13 Cajun Recipes That Will Make Your Mouth Water

These dishes are inspired—and flavored—by the best from the bayou.

By
Anna Thomas Bates
Anna Thomas Bates
Anna Thomas Bates
Editor
Anna Thomas Bates is a food editor.
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Published July 11, 2024
Shrimp étouffée in a soup plate with rice and thinly sliced scallions

Serious Eats / Qi Ai

Cajun cooking offers a rich tradition of seasoning and cooking styles that are known around the country, and even around the world. Gumbo, jambalaya, and dirty rice are just a few classics you can find in this list, but we also offer variations on some classic Cajun dishes and take full advantage of the full flavor of Cajun seasoning. Whether you're looking for some warm, comforting stew or something to cook at your next backyard barbecue, take a look at these Cajun recipes for some inspiration from the Gulf Coast.

  • Cajun Shrimp

    Cajun shrimp on a purple plate.

    Serious Eats / Robby Lozano

    Dry-brined and tossed in a balanced spice blend that packs subtle heat, this Cajun shrimp is tender, juicy, and full of flavor.

  • Cajun Gumbo With Chicken and Andouille Sausage

    A close-up of a dish of gumbo, plated with rice and green onion.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    What makes gumbo a gumbo? There's the roux, and the aromatic base of vegetables that are common to plenty of other Cajun and Creole dishes. There are also the various meats, sausages, and seafoods that might make their way into the pot, depending on the recipe. And the thickeners, okra, and filé powder—all of which you can find in this recipe.

  • Shrimp Étouffée

    Shrimp étouffée in a soup plate with rice and thinly sliced scallions.

    Serious Eats / Qi Ai

    Étouffée is the French word for "smothered," and what it really describes is a Cajun and Creole cooking method in which a protein like shrimp is cooked on the stovetop in a thick, roux-based sauce. It's a method that's also used for crawfish, chicken, and more, but we especially love it in this recipe.

  • Creole-Style Red Jambalaya With Chicken, Sausage, and Shrimp

    Overhead view of Creole Style Red Jambalaya

    Serious Eats / Jen Causey

    This New Orleans classic is loaded with meat, seafood, and tomatoes. We like to bake the dish in the oven to prevent the rice from scorching and eliminate the need to stir midway through cooking.

    Continue to 5 of 13 below

  • Dirty Rice

    An overhead shot of a serving bowl of dirty rice.

    Serious Eats / Jillian Atkinson

    Dirty rice, which sometimes goes by “rice dressing” or “Cajun rice,” is a rice dish typically made with the “Holy Trinity” of onions, bell peppers, and celery, a hefty amount of ground meat and chicken giblets, and a heavy sprinkling of Creole seasonings, like cayenne, sage, and paprika.

  • Skillet Potatoes With Cajun Blackening Spices and Buttermilk-Herb Sauce

    Skillet spiced potatoes drizzled with buttermilk dressing and fresh cilantro.

    Serious Eats / Morgan Eisenberg

    Potatoes don't have to be a boring side dish. They've got serious star power, and these Cajun-spiced baby potatoes—first boiled until creamy, then crisped in a skillet, and finally topped with a cooling buttermilk-herb dressing—prove it.

  • Grilled Cajun Chicken Wings

    A large plate of grilled cajun chicken wings on the right hand side of the image. On the left side is a smaller blue plate with three chicken wings on it and a glass holding a glass of a golden-colored beverage.

    Serious Eats / Eric Kleinberg

    These seasoned wings are grilled over indirect heat until blistered and crunchy, then tossed in a simple sauce of butter, Louisiana-style hot sauce, and Worcestershire.

  • Cajun-Style Smoked Turkey

    A whole smoked turkey on a grill rack, burnished a deep golden brown and rubbed in Cajun spices.

    Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

    A show-stopping centerpiece and a creative way to get a bird on the table for any festive meal, this whole turkey is injected with flavor and rubbed all over with spicy (but not too spicy) Cajun seasoning.

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  • Cajun Burgers With Spicy Rémoulade

    A loaded Cajun burger with blue cheese, vegetables, and remoulade sauce.

    Serious Eats / Morgan Eisenberg

    Instead of cooking up plain beef burgers all season, throw in some smoky Cajun andouille sausage with your hand-ground beef chuck to create patties that ooze with flavor. Replace the typical burger topping trio (lettuce, onion, and tomato) with the NOLA trinity (bell pepper, onion, and celery). Top it all off with spicy rémoulade and blue cheese, and don't look back.

  • Cajun-Spiced Spatchcocked Turkey

    An overhead, close view of a Cajun flavored spatchcocked turkey on a cooling rack set on a baking sheet.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    Taking a page out of the Louisiana playbook, this turkey is rubbed all over with a fragrant, lightly spicy mix that includes paprika, cayenne pepper, coriander seed, cumin, black pepper, onion and garlic powders, and both dried oregano and dried thyme. The result is a rich, deeply flavored bird with a gorgeous rust-colored skin. It's different, yet recognizably all-American in the best sort of way.

  • Cajun-Spiced Barbecue Ribs

    Cajun-spiced barbecue ribs with green onion.

    Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

    In contrast to traditional barbecue ribs, where the rub is usually a balance of sweet and spicy, Cajun spice blend—which we use in this recipe—brings more herbal and earthy notes, with a slight kick of heat. The meat comes out smoky, moist, and with all the right pull-off-the-bone tenderness.

  • Hearty One-Pot Black-Eyed Pea Stew With Kale and Andouille

    Black eyed pea stew with kale and andouille sausage.

    Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

    This stew—made with smoky andouille sausage and pork belly with tender beans and braised kale in a spicy broth—is the kind of dish that can get you through a winter without ever having to eat anything else.

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  • Quicker Chicken and Okra Gumbo

    Quicker chicken and okra gumbo with a scoop of rice.

    Serious Eats / Yvonne Ruperti

    To make a gumbo a little faster, try cooking roux in the microwave until it achieves a deep peanut butter or chocolatey brown color. Meanwhile, sauté the vegetables, add beer and chicken stock to deepen the gumbo's flavor, okra to help thicken it, and smoky paprika to mimic the smoky flavor of andouille.

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