How to make New Orleans Crawfish Bisque

heavy cream

🥗Healthier: coconut milk

💰Cheaper: milk + cornstarch

Coconut milk adds creaminess with fewer calories.

crawfish tails

🥗Healthier: shrimp

💰Cheaper: crab meat

Shrimp provides similar flavor and texture.

Chop one yellow onion and half of a yellow onion.

Rinse and chop four stalks of celery.

Chop one bell pepper and half of a bell pepper.

Chop five cloves of garlic until minced.

Remove leaves from fresh thyme stems and chop until it resembles coarse crumbs, about 1 tablespoon.

Separate the tails from the heads of the crawfish, placing tails in one bowl and heads in another.

Devain the crawfish tails by pulling out the black string and place them in a separate bowl.

Separate the crawfish legs from the shell of the crawfish head and place them in a bowl, discarding the shells.

Scrape out the organs from the crawfish heads using a butter knife and clean the shells.

Make a stock with the crawfish body cavities and legs, and the crawfish tail shells by adding them to a large pot with 5 quarts of water and 2 teaspoons each of Tony Chachere's seasoning and Chef Poppadoms seafood magic. Stir and let simmer for 1 hour.

After an hour, drain the crawfish stock into a strainer and discard the solids.

Preheat a large pot over medium-high heat and make a roux by adding 2/3 cup canola oil and 2/3 cup flour. Stir for 8 minutes until it reaches a brown color.

Set the roux aside to cool completely.

In a food processor, add 3/4 pound of crawfish tails and 1 pound of Louisiana crawfish tails and process for 1 minute until grounded.

In a large saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter over medium-high heat.

Add 1 cup chopped yellow onion, 2/3 cup chopped celery, 2/3 cup chopped green bell pepper, and 1 tablespoon chopped garlic. Sauté for 8 minutes.

Add the grounded crawfish tails, 1 1/2 cups crawfish stock, and 1 1/3 cups plain breadcrumbs. Stir together.

Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon Tony Chachere's seasoning, 1 teaspoon Chef Poppadoms seafood magic, and 1/2 teaspoon thyme. Stir and turn off the heat.

Let the crawfish stuffing cool completely before transferring it to a piping bag.

Fill the crawfish head shells with the crawfish stuffing using the piping bag.

If there is leftover stuffing, roll it into balls and coat with plain breadcrumbs.

Butter the bottom of an 11 by 17 inch baking pan and preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Place the stuffed crawfish heads and any crawfish stuffing balls into the baking pan.

Bake in the preheated oven at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

Remove the stuffed crawfish heads and stuffing balls from the oven and let cool completely.

Cooking Techniques

Equipment Needed

Spice Level:

Allergens