Shrimp Étouffée is a southern dish packed tender seasoned shrimp are smothered in delicously cozy sauce and jam-packed with flavor. It’s a recipe that you’ll be making on repeat!
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What is Shrimp Étouffée?
I learned to make this dish while taking cooking classes in New Orleans. Roughly translated, Shrimp Étouffée means “smothered shrimp” and there are many variations.
This etouffee recipes starts with a roux (a mixture of oil and flour cooked until browned). I then add celery, onions, broth, and of course cajun-seasoned shrimp. It has many layers of flavor and it’s absolutely delicious.
While it takes a bit of time, it’s easy to make—I can assure you its definitely worth it!
Ingredient Tips for Shrimp Etouffee
- Shrimp: I use medium peeled and deveined shrimp in this recipe but étouffée can be made with any kind of shellfish. Sub out the shrimp for crab, mussels, or even crayfish (or crawdads) if you can find them.
- Roux: The base of this dish is the sauce made from a roux with oil and flour. The longer the roux cooks, the darker and nuttier it becomes adding more flavor. For this recipe, you’ll cook until you get a peanut butter color.
- Broth: I most often use chicken broth since I always have it on hand but you can use seafood stock or make the simple shrimp stock listed in the recipe notes.
- Onion/Celery/Bell Pepper: Known as the Holy Trinity in Cajun cooking these not only add flavor but keep the roux from becoming too dark.
- Tomatoes: Any fresh ripe tomatoes will work, I most often use Roma tomatoes as they hold up well.
How to Make Shrimp Étouffée
- Cook Shrimp: Season and cook shrimp just until pink (per recipe below). It will cook more later, do not overcook.
- Make Roux: Combine flour and fat and cook until it becomes the color of peanut butter. Add onions/celery/peppers (this helps stop the cooking process).
- Simmer: Add diced fresh tomatoes, bay leaf, and Worcestershire and simmer.
- Add flavors: Add shrimp, green onions, and a squeeze of lemon juice and heat through. Serve over rice.
Holly’s Pro Tips
- Roux color: Once the roux has reached the color of peanut butter, add the celery/onion/green pepper (aka the holy trinity). This cools the roux to keep it from browning further.
- Don’t overcook shrimp: When cooking the shrimp in the skillet, remove it heat just as soon as it turns pink on both sides, it takes just a couple of minutes. Once added back into the sauce, make sure it’s heated thoroughly but doesn’t boil so it stays juicy and tender.
- Add fresh herbs last: Add green onion and parsley last, just before removing the dish from heat. This way the herbs retain their flavor and stay bright green.
- Time the cooking so that the rice is ready when the Étouffée is done. Hot, steaming, and slightly sticky rice tastes the best. Try making Instant Pot Rice or baked rice.
Did you love this Shrimp Etouffee? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds medium shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup butter
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 small onion chopped
- ½ green bell pepper chopped
- 2 ribs celery chopped
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 3 cups shrimp stock or chicken broth
- 2 cups diced fresh tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 bay leaves
- salt and black pepper to taste
- ¼ cup sliced green onion
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- ½ lemon juiced
Instructions
- Toss shrimp with Cajun seasoning. In a skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and add shrimp. Cook until shrimp just begins to turn pink, about 2 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Melt butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Stir in flour and cook until the flour becomes the color of peanut butter, about 6-8 minutes.
- Add onions, bell pepper, celery, thyme and garlic and cook until slightly softened. Stir in the broth/stock a bit at a time until smooth.
- Add tomatoes, Worcestershire and bay leaves and return to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered about 20 minutes. Add salt & pepper to taste.
- Stir in the green onions, parsley, lemon juice and shrimp with any juices. Cook just until shrimp is heated through, do not overcook.
- Serve over rice.
Notes
- For more flavor, shell your own shrimp. Add shells (and heads), add to chicken broth and simmer on low 20 minutes. Strain and discard shells. Use this broth in place of chicken broth.
- Do not overcook shrimp, cook just until pink on each side in step 1. The shrimp will finish cooking when reheating.
