbo) does call for tomatoes.

Flavor. Gumbo and etouffee both start with the vegetable trinity of Cajun seasonings (bay leaf, paprika, and cayenne), but etouffee tends to be lighter and almost sweet in flavor, while gumbo is deep and savory.

While both dishes use a broth base—like shrimp stock, crawfish tail stock, or chicken broth—étouffée has a thicker, gravy-like consistency because chefs make it with a roux (a mixture of all-purpose flour and butter). Gumbo, on the other hand, is thinner than étouffée, with a soupy stew broth.

The word étouffée (pronounced eh-too-fey) comes from the French word“to smother.” The best way to describe this dish is a very thick stew, seasoned to perfection and chock full of delicious, plump crawfish (or shrimp) served over rice.

Étouffée is the French word for "smothered," and what it really describes is a Cajun and Creole cooking method in which a protein like shrimp is cooked on the stovetop in a thick, roux-based sauce.