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.

---

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

“The étouffée wasn’t ready when we were first there, and she had to get back to try it.”

From Washington Post ● Apr. 6, 2023

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

In New Orleans, I’ve had crawfish étouffée and crab rangoon nachos with fried wontons as chips.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 8, 2022

My family’s from Louisiana so I’ll battle anyone on my gumbo or my shrimp étouffée.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2021

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