- Store leftovers in air tight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner, Entree, Main Course, Seafood
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This was a great recipe for me. It’s delicious. I let the roux cook on low for about 15 minutes. You could smell it through the entire house. I had all the ingredients without having to buy a bunch of stuff I won’t use.
This recipe is amazing and absolutely delicious!!! It’s easy to make!! The prepping is a little time consuming but worth it!! I buy wild caught shrimp so taking the shells off and deveining them is where the time comes in. But…it’s so worth it!!!
The new Holy Trinity. Holly, Natasha and Chef Jean Pierre. Really!! these are free cooking schools that are top notch. We all need to give thanks for the true professional training and tips to enable us to prepare dishes that would make any restauranteur proud. This is one more example of another authentic culinary delight. Thank you Holly. :-)
This was my first time making and we all love it! Definitely going to be making this again!
I added about a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper and it was absolutely perfect. I grew up on the gulf coast of Mississippi with a grandmother that spoke Cajun French until she was 16 when she learned English. This is about as good as anything she would make. Not quite just because it was her that made the food but still this is great.
This is delicious! I made it tonight for dinner and it did not disappoint. I omitted the Wistishire sauce because it was salty from the casian seasoning and we are sodium restricted, so figured it didn’t need the extra salt component. Followed the rest to a tee. It was really good. My husband loved it! Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes. Keep them coming.
So happy you enjoyed it, Kelli!
Lived in Louisiana for 10 years ( deep in the heart of Cajun Country ) and this recipe is authentic. From the roux to the trinity of veggies, just perfect.
I made this initially with Chicken stock and it was yummy. This time around I have one can of Seafood stock or Shrimp Bullion cubes. What would you recommend?
I think that sounds great, Jennifer. It will obviously change the flavor. But still so delicious.
Made this last night and it was DELICIOUS! I didn’t have the Worcestershire, so I used balsamic vinegar, a little fish sauce, and some brown sugar. I didn’t use the lemon because I was sure my husband wouldn’t have like the tang, but it still turned out so incredibly yummy! That was my first time making a roux and now I feel a little accomplished, lol. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
This is simply delicious. I followed the recipe except for I used juice of a whole lemon plus zest. halved cherry tomatoes worked nicely too instead of chopped whole ones. Loved it!
Here in Texas fresh shrimps always at HEB grocery , will poach my shrimps in a shrimp shell clam juice broth , then who knows, not sure yet. weather is nasty today. just want a hot broth with some shrimps. will have to make this recipe next time. thank you for your recipes and that wonderful Smile !!!!
We would love to hear how this recipe turns out for you, Joseph!
This is a great recipe! I normally use a Spice Mix from La. that is very tastee. This time I went Googling. This was the first recipe and it sounded easy enough(and was!)
I had never sauteed the shrimp first and added later, which produced a nice a’dente bite. The flavors are simple and spot-on.
I’ll use this again!! Thanks, Jan
This was fantastic and brought back New Orleans memories! Fabulous! Very little variations on my end. Spicy and fabulous! Thanks Chef!
Amazing taste!!! Thank you for the recipe.
Thank you so much, Elsa!
We had this for our New Year Eve dinner and it was perfect. Hubby said it was better than his Mother’s.
loved the addition of thyme and lemon juice. I will make this again.
Hi and thank you for sharing this recipe. I’ll be making it tomorrow. I just have one question, should I use red or green bell peppers, or a combination of both?
Hi Lauren, we use red peppers in this recipe but you can use whatever you have on hand or whatever you prefer! Let us know how it turns out for you!
I made this dish last night, and all I can say is “Wow”!
The flavors were a perfect marriage. The sauce had an ideal consistency, and the vegetables still had a slight firmness (I hate mushy vegetables.)
I served this over seasoned jasmine rice.
This recipe is a keeper!
Great taste great recipe husband loves it
Holy Holly! This recipe is awesome – as good or better than etouffee we have had in restaurants! I followed the recipe exactly, used Two Step Cajun Seasoning, 1/4 tsp salt and pepper at the end and served over unsalted converted rice. Excellent! Thank you for sharing!