Boldly seasoned, rich and hearty, Cajun food is a highlight of America’s varied culinary landscape. Native to Louisiana, Cajun cuisine is informed by the blending of many cultures—including Creole, French Canadian, African and Indigenous—and is a singular and stirring reflection of a unique time and place.
A fail-safe way to electrify your cooking, Cajun recipes are also approachable, whether you’re a cooking novice or a pro. Often built on the “holy trinity,” an aromatic foundation of sautéed onions, green peppers and celery, they’re layered with warming aromatic spices and rib-sticking proteins.
Dishes that often employ classic French techniques, they range from one-pot jambalaya to rustic, full-bodied gumbo and elegant crawfish étouffée. Whether you need inspiration for family dinners and potlucks, or for sophisticated dinners when you want to impress, Cajun cuisine offers enough range to suit every occasion.
Ready to harness the bold flavors of the Big Easy? Their aromas tumbling through the dining room, a warm bowl of Success® Rice served alongside, each of these dishes is a welcome surprise at your table—and a delicious glimpse into America’s proud culinary heritage.
12 Classic Cajun Recipes to Cook at Home
The best Cajun recipes combine precise techniques, myriad ingredients and a whack of zesty spices into something altogether irresistible. Stripped of their more labor-intensive and challenging steps, these renditions retain all of the appeal of the originals, without an ounce of the stress.
Chicken Creole
A traditional dish from New Orleans, chicken Creole is a saucy, spicy stew that’s ideal for frenzied weeknights. Served over a fluffy bed of Success® boil-in-bag white rice, this version features the classic trinity of aromatics, plus tomatoes, mushrooms and tender chicken all cooked into a warming, one-pot meal.
Salmon Cake Benedict with Quinoa and Eggs
Vinegary, grainy and flecked with a flurry of herbs and spices, Creole mustard is the surprise ingredient that takes this dish to new heights. Blended into buttery hollandaise, it blankets poached eggs and delicate swirls of smoked salmon resting atop crisp Success® boil-in-bag-tri-color quinoa cakes. Serve this at brunch or lunch, and prepare to share the recipe.
Vegan Dirty Rice
For this take on traditional dirty rice, we’ve omitted the meat in favor of purely plant-based ingredients. In place of ground beef and sausage, we add eggplant, onions, red peppers, tomato paste and a generous dose of Cajun seasoning. Then, we layer the lot onto whole-grain Success® boil-in-bag brown rice. Nutty and nuanced, rich and warm, there’s plenty to love in this vegan knockout.
Quick Cajun Chicken
Mostly hands-off, this dish is the one you’ll reach for on both busy—and lazy—nights. Featuring zippy, sauced chicken breasts served with Success® boil-in-bag white rice, it’s a complete meal the entire family will hungrily devour.
Louisiana Dirty Rice
Combined with seasoned beef, fresh vegetables and plenty of zesty spices, a bag of Success® boil-in-bag white rice becomes a complete meal for four. A simple dish based on the staple from Southern Louisiana, this version comes together in just 20 quick minutes.
Cajun Sausage and Rice Skillet
Getting to know Cajun cuisine means getting to know andouille sausage, and all the smoky, flavorful dishes that can’t be made without it. For a dish they’d happily eat in the Big Easy, sauté your favorite andouille sausage with a base of “holy trinity” vegetables and Cajun seasoning, then simmer the lot with fire-roasted tomatoes.
Combined with Success® boil-in-bag white rice, this simple supper sings with flavor.
Jumpin Jambalaya
Armed with two pots and a mere handful of ingredients, you can create a meal that will turn heads. A dish that’s loaded with sausage and seafood, tender vegetables and seasoning, this one is quick enough for weeknights and impressive enough to wow any guest.
Vegetarian Jambalaya
Just because they don’t eat meat or seafood doesn’t mean vegetarians should miss out on the jambalaya joy! Instead, treat them to this plant-based version of the classic, brimming with black eyed peas, a rainbow of veg, a slew of spices and saucy, tomato-flecked Success® boil-in-bag white rice. A dish that ensures nobody misses the meat, you just might make this your go-to.
New Orleans Gumbo
Considered by many to be Louisiana’s official dish, gumbo is a heady, moreish stew flavored with a dark roux and peppered with tasty morsels of vegetables, proteins and seafood. For nights when you crave the classic—in just 35 minutes—this warming dish, with andouille sausage, shrimp and Success® boil-in-bag white rice, is pure satisfaction in a bowl.
Jambalaya Rice
Have yesterday’s cooked chicken kicking around the fridge? Try something new with this generously spiced Success® boil-in-bag white rice dish. A recipe that gives leftovers new life, this one relies on the “holy trinity” of Creole cooking, smoked sausage and tomatoes for its incredible depth of flavor.
Pastalaya
Always dreamed of marrying Louisiana’s famed flavors with the bouncy appeal of Success® boil-in-bag pearl couscous? In this riff on tradition we did just that, creating a dish that delivers contemporary charm and nostalgic comfort in every forkful. Easily adapted, this can be made with poultry, ham or shrimp, in addition to or in place of the sausage.
Speedy Chicken Gumbo
Think you can’t have it all? Think again! A recipe that’s ready in just 25 minutes, this one also results in a gloriously satisfying dish. Enriched with Cajun seasoning, beef gravy and sautéed vegetables, andouille sausage, rotisserie chicken and Success® boil-in-bag white rice morph into one of your kitchen’s homiest creations yet.
