Wednesday, February 4, 2026

19 Simple Cajun and Creole Recipes to Have fun Mardi Gras


 

Searching for the most effective Mardi Gras recipes? We’ve obtained you coated with 19 Simple Cajun and Creole Recipes to Have fun Mardi Gras!

With a particular delicacies that’s the very definition of soul meals, and residential to one of the crucial well-known Mardi Gras celebrations within the U.S., the dishes of New Orleans are all of the inspiration you want in your good occasion menu to have fun Mardi Gras. Most well-known for its two main regional types of meals – Cajun and Creole – New Orleans is a metropolis whose melting-pot of cultural influences together with Native American, Spanish, French, Italian and African have come collectively to create a mode of meals you gained’t discover wherever else on this planet.  We expect you’ll love these fashionable New Orleans impressed dishes a lot that you simply’ll need to have fun with these Mardi Gras recipes all yr lengthy!

Simple Cajun and Creole Recipes For Mardi Gras!

1. Genuine New Orleans Gumbo

through Higher Dwelling

A thick stew, with French, African, and Native American influences, gumbo is a must have Mardi Gras meals in your Fats Tuesday occasion. Made with sautéed onions, peppers and celery, known as the “Holy Trinity” in Creole and Cajun cooking in Louisiana, Gumbos can embody all the pieces from simply veggies in a model known as gumbo z’herbes to andouille sausage, hen, and seafood. The perfect half about gumbo is that no two style alike.

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2. Oysters Rockefeller

through Caroline’s Cooking

Invented in 1899 by Jules Alciatore the son of the founding father of famed New Orleans restaurant Antoine’s, this delectable New Orleans oyster appetizer is so wealthy it was named after oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller. The unique recipe is a household secret, however one factor is for certain, in case you serve up these oysters they gained’t final lengthy. Get this crowd-pleasing model from Caroline’s Cooking.

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3. Shrimp Creole

through Recipes From a Pantry

This traditional Creole dish is a New Orleans favourite and ideal for any shrimp lover. Shrimp is sautéed with onions, peppers and garlic, herbs and seasonings after which simmered in a tomato based mostly sauce. Attempt to use Gulf or Louisiana caught shrimp for finest outcomes and serve over rice. You’ll be hooked! Get the recipe at Recipes From a Pantry.

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4. Soiled Rice

Dirty Rice recipe

through Southern Discourse

Soiled rice is a traditional Cajun and New Orleans aspect dish that makes the proper aspect to blacked fish, hen or your different native favorites. Whereas outdated recipes name cooking the rice with hen livers (which supplies it its attribute shade), we predict this recipe from Southern Discourse is simply as flavorful with out.

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5. New Orleans Cornmeal Crusted Catfish Po’ Boy

New Orleans Fried Catfish Po Boy Recipe

through Higher Dwelling

Po’ Boys turned a New Orleans staple again in 1929, when brothers Bennie and Clovis Martins determined to serve sandwiches on French bread freed from cost to streetcar employees that had been on strike from their French Quarter espresso store. Martin is quoted as saying, “We fed these males freed from cost till the strike ended. Each time we noticed one of many putting males coming, one of many guys would say, ‘Right here comes one other poor boy.’” There’s every kind of po’boys in New Orleans right this moment, however among the hottest are of the seafood selection, with all the pieces from shrimp, crawfish, fish and oysters to smooth shell crabs. Do this cornmeal crusted Catfish Po’Boy dressed with lettuce, tomato and remoulade sauce.
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6. Crawfish Étouffée

through Jennifer Cooks

That is one in every of our favourite Mardi Gras recipes! Étouffée, (pronounced eh-too-fey) which means ‘smothered’ in French is one other favourite dish from New Orleans that’s 100% consolation meals. Made by sautéing seafood (usually crawfish or shrimp) in a buttery roux based mostly sauce with spices, celery, onions and garlic after which served over rice, étouffée could be thought of each Cajun and Creole relying on the way it’s seasoned. If you happen to can’t discover crawfish tails close to you (consider or not Walmart usually carries them) go for shrimp as an alternative. Do this easy to make however completely scrumptious model from Jennifer Cooks.

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7. Purple Beans & Rice

Louisiana Red Beans and Rice

through Finances Bytes

Purple Beans and Rice is a type of easy Louisianan Creole dishes that doesn’t sound like a lot, however will certainly have you ever coming again for extra. Historically served on Mondays as a method to make use of up pork bones left over from Sunday dinners, crimson beans (not kidney beans) are stewed with the ‘Holy Trinity’ (garlic, celery and bell pepper) and smoked meats like andouille sausage. Served over rice and with a little bit, or a whole lot of scorching sauce and you’ve got your self one particular dish. Do this scrumptious model from Finances Bytes.

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8. Muffaletta

through Spicy Southern Kitchen

If you happen to love Italian model cured meats then a New Orleans muffuletta is a should in your Mardi Gras meals menu. Invented by Salvatore Lupo, a Sicilian immigrant who additionally based the well-known New Orleans Central Grocery (open since 1906) the unique muffuletta is a sandwich of ham, salami, mortadella, swiss and provolone served on a rounded model loaf of Italian bread. However what units the muffuletta aside is the olive salad – a mixture of olives with pickled veggies that provides layer of salty, tangy taste that makes for an ideal sandwich chunk. If you wish to strive the unique muffaleta and don’t stay within the New Orleans space, you may assist small enterprise and order muffalettas immediately from Nook Grocery and have them shipped to your property. You too can make your very personal with this yummy recipe from Spicy Southern Kitchen.

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9. Crawfish Boil

through This Ole Mother

Nothing says New Orleans and Louisiana greater than a crawfish boil. Get your fingers soiled whereas consuming your crawfish boiled with Cajun spices, potatoes, corn, and smoked sausage. For such a easy dish it’s such a flavorful deal with! Get this recipe straight from a New Orleans native over at This Ole Mother.
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10. Cajun Shrimp and Grits

Cajun Shrimp and Grits in a bowl with a spoon

through African Bites

There are various fantastic Creole and Cajun rice based mostly dishes from New Orleans. However in case you haven’t tried grits but, you’re lacking out. A preferred dish within the south, grits is a mix of nice cornmeal (and generally rice) that’s simmered with wealthy components like milk and cheese for the final word consolation meals. A dish that pairs completely with a spicy companion, do this improbable recipe for Cajun Shrimp and Grits from African Bites.

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11. Grillades and Grits

Grillades and Grits

through Spicy Southern Kitchen

A preferred brunch or breakfast Creole dish in NOLA served with eggs, Grillades and Grits (also called Grits and Grillades) can simply as simply be served for a satisfying dinner. Pronounced GREE-yahds, medallions of often beef, pork, or veal are pan-fried after which simmered in a Creole seasoned tomato or brown sauce till simmered. This one tastes even higher the subsequent day.

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12. Blackened Catfish

through A Lady Named Adri

For a lightweight however flavorful dish that’s good for anybody who likes issues spicy, do this Blackened Catfish recipe by A Lady Known as Adri. Redfish can be fashionable in Louisiana and could be substituted for the catfish, as can flounder and trout. Make this one alongside Purple Beans and Rice, or Jamabalaya.

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13. New Orleans BBQ Shrimp

New Orleans BBQ Shrimp

through Closet Cooking

There’s no scarcity of scrumptious shrimp dishes in New Orleans or in Louisiana for that matter. However the humorous factor about New Orleans BBQ shrimp is that that they’re not truly BBQed. Shrimp is sautéed in a spicy, tangy sauce that’s buttery and completely addicting. Whip up this tasty recipe from Closet Cooking that’s tremendous straightforward and so so good.

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14. Brennan’s Bananas Foster

Brennan's Bananas Foster Dessert recipe for Mardi Gras

through CopyKat

If baking isn’t your factor, this straightforward to organize but scrumptious dessert made with bananas flambéed with a banana liquer and rum-infused caramel sauce is a New Orleans delight you could put together rapidly proper in your stove-top. This recipe was created by Chef Paul Blangé who was challenged by Owen Brennan, proprietor of Brennan’s Restaurant in New Orleans in 1951 to discover a strategy to spotlight one in every of New Orleans’s largest imports – the banana. Served with vanilla ice-cream this dessert continues to be one in every of Brennan’s and New Orleans’s hottest dishes.

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15. King Cake

King Cake recipe

through Barbara Bakes

No Mardi Gras occasion is full with no King Cake! It’s a cake constituted of a wealthy candy cinnamon stuffed dough, iced after which embellished with sugars in conventional eye catching Mardi Gras colours of inexperienced, gold, and purple. The custom of King Desserts was launched to New Orleans by French settlers across the 1870s and is a must have Mardi Gras deal with. Initially it was eaten on the Epiphany (Jan 6) in any other case often known as Twelfth Evening to mark the start of Carnival season. There are various types of King Cake obtainable, however one factor holds true – in case you get the plastic child (that represents the infant Jesus) baked inside in your slice, you’re in command of bringing the King Cake to the subsequent Mardi Gras occasion. It’s the rule! Do this fashionable recipe from Barbara Bakes.

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16. Bon Ton Cafe’s Bread Pudding

through CDK Kitchen

Bread Pudding is a New Orleans custom that’s simply what you’d count on from the meals right here – pure and easy consolation meals with an understated magnificence. Stale French bread is torn into small items, soaked in cream, eggs and vanilla, baked after which drizzled with a whiskey infused vanilla sauce. There are various variations and distinctive twists on Bread Pudding within the Large Simple, however one of the crucial fashionable variations within the metropolis comes from Bon Ton Café. Get the official recipe linked under.

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17. Conventional New Orleans Beignets

Authentic New Orleans Beignet recipe

through Sugar and Attraction

Fantastic for breakfast, dessert or a day deal with, this gentle and ethereal French-style sq. doughnut is most unusual for not having a gap. Most famously served on the Café du Monde within the French Quarter with a beneficiant dusting (or ought to we are saying mountain) of powdered sugar, these favourite New Orleans model donuts are finest eaten served with a restaurant au lait.

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18. Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

chocolate bourbon pecan pie

through Striped Spatula

Pecan pie is one other favourite dessert you’ll see on menus all through town of New Orleans. And there’s as many variations of this candy, gooey and nutty pie as there are locations that serve it. We love this pecan pie from Striped Spatula that takes the flavour of this pie to an entire different heavenly stage with the addition of chocolate and one other New Orleans favourite – bourbon.

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19. Pralines

Pecan Pralines

through Candy Pea’s Kitchen

There’s one thing in regards to the candy, buttery and nutty scent of a freshly made praline that’s utterly intoxicating. Pronounced prah-leen in Louisiana, you’ll discover these confections in outlets throughout New Orleans, however watching the artistry of them being made at one of many specialty sweet outlets is a deal with in and of itself. Product of brown sugar or white sugar, cream, butter and pecans, you’ll be shocked at how straightforward these candies are to make. You’ll discover one batch simply isn’t sufficient. Plus, in addition they occur to make nice presents!

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