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It takes just 30 minutes to make my Louisiana-style easy Shrimp Creole recipe. The ingredients are simple, but my recipe for shrimp creole boasts complex flavor!
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I loved how easy it was to prepare this recipe and my family loved it. We are adding it to our rotation!
Carol
Shrimp Creole Ingredients
- Onion: I recommend using white or yellow onion for making shrimp creole rather than red onion.
- Green Pepper: You can also use other color bell peppers, like red, yellow, or orange.
- Celery: An essential part of the base to shrimp creole.
- Garlic: I recommend freshly minced garlic or garlic paste. If you don't have any, you can include some garlic powder in the seasoning.
- Butter: While I recommend using unsalted butter to control the salt levels, you can use salted butter and adjust the added salt.
- Tomato Paste: The sharp flavor of tomato paste adds so much to the tomato sauce for shrimp creole.
- Seasoning: You will need kosher salt or sea salt flakes, white sugar, oregano, thyme, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and bay leaf for the seasoning. You can also use my creole seasoning recipe.
- Tomatoes: I recommend a flavorful tomato, like brandywine/beefsteak/heirloom tomatoes.
- Worcestershire Sauce: Adds a ton of depth of flavor to this dish!
- Shrimp Stock: When I have it on hand, I love to use my own lobster stock.
- Shrimp: If your shrimp are frozen, that's fine. Let them thaw in the refrigerator overnight and use paper towels to get rid of any excess water.
- Hot Sauce: Use your favorite hot sauce!
How to Make Shrimp Creole
- Finely chop onion, green pepper, and celery into roughly evenly-sized pieces. Mince or smash the garlic.
- Melt butter in a medium skillet. Saute onion, celery, and pepper until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 1 minute.
- Add tomato paste, salt, sugar, oregano, thyme, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Mix through to combine and coat all of the veggies.
- Cook for 1 minute. Then, add tomatoes, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce, and shrimp stock. Mix through and bring to a simmer.
- Allow the shrimp creole sauce to simmer for 15-20 minutes and reduce. Lower the heat as needed so that it never reaches a boil.
- Once the sauce is reduced enough, add shrimp. Push them into the sauce and turn them as needed so they cook on all sides in the sauce.
- Cook until the shrimp are pink, translucent, and cooked through. Season with hot sauce to taste and serve. Enjoy!
Tips for Making Shrimp Creole
- You can easily prep the sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator until ready to serve! This helps all the flavors mesh together.
- If you use frozen shrimp, do not re-freeze the recipe.
FAQ
You can easily freeze shrimp creole. Simply store in an airtight container and freeze it for up to 4 months. Make sure to label the container with the freezing date. However, if you use frozen shrimp to begin with, you should not refreeze the recipe.
Etouffee has a thicker sauce that uses a roux, while shrimp creole has a thin tomato-based sauce with no roux.
Selecting the Best Shrimp for Shrimp Creole
Finding the perfect size of shrimp is totally up to you, whether you like your shrimp small or large. I love purchasing fresh shrimp from my local market, which I peel and devein myself.
If you're running short on time, I recommend using peeled and deveined frozen shrimp to get dinner on the table in no time!
If you're using frozen shrimp, be sure to allow enough time for the shrimp to thaw. Simply place your shrimp in a bowl of cold water while preparing your other ingredients. Change the water out every 30 minutes.
How to Store Creole Shrimp Leftovers
You can easily store your shrimp creole in an airtight container placed inside the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Or, place it in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 4 months. Do not refreeze if you used frozen shrimp.
What to Serve with Shrimp Creole
Shrimp Creole is a classic Louisiana recipe, containing shrimp simmered in a flavorful Creole tomato sauce with onions, celery, and peppers! It's perfect for serving over fluffy rice or with pasta. Spice it up or tone it down according to your tastes, and enjoy!
Shrimp Creole Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Skillet
Ingredients
- ½ onion
- ½ green pepper
- 1 stick celery
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon oregano
- ⅛ teaspoon thyme
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 cup chopped tomatoes
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup shrimp stock
- ¾ lb shrimp
- hot sauce to taste
Instructions
- Finely chop onion, pepper into even sizes and mince garlic.½ onion,½ green pepper,1 stick celery,2 cloves garlic
- Melt the butter in a medium skillet. Saute the onion, celery and pepper until soft, around 5 minutes. Add the garlic towards the end and cook a minute longer.2 Tablespoons butter
- Add the tomato paste, salt, sugar, oregano, thyme, black pepper, and cayenne and mix through. Cook a minute then add tomatoes, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce, and stock.2 Tablespoons tomato paste,¼ teaspoon salt,¼ teaspoon sugar,⅛ teaspoon oregano,⅛ teaspoon thyme,⅛ teaspoon black pepper,1 pinch cayenne pepper,1 cup chopped tomatoes,1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce,½ cup shrimp stock
- Mix through, bring to a simmer and leave to reduce a little, around 15-20 minutes. Reduce heat as needed so that it simmers rather than boils.
- Once reduced, add the shrimp and push into the sauce, turning as needed so that they cook on all sides.¾ lb shrimp
- Cook until the shrimp are pink, translucent and cooked through. Season with hot sauce to taste and serve.hot sauce to taste
Notes
- You can easily prep the sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator until ready to serve! This helps all the flavors mesh together.
- For the best results, I recommend using fresh shrimp, but frozen shrimp still makes this dish delicious. If you use frozen shrimp, do not re-freeze the recipe.
- I recommend using fresh shrimp, but frozen shrimp still makes this dish delish.
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