Make Louisiana-style crawfish étouffée in the comfort of your own home with this top-rated recipe.
How to Make Crawfish Étouffée
You'll find a detailed ingredient list and step-by-step instructions in the recipe below, but let's go over the basics:
Crawfish Étouffée Ingredients
These are the ingredients you'll need to make perfect crawfish étouffée recipe:
- Rice: This crawfish étouffée recipe starts with long grain white rice.
- Water: You'll need seven cups of water (six for the rice, one for the étouffée).
- Butter: Cook the garlic and onion in butter.
- Vegetables: For this crawfish étouffée, you'll need an onion and green onions.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic adds tons of flavor.
- Flour: All-purpose flour thickens the étouffée.
- Tomato sauce: Canned tomato sauce lends even more depth of flavor.
- Crawfish tails: You'll need about a pound of crawfish tails for six servings.
- Seasonings: This flavorful crawfish étouffée is seasoned with salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning.
Crawfish Étouffée Tips
"It's easy, it can feed a lot of people, it doesn't cost a lot of money, and a little bit of crawfish can go a long way," culinary producer Nicole McLaughlin (a.k.a. NicoleMcMom) says of this top-rated crawfish étouffée recipe. Here are a few of her favorite tips and tricks:
- Avoid over stirring your rice while it's cooking. If you only stir it once or twice, you'll end up with perfectly fluffy rice every time.
- "If you're lucky enough to live in the land of crawfish, you can get your own crawfish tails fresh out of the tails," according to Nicole. If you don't have access to fresh crawfish, though, you can find frozen ones in most grocery stores. You can also use shrimp, if you prefer.
- Don't overcook the crawfish! You want them tender, not tough.
What to Serve With Crawfish Étouffée
This crawfish étouffée is quite hearty, so there's really no need to pair it with any side dishes. But, if you want to take your meal to the next level, you might want to pair it with a crusty homemade bread to soak up all those delicious juices. Plus, you can explore our collection of 9 Best Cajun Side Dishes. Here are a few of the irresistible recipes you'll find:
How to Store Crawfish Étouffée
You can store your leftover crawfish étouffée in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Reheat thoroughly on the stove or in the microwave. If you want to keep the étouffée for longer, you can freeze it for up to three months.
Allrecipes Community Tips and Praise
"Perfect taste," raves LeahNOLA. "Exactly what I was looking for and it was easy to make. I halved the recipe. One slight change that I made was to use a dollop of spaghetti sauce I had in the freezer instead of opening a can of tomato sauce for just a tablespoon."
"Used tomato paste instead of tomato sauce and it was delicious," says Cheryl MacHauer.
"I took some of the recommendations from the comment section and made this wonderful dish," according to one Allrecipes community member. "I like spicy food so I added jalapeños."
Editorial contributions by Corey Williams
Ingredients
-
3 cups long grain white rice
-
7 cups water, divided
-
¾ cup butter
-
1 large onion, chopped
-
1 clove garlic, chopped
-
¼ cup all-purpose flour
-
2 tablespoons canned tomato sauce
-
1 pound crawfish tails
-
6 green onions, chopped
-
salt and pepper to taste
-
1 ½ tablespoons Cajun seasoning, or to taste
Directions
-
Gather all ingredients.
![Ingredients to make Louisiana crawfish etouffee]()
Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
-
Combine rice and 6 cups water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover the pan, and simmer until rice is tender and water has been absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes.
![A large pot of cooked white rice]()
Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
-
While rice cooks, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until transparent. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
![A skillet with chopped onion and garlic cooking in oil]()
Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
-
Stir in flour until blended. Gradually stir in tomato sauce and remaining 1 cup water. Add crawfish tails and bring to a simmer.
![A pan with crawfish tails and thickened tomato sauce being stirred with a wooden spoon]()
Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
-
Stir in green onions and season with salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning.
![A large pan with sliced green onions being stirred into the crawfish tails and tomato sauce]()
Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
-
Reduce heat to low and simmer until crawfish is cooked through but not tough, 5 to 10 minutes.
![A large pan of Lousiana crawfish etouffee]()
Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
-
Serve étouffée over cooked rice.
![A bowl of Louisiana crawfish etouffee served over white rice]()
Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
| 636 | Calories |
| 25g | Fat |
| 83g | Carbs |
| 19g | Protein |
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings Per Recipe 6 | |
| Calories 636 | |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Total Fat 25g | 32% |
| Saturated Fat 15g | 75% |
| Cholesterol 142mg | 47% |
| Sodium 635mg | 28% |
| Total Carbohydrate 83g | 30% |
| Dietary Fiber 2g | 9% |
| Total Sugars 2g | |
| Protein 19g | 39% |
| Vitamin C 6mg | 6% |
| Calcium 79mg | 6% |
| Iron 5mg | 28% |
| Potassium 438mg | 9% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
** Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.
(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.
