This spaghetti is a mouth-watering Cajun take on a traditional Italian pasta dish that explodes on your palate. You can simply substitute chicken if you have a crawfish or shrimp allergy.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup butter
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 large stalks celery, chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles (such as RO*TEL® Chunky)
- 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste (such as Hunt’s®)
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce (such as Hunt’s®)
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 3 cups water, divided
- 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 (14 ounce) package spaghetti
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- To form the roux, melt 1/3 cup butter in a saucepan over medium heat until a pinch of flour sprinkled in the butter begins to bubble. Whisk in the flour to form a thick paste the consistency of cake frosting. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the flour turns peanut butter-brown, about 35 minutes.
- Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add celery, onion, bell pepper, and garlic; cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Move half of the vegetables to a large saucepan.
- Pour roux into the small saucepan; heat over medium-low. Add diced tomatoes and green chiles, tomato paste, onion powder, garlic powder, white sugar, and cayenne pepper.
- Stir in tomato sauce and vegetable oil to the vegetable mixture in the large saucepan. Add roux mixture and 1 cup water. Bring to a simmer; cook 10 minutes. Pour in 2 cups water; bring back to a simmer. Add shrimp and cook until pink, about 3 minutes. Stir in spaghetti, separating the strands. Cover and cook until spaghetti is tender yet firm to the bite, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper; garnish with parsley.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 524 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 63 g |
| Cholesterol | 122 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 20 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 1093 mg |
| Sugars | 13 g |
| Fat | 22 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Upgrading my original review to four-stars with the following changes. Reduce flour in roux to 1/4 cup. Boil pasta separately. For the sauce, eliminate two of the cups of water, one of the cans of tomato sauce and the tomato paste. Add 2 tsp. Cajun seasoning and 1/4 cup white wine.
This was not a hard dish to make. I used fresh shrimp so most of my prep time was shelling and deveining the shrimp. I used fettuccini because I like a “meaty” pasta in dishes like this. I did add maybe 1 to 1 1/2 tsp of creole seasoning and I added andouille sausage. I cooked the sausage separately and then added it last and let it simmer for an additional 5 minutes or so. My husband loved it and it had just enough heat. If you like it spicy you might want to add more cayenne pepper.