Paleo Crawfish Étouffée (Edit recipe)

Kit's Salt-Free Creole Seasoning

1. Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.
2. This makes about 3 Tbsp of seasoning. You will only use 2 tsp for the étoufféé recipe, so feel free to halve the recipe if you don't think you'll use the extra seasoning in another dish. You can also double or even quadruple this seasoning mix to use in my other recipes like my delicious Instant Pot Jambalaya!! So good! And if you don't have an Instant Pot, I've got ya covered, check out my Simple Creole Jambalaya.

Crawfish Étouffée

1. Mise en place. Make sure to prep all of the ingredients ahead of time. It's really important in this recipe.
2. Soak crawfish*. Pour your crawfish tails (with fat) into a medium-sized bowl. Use the chicken stock to "rinse" the bags and allow it to drain off into the same bowl. Allow the crawfish to soak in the stock while you make the roux (continue on to step 3). You can also use crawfish or shrimp stock here.
3. Make the roux. Melt butter in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat. I like to make this recipe in a Dutch oven. Once melted, add arrowroot powder and stir with a flat headed spoon (wood is best for this). Stir constantly, scraping the bottom as you go, for about 15 minutes or until your roux is a medium-brown color (similar to peanut butter). Keep stirring to prevent the flour from burning.
4. Cook veggies. Add in your Holy Trinity (onions, celery, bell pepper), stir, and allow to cook for 8 minutes or until they are nice and soft, but not browned, stirring occasionally.
5. Drain crawfish tails. While the veggies are cooking and your crawfish have soaked for about 30 minutes, remove crawfish tails from the stock using a slotted spoon and place them in a small bowl. Pop the crawfish tails back in the refrigerator for now and set aside the stock for use in step 7.
6. Add garlic and green onions. Add the garlic and the whites of the green onions to the pot, stir, and allow to cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom.
7. Add stock and seasonings. Add stock, creole seasoning, bay leaves, and sea salt. Stir well and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
8. Cover and allow to simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and allow to cook for 20 minutes without lifting the lid or stirring.
9. Add crawfish tails, stir, bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 5 minutes without lid.
10. Add parsley and lemon juice. Turn off heat and stir in parsley and lemon juice. If you want it a little thicker, sprinkle in 1 Tbsp arrowroot powder and mix well.
11. Season to taste with sea salt and cayenne pepper, if desired. I usually add a bit more sea salt to mine.
12. Spoon over or alongside rice. For Whole30, paleo, and low carb, use prepared cauliflower rice. For a non-paleo higher carb option, try it over white or black rice.
13. Garnish with green portion of green onions and more parsley.