Shrimp Étouffée For One

Shrimp Étouffée For One! A classic Louisiana stew made with juicy shrimp, vegetables, and a simple roux. Enjoy over rice for a delightful Cajun meal.

this Recipe

I was fortunate to have grown up in New Orleans. It’s a beautiful city with so much history and tradition. One of the things I miss the most, aside from the music, the fabulous people, and of course, Mardi Gras is the food. One of my favorite meals and one that I make sure to eat every single time I go back home is Shrimp Étouffée and I’m so happy to share my traditional recipe, in a single serving with you today.

What Is Étouffée?

The word “étouffée” is pronounced, “ay-too-fay” and comes from the French word, “étouffér, which means “to smother”. In the context of this recipe, it refers to the cooking technique of smothering the shrimp and vegetables in the sauce, which allows the flavors to come together and develop into a rich and savory dish.

Shrimp étouffée is a popular version of the dish and if you love crawfish, you might like to try our crawfish étouffée too! Both dishes are traditional to Louisiana cuisine.

Why This Recipe Works

• Easy to make: You might be surprised to see just how easy it is to make shrimp étouffée. This dish is made with easy-to-find ingredients and comes together quickly.
• A dish that’s easy to customize: Since you’re making it at home, you can control some of the flavors according to your personal taste.
• Recipe doubles well: This recipe yields one generous bowl of shrimp étouffée. If you’d like to make a second bowl, just double the ingredient amounts.

Ingredients

See below for ways to use leftover ingredients.

• Shrimp: I prefer using medium or large shrimp in this shrimp étouffée recipe. I like to buy shrimp when it’s on sale. Another idea is to use frozen. When you cook for one, it’s a good idea to keep a bag of frozen shrimp in your freezer. It makes meal prep easy.
• Vegetables: Chopped green and yellow onions, green bell peppers, and garlic add quite a lot of flavor to this dish, definitely don’t leave them out.
• Seasonings: Use dried thyme, salt, and black pepper
• Butter and flour: These ingredients are necessary to make the roux. The roux is the foundation of this dish. It is made with equal parts of salted butter and all-purpose flour (plain flour). The roux is simply flour that is browned in fat (butter). It acts as a thickener and gives the étouffée its rich flavor.
• Tomatoes: I use ¼ cup of chopped tomatoes which is about 1 small to medium-sized tomato.
• Seafood Stock: You can use chicken broth instead.
• Hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce: Adds great flavor to the dish.
• Lemon juice: Use fresh or bottled lemon juice.
• Cooked rice: Traditionally, shrimp étouffée is served over white rice.

This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why I used them. For the full recipe please scroll down to the recipe box at the bottom of the post.

The Best Shrimp For Étouffée

If you live along a coast where you can get fresh shrimp, by all means, use that. If not, shrimp that has been frozen is fine to use.  I often purchase individually frozen, head-off, peel-on shrimp for most shrimp recipes. These bags of shrimp are found in the freezer section of most supermarkets. When you are cooking for one person, purchasing frozen shrimp can be the most economical way to buy shrimp.

The vast majority of “fresh” shrimp sold in supermarkets were deep frozen at sea and delivered to retailers. Even though you may see a display of “fresh” shrimp at the fish counter in the store, those shrimp are the same bags of frozen shrimp you find in the freezer section that have simply been allowed to thaw out in the store before going on display. It’s hard to know how long they have been defrosted.

Shrimp are highly perishable. If purchasing fresh shrimp, smell the shrimp first. You don’t want any shrimp that smells like ammonia, this is a sign of spoilage. You also want to avoid shrimp that are limp, slimy, or falling apart, these are signs of decay.

How To Make Shrimp Étouffée For One

These step-by-step photos and instructions are here to help you visualize how to make this recipe. See the recipe box below for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions.

1. Make the roux. Melt butter in a 10-inch skillet.

2. Add the flour and stir continuously to make a roux. Stir the roux over medium heat until it’s the color of peanut butter, about 2-3 minutes.

Pro Tip: A roux (pronounced “roo”) is the foundation for many cajun and creole recipes. It’s very simple but brings an incredible flavor to so many dishes. Stir the flour and butter constantly – never walk away from a roux because the flour will burn. The secret to a perfect roux is to take your time and stir continuously.

3. Cook the vegetables. Add the onions and bell peppers to the roux, and cook, stirring frequently until the vegetables begin to soften, about 2 minutes.

4. Add the garlic, dried thyme, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring frequently for 1 minute.

5. Make the étouffée sauce. Stir in the seafood stock, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Pro Tip: You will notice that as the mixture simmers, the étouffée sauce will reduce and thicken.

7. Add the shrimp and lemon juice and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally until the shrimp is fully cooked.

Pro Tip: I use 3 ounces of peeled and deveined shrimp. Although I prefer using medium-sized shrimp, you can use small, medium, or large shrimp.

• If using large shrimp, 3 ounces is about 5 to 7 shrimp.
• Medium shrimp: 3 ounces is about 8 to 11 shrimp.
• Small shrimp: 3 ounces is about 12 to 15 shrimp.

8. Stir in the green onions. Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary.
9. Add rice to a bowl.

10. Pour the shrimp and the étouffée sauce over the rice and enjoy hot.

Serving Suggestions

Shrimp étouffée is often served with white rice. You may also like to include a simple salad or a slice of french bread to soak up all the delicious etouffee sauce.

More Single Serving Louisiana Recipes

• Mini Muffuletta
• Crawfish Etouffee
• Gumbo
• Jambalaya
• Shrimp Creole
• Pralines
• Bread Pudding With Whiskey Sauce
• Crawfish Beignets
• Red Beans and Rice
• Bananas Foster
• Crawfish Pasta
• King Cake