Crawfish Fettuccine

This Crawfish Fettuccine recipe is a grown-up take on a classic South Louisiana dish — crawfish-forward, deeply flavorful and made with real cheeses. Built on a roux with the holy trinity of Cajun cooking and some andouille sausage for bonus flavor, this is the creamy, decadent pasta recipe to make when you want to impress. It’s the perfect way to put fresh or frozen crawfish tails to use, too!

Some recipes take time to get right. This one took more than a year and was, quite frankly, a white whale of a recipe for me because it is a nostalgic one.

Not for me, but for my husband. And trying to make a recipe from someone else’s sense memory is tricky, for obvious reasons.

Crawfish Fettuccine is one of those deeply nostalgic South Louisiana dishes that a lot of people grew up eating, made by a family member, a neighbor or another loved one, and it almost always involved Velveeta cheese.

My mother-in-law made it for my husband growing up, and when I set out to recreate it for our family, I wanted to honor that nostalgia while also taking the recipe in a different direction.  

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The original versions we made were heavy. Really heavy. And after more than a year of tweaking (and taking necessary breaks because there is only so much creamy pasta sauce a recipe developer can eat at once time) — the cheeses, the vegetables, the liquid elements, the amount of crawfish— I finally landed on a version that my husband described as tasting more like an étouffée than a mac ‘n cheese. Which is exactly what I was going for.

This, my friend, is a grown-up Crawfish Fettuccine.

Why I love this recipe:

Listen. I do not have the memory of eating this crawfish fettucine recipe as a kid… but to me, this is the type of creamy pasta dish that I love to enjoy for a special occasion.

It’s decadent, but it’s not heavy. The sauce itself is creamy and smooth and cheesy… and the crawfish they come through in every bite — in texture, color and flavor — the way they should in a dish that bears their name.

The sauce has a roux base — no shortcuts and no Velveeta, please and thank you — and gets its creaminess from a combination of milk, cheddar, Monterrey jack and parmesan. The holy trinity of onion, bell pepper and celery brings that unmistakable Cajun backbone to the recipe. And the crawfish? They are the star of the show.

The spice level is adaptable, which makes this recipe perfect for sharing. (Please note that I’ve written it to be family-friendly and easy to adjust.) So if you need more heat? Add more seasoning. Feeding kids? Keep it as written.

This isn’t a weeknight dinner because there’s chopping and measuring and a whole lot of stirring. But for a special occasion, a dinner party or any time you want to put something genuinely impressive on the table, this crawfish pasta recipe is worth the effort!

Other crawfish recipes we love: Hot Crawfish Dip | Crawfish Pie | Crawfish Etouffee

What you need to make this recipe:

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• Pasta pot
• Large Dutch oven or braiser pan
• Sharp knife and cutting board
• Garlic press
• Box grater
• Wooden spoon or rubber spatula

Here is what you need to get at the store to make this recipe:

• Fettuccine — plus some of the pasta water. I recommend cooking this first and tossing it in olive oil before making the sauce so you can just throw everything together instead of managing two pots on the stovetop.
• Unsalted butter — this is the base of our sauce. You could swap it with oil, if desired, but I like the flavor the butter brings. Also, we have a ton more dairy going in here, so making that swap doesn’t necessarily help for dairy-related reasons.
• Smoked andouille sausage — why smoked? Because that way, you can dice it finely. I suppose you could use fresh if that’s all you can find, but you would need to break it up significantly as you cook it so that you do not have large chunks.
• Onion — yellow or white onion are traditional as a part of the trinity. I do not recommend using red onion.
• Celery — a little goes a long way here and adds awesome flavor! Don’t skip it.
• Green bell pepper — you’ll need about half of a large one.
• Minced garlic — I prefer to chop my own, but you can use the jarred kind of that’s what you’ve got on hand. As I tell my kids, we measure garlic with our hearts, not with a measuring spoon. 😉 
• All-purpose flour — flour combines with the melted butter to make a roux as the base of our sauce. There is no substitute. I do not recommend using gluten-free flour for this, as it does not thicken in the same way that a wheat flour does.
• Milk — our family keeps 2% milk in the house these days, so that’s what I used here. Whole milk will yield a thicker, creamier sauce while nonfat milk will yield a thinner one. If given the option, I recommend 2% or higher.
• Cheese — we use a combination of shredded cheddar cheese and monterrey jack to make the cheesy, creamy sauce.
• Crawfish tails — we purchase the frozen variety from our local grocery. Freshly peeled crawfish tails are also perfect if you have access to them. If you’re using frozen, defