étouffée

American  

[ey-too-fey] / ˌeɪ tuˈfeɪ /

noun

plural

étouffées

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

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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

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

So growing up we had a lot of shrimp in our house — shrimp and grits, shrimp étouffée, shrimp gumbo, grilled shrimp, shrimp tacos, you name it.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 28, 2022

Traditional fare like jambalaya, crayfish étouffée, grilled oysters, shrimp Creole, blackened fish and, at lunch, muffuletta and po’ boy sandwiches, are also served.

From New York Times • May 24, 2022

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