If you're not in New Orleans, Mobile, or Rio for Carnival this year and want to celebrate at home, these Mardi Gras recipes will bring the party to your kitchen.
Just what should you serve for Fat Tuesday? Perhaps fried shrimp in a Po'Boy sandwich, or shrimp and rice cooked with andouille sausage, similar to how they do in Cajun country. A pot of gumbo packed with shrimp and crab is a good one-and-done, make-ahead dish; the rich flavors develop if you cook it the day before. Red beans and rice might sound like a side dish, but is actually a hearty main packed with deep flavor—and the perfect dish to fuel hours of partying on the last night before Lent.
These Mardi Gras recipes will help you let the good times roll.
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Vegetarian Gumbo
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Why should meat and seafood eaters get all the gumbo? This colorful vegan take combines okra, summer squash, black-eyed peas, and other produce with Creole seasoning for a flavorful bowl.
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Quick Jambalaya
This streamlined take on the ultimate Mardi Gras one-pot recipe means you can enjoy jambalaya on a weeknight. Our recipe uses boneless, skinless chicken breasts and smoky andouille sausage.
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Shrimp Maque Choux
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A rich shrimp and corn dish that's served at some of New Orleans most famous restaurants but is simple to make at home—our recipe takes just 40 minutes. Shrimp Maque Choux balances a creamy broth with spicy peppers.
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Sazerac
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The co*cktail of the Big Easy, the Sazerac is a cousin of the Old Fashioned. It balances whisky or bourbon with sugar, orange bitters, and an anise-flavored liqueur.
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Fish Po' Boys
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Made with the New Orleans version of French bread that's crusty outside and fluffy within, po' boys are generously sized sandwiches often with fried seafood. For our easy-to-make-at-home po' boy, we use cornmeal-crusted flounder fillets and we "dress" the sandwiches with lettuce and tomato.
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Seafood Gumbo
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Perhaps the most famous dish from Louisiana, there are as many versions of gumbo as there are cooks. Our streamlined take uses shrimp, crabmeat, and okra. Cooking the roux until it's chestnut brown is key to developing deep flavor.
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Bananas Foster
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A flaming dessert makes the party and this just might be the most classic. The renowned Brennan's restaurant in New Orleans is credited with creating this dish. Bananas are cooked in buttery brown sugar syrup then flambéed with rum and served with ice cream.
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Muffaletta
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The specialty of the famed Central Grocery in New Orleans French Quarter, this mega sandwich includes numerous Italian cured meats such as coppa, salami, and mortadella, plus olive salad, cheese, and piquant pickled peppers. It needs to be made ahead and refrigerated so the flavors have time to meld. Because it's prepped ahead and easy to share, we think it's a perfect party food.
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Red Beans and Rice
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Hearty and comforting, this slow-cooked dish of red beans (make them Camellia Red Beans!) and pork (your choice of ham hocks or spicy sausage) served with plenty of white rice.
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Gumbo Z'Herbes
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Not as well known as seafood gumbo but well worth making, that's gumbo z'herbes. It's packed with greens, use up to seven kinds like collards, spinach, turnip or mustard greens, you get the idea. Oh, and there's the meat from ham hocks, too.
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Jambalaya
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This favorite dish starts with the holy trinity of Louisiana cooking: onions, celery, and bell peppers. Our version features chicken thighs and andouille sausage plus plenty of thyme and cayenne pepper.
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Cajun Shrimp and Rice
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A quick dish that takes jambalaya as its inspiration, this shrimp and rice dish starts with the traditional trio of onion, celery, and bell pepper, adds andouille sausage for spicy flavor, and is ready to eat in just over an hour.
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Grasshopper
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Usually enjoyed after-dinner, this three-ingredient drink gets its color from its main ingredient, crème-de-menthe. Its other main ingredient is heavy cream and there's a touch of cream de cacao, so we like to think of it as dessert in a glass.
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Dirty Rice
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Here's another simple dish made with what the cook already has on hand: Dirty rice is said to have started as a way to use up chicken hearts and gizzards and flavor rice. This recipe uses chicken livers and a little ground beef for a hearty dish.
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Ramos Gin Fizz
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As its name suggests, this classic New Orleans co*cktail starts with gin. The fizz comes from a liberal shaking of the ingredients, including cream and egg white, and finishing with a splash of seltzer.
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Crawfish Etouffée
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Like gumbo, this rich shellfish stew begins with a roux and a mix of onion, celery, and bell pepper. It's a cajun classic. Be sure to serve it with plenty of fluffy white rice.
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King Cake
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The centerpiece of any Mardi Gras party is this yellow, green, and purple glazed cake. It's a yeasted bread shaped in a ring with a plastic baby hidden inside; the tradition is that whoever gets the baby in their slice provides the king cake for the party next year.
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