étouffée

American  

[ey-too-fey] / ˌeɪ tuˈfeɪ /

noun

étouffées plural

1. New Orleans Cooking. a stew of crayfish, vegetables, and seasonings, served over white rice.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• étouffées
  plural

Etymology

Origin of étouffée

< Louisiana French; French (à l')étouffée cooked in a closed vessel with little liquid, braised; noun use of feminine past participle of étouffer literally, to smother, suffocate, Old French estofer, apparently identical with estofer to stuff

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

étouffée étouffées

They held regular dinner parties for friends, colleagues and students, and Morgan was renowned for her cooking, with a repertoire that included jambalaya, French beef stew, fried chicken and shrimp étouffée.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025

Those varied influences translate to restaurant week dishes such as crawfish linguine dotted with lobster butter, summer vegetable étouffée, surf clam ceviche and rice pudding with pear pineapple jam.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 10, 2022

The latest to take advantage of the outdoor permit is Parish Northwest, which offers two dozens seats out front and a menu focused on Cajun and Creole cooking, from gumbo to étouffée.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 23, 2021

Harold & Belle’s is celebrating 50 years this Saturday with a block party and crawfish boil that includes all-you-can-eat gumbo, jambalaya, étouffée and fried catfish.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2019

He said one of the senator’s favorite drinks was sambuca, the Italian anise-flavored liqueur; Mr. McCain would often order ribs or étouffée, the Cajun dish served with shellfish over rice.

From New York Times ● Aug. 27, 2018

Although gumbos and étouffées define much of the cooking in southern Louisiana, Mosca’s is a stalwart of another, though less celebrated, vein of the New Orleans culinary canon that came from transplanted southern Italian immigrants.

From New York Times ● Jul. 20, 2011