Shrimp Étouffée Recipe for down home Louisiana Cookin’

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Around the Kitchen Table

My easy to make Shrimp Etouffee is perfect for that special date night or to make any night a special occasion!

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
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Shrimp Étouffée for Louisiana down home cookin’ –

With Mardi Gras quickly approaching I thought I would share one of my favorite dishes from N’awlins, Shrimp Étouffée. Of course you don’t have to be celebrating Mardi Gras, this dish would make a delicious date night dinner or would turn any night into a special occasion.

Around the Kitchen Table, shrimp etouffee

If you look up Étouffée in the dictionary you’ll find the literal translation to be smothered. Étouffée uses a technique known as smothering, which is a popular method of cooking in the Cajun areas of southwest Louisiana and the coastal counties of Mississippi.

shrimp etouffee with white rice on a white plate sitting on a cutting board

There are many variations of this classic dish, some being Cajun and others being Creole. And while there are a lot of similarities in the styles, each has its own unique seasonings and flavors typical of the region and families the recipe came from. Lots of people confuse Étouffée with Jambalaya and that’s a completely different type of recipe.  Even my Tex-Mex Jambalaya doesn’t come close to resembling my Shrimp Étouffée.

Around the Kitchen Table, shrimp etouffee

Étouffée is typically made with shellfish, Crayfish being the original star of the dish. But as we all know when it comes to cooking it’s all about what we like to eat and what’s readily available and since it’s easier to find shrimp (and we do love our Gulf shrimp) I decided to make a Shrimp Étouffée to get us into the Mardi Gras Spirit!

You’ll also find recipes for Chicken Étouffée some with sausage and combinations of all the ingredients. So adjust the recipe with the ingredients you like and let the good times roll!

If you enjoyed this recipe you may also like these delicious recipes featuring shrimp.

3.89 from 18 votes
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Shrimp Etouffee

My easy to make Shrimp Etouffee is perfect for that special date night or to make any night a special occasion!

Author: Chef Dennis Littley
Nutrition Facts
Shrimp Etouffee
Amount Per Serving
Calories 555 Calories from Fat 234
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 26g 40%
Saturated Fat 14g 70%
Cholesterol 631mg 210%
Sodium 2851mg 119%
Potassium 689mg 20%
Total Carbohydrates 26g 9%
Dietary Fiber 3g 12%
Sugars 5g
Protein 51g 102%
Vitamin A 43%
Vitamin C 104.1%
Calcium 39.8%
Iron 37.7%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Course: Entree
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins
Servings: 2
Calories: 555 kcal
Around the Kitchen Table
Ingredients
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 4 tablespoons flour
  • 1 pound shrimp shelled and deveined
  • 1/2 lemon sliced
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 cup onion diced
  • 1/2 cup celery diced
  • 1/2 cup bell pepper diced
  • 4 cloves garlic chopped
  • 1 teaspoon fresh thyme chopped
  • 14 ounce can diced tomato
  • 1 tablespoon Creole or Cajun seasoning your favorite blend and adjust to your tastes
  • hot sauce to taste
  • sea salt to taste
  • 1/4 cup green onions sliced for garnish
  • tablespoon Italian parsley chopped for garnish
Instructions
Broth
  1. Add the shrimp shells and scraps of onion and celery to a small sauce pot with a little olive oil to saute and cook for a few minutes
  2. then add the sliced lemon and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes
  3. Strain the solids from the broth and set aside.
Etouffee
  1. Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat, cook until it starts to brown sprinkle in the flour while mixing and simmer until it turns a dark brown, about 10-15 minutes.
  2. Add the onion, celery and peppers to the roux and cook until tender, about 8-10 minutes.
  3. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for a minute.
  4. Whisk in the broth
  5. add the tomatoes and seasoning reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
  6. Season with hot sauce and sea salt to taste.
Shrimp
  1. mix some of your seasoning (or paprika if you don't want heat) and chopped parsely with your towel dried shrimp
  2. get a saute pan hot , add a little oil to the pan and add the shrimp
  3. Saute the shrimp quickly and cook until just done so they stay moist and tender. You want to get color into the shrimp so its okay if they seasoning burns a little.
  4. Place white rice in center of bowl, add Etouffee around rice, place cooked shrimp on top
  5. Garnish with parsley and green onions

 

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About Chef Dennis

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Chef Dennis is a semi-retired Chef, writer/blogger, photographer, recipe developer and creator of A Culinary Journey with Chef Dennis aka Ask Chef Dennis®. Chef Dennis worked professionally in White Table Cloth Restaurants for 40 years and has been developing easy to make, restaurant-style recipes since 2009. Dennis has been featured in numerous publications and on culinary websites for his creative, delicious recipes and travel adventures. For more details, check out his About page.

Comments

  1. fannie says

    February 15, 2019 at 7:21 pm

    Chef Dennis, this is my first rodeo and I’m a true Louisianian , it smells good, hope it taste as good as it smells. Thanks for the recipe.

    Reply

  2. Summer says

    November 19, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    I made this last night and it was amazing. I was so excited that the flavor profile was exactly as it should be. Aside from the prep (deveining the shrimp and chopping all the veggies), this was a breeze to make. All I changed was adding more garlic and I used vegetable broth as the base instead of chicken. So good!

    Reply

  3. Dana says

    November 9, 2018 at 9:43 pm

    After an ill-fated vacation that was supposed to be in New Orleans, I’ve been craving a taste of N’awlins. This was great! Easy to follow directions though I modified a bit since I had a 12 oz. pkg of precooked shrimp. Since they were large, I cut them to make them go farther. I also had to use dried Thyme and slipped the parsley. We really enjoyed it and I will definitely fix it again! I am curious – you mention in an earlier comment that you don’t include serving size and calories but there is a nutrition label inserted in the “print” version. Have you added that? If so, why is the fat count so high? Thanks for sharing this and I’ll have to try some other things!

    Reply

    • Chef Dennis Littley says

      November 10, 2018 at 9:33 am

      hi Dana
      this is an older post before I started using the nutrition app on my recipe plugin, now I do have the approximate information. As for the fat content, I would say it’s from the butter. Again these are only approximations of nutritional information.
      Thanks for the great review!

      Reply

  6. Gene Wartman says

    January 28, 2018 at 9:57 am

    I liked the show But what does a pink dress a rug on the table or a old park bench have todo with the food? Let her get her own show!.

    Reply

  7. Nick says

    August 22, 2017 at 4:25 pm

    You have butter listed twice in the ingredients
    4 Tbs and 2 Tbs. is this an error or am I missing a step?

    Thanks, Nick

    Reply

  8. Laquita says

    July 9, 2017 at 5:38 pm

    I love this dish, even though I used patti Labelles recipes, This is one of my favs, other dishes are always welcome, I like to make new things, instead of the same dishes each week….

    Reply

  9. Phyllis says

    July 6, 2017 at 4:59 pm

    I cooked it yesterday 07/05/2017, right along with you on the video, my family love it, Thanks!!!!

    Reply

  10. Glenda Cox says

    April 9, 2017 at 9:13 am

    I made this and it was a hit! I cooked for eight big hungry guys. I had to triple the amount of seasoning and I put 146 shrimp size 16-21. I have always used the Louisiana shrimp etouffee package that I purchase whenever I am home there. Have to admit, making it from scratch was so much better. I am hooked making it from scratch only for me

    Glenda

    Reply

  12. Priscilla says

    February 19, 2015 at 6:33 pm

    Hi Chef Dennis!

    Where have you been all of my life – I love your recipes. I actually happened to have a rack of pork so it is in the oven as we speak. Saw a recipe for Shrimp Etouffee – I have beautiful shelled and deveined gulf shrimp in my freezer I would like to use – but it mentions add the shrimp shells – I do not have any, will it be okay without them?

    Reply

    • Chef Dennis Littley says

      February 19, 2015 at 7:05 pm

      hi Priscilla

      thanks so much for stopping by and I’m happy to hear you like my recipes! The shrimp shells are just to add more shrimp flavor to the stock, its not a deal breaker. I hope you enjoy the flavors of the Etouffee!

      Reply

  14. Jill says

    February 14, 2015 at 7:32 am

    Thank you for this recipe! We are snowbirding on the Gulf-made this dish last night and it was delicious! I was a little light-handed with the seasonings-will add a bit more next time…happy Valentines day!

    Reply

  18. Judy says

    February 13, 2015 at 8:11 am

    I love your website and always look forward to getting a new email with a new recipe. I have tried several of your recipes and they are always awesome. I will be making this one this weekend. For anyone that has not tried the Tiramisu, you must! Thank you so much for sharing!

    Reply

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