Textual Chef

Crawfish Etouffee

Louisiana's crown jewel: plump crawfish tails smothered in a buttery, golden roux-based sauce with the Cajun trinity, served over steamed white rice for the ultimate Southern comfort dish.

50 minMediumServes 4540 cal/serving

CajunDinnerStovetopStandardNut-Free

Ingredients

  • 1 lb crawfish tail meat (fresh or frozen/thawed)
  • 6 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 cup yellow onion, finely diced
  • 2 stalks celery stalks, finely diced
  • 1/2 cup green bell pepper, finely diced
  • 4 cloves garlic cloves, minced
  • 4 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups shrimp stock (or chicken stock)
  • 2 tsp Cajun seasoning
  • 1 tsp Louisiana-style hot sauce
  • 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 4 green onions, sliced
  • 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 2 cups long-grain white rice, cooked
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

  1. 1

    Cook 2 cups cooked long-grain white rice according to package instructions and keep warm.

  2. 2

    Melt 6 tbsp unsalted butter in a large heavy skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add 1 cup finely diced yellow onion, 2 stalks finely diced celery stalks, and 1/2 cup finely diced green bell pepper (the Cajun trinity) and cook, stirring often, until softened and starting to turn golden, about 8 minutes.

  3. 3

    Add 4 cloves minced garlic cloves and cook 1 minute. Sprinkle 4 tbsp all-purpose flour over the vegetables and stir constantly for 2 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste, forming a light roux.

  4. 4

    Gradually whisk in 2 cups shrimp stock (or chicken stock), scraping up any browned bits. Stir in 2 tsp Cajun seasoning, 1 tsp Louisiana-style hot sauce, 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce, and 1/2 tsp kosher salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

  5. 5

    Add 1 lb crawfish tail meat (fresh or frozen/thawed) and simmer gently until heated through and just cooked, about 4 to 5 minutes. Do not overcook or the crawfish will turn rubbery. Crawfish tail meat should be opaque throughout.

  6. 6

    Stir in 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, 4 sliced green onions, and 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley. Taste and adjust seasoning.

  7. 7

    Serve immediately over long-grain white rice.

Cook it with the batch dial

Textual Chef is a plain-text cooking reference of 2,009 recipes. In the app, this entry scales itself — half, standard, or double batch, every quantity recomputed inside the step that uses it — and the ingredient list files itself into an aisle-ordered shopping list. No ads, no life stories, no photos of somebody else's dinner.

Open the appThe first 30 days are free.

More Cajun entries

All Cajun recipes · All Dinner recipes