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My favorite Shrimp Creole recipe is delicious and so easy to make that you’ll be sitting down to eat in about 30 minutes. A classic dish of Louisiana Creole origin where buttery shrimp are tossed in a zesty sauce of tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, celery, garlic and spices, all served over hot cooked rice.
It took several tries to come up with a recipe for Shrimp Creole that I felt was worthy to share with you. One that rivaled what I enjoyed in New Orleans. Some were too salty or too bland, others had so much sauce that you couldn’t taste the shrimp. This version thickens naturally (no cornstarch required) and is easy to modify to suit your taste.
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How is shrimp creole different from Gumbo, Jambalaya and étouffée?
Though you’ll find many of the same flavors and ingredients in shrimp creole (like the ‘holy trinity‘ of onion, green peppers and celery in Cajun and Creole cuisine) that you do in gumbo and jambalaya, creole dishes are typically thicker, spicier and served on top of hot rice rather than having the rice cooked and or stirred in to the dish. Shrimp Étouffée is another similar dish, but made with a roux (flour and fat cooked together to use as a thickener) base instead of a tomato base.
Recipe Options
- Kick up the heat with additional hot pepper sauce, cayenne pepper, or hot paprika.
- Serve over creamy grits instead of rice.
- Add some sweet red pepper along with the green for added flavor depth.
More Classic Southern Recipes
- Slow Cooker Jambalaya
- Skillet Cornbread
- Sweet Potato Bread
- Cornbread Pudding
- Brabant Potatoes
- Cajun Potato Salad
- Cajun Potatoes
- Remoulade Sauce
- Shrimp Remoulade
- Blackened Shrimp
- Cajun Shrimp
- Crab Cakes
How to make Shrimp Creole
Step 1: In a large skillet, soften onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic in melted butter.
Step 2: When vegetables are soft, add tomatoes, Creole seasoning, bay leaf and Worcestershire sauce. Stir and simmer 5 minutes.
Step 3: Add raw shrimp to tomato mixture; cook and stir until pink and cooked through.
Step 4: Serve over hot, cooked white rice.
Shrimp Creole
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup long grain white rice
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 medium onion diced small
- 2 ribs celery diced small
- 1 medium green bell pepper diced small
- 3 large cloves garlic minced
- 14 1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes with juice
- 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning or more
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- Louisiana-style hot sauce such as Tabasco brand, to taste
- 1 pound medium shrimp or large shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed
- chopped fresh parsley to taste
Instructions
- Cook rice according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, green bell pepper, celery and garlic; cook and stir for 7-10 minutes until tender.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and add tomatoes with juice, Creole seasoning, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaf; stir and simmer 5 minutes, allowing flavors to meld. If desired, add more Creole seasoning and hot sauce to taste.
- Increase heat to medium-high and add shrimp; cook and stir until shrimp is pink and cooked through. Serve over hot white rice, sprinkled with desired amount of chopped fresh parsley.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this dish last night and we enjoyed it. I added some seafood stock to the dish so it would be a bit more saucy to serve over the rice. Would definitely make again. Thank you for sharing!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Glinda!
We made this tonight and it was delicious! We added a bit of broth to get a bit more gravy for our rice. Excellent recipe.
That’s wonderful to hear, Timothy. I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed it!
Delicious. I upped the ante on the creole seasoning and added a salt seasoning I had handy (1 1/2 tsps).
So glad you enjoyed this and made it your own, Susan!
I’m still working on getting the boys to like shrimp, but hubby and I love it!! I know we’d be all over this dish, it would be gone in no time!
haha, they’ll come around, Katherine! 😉 Thank you!
This is excellent I doubled the recipe so I could share with family! This is definitely a keeper.
That’s wonderful, Johannah! Thank you for letting me know!
I added crab meat to the sauce – delicious!! Thank you
Sounds wonderful, Lynn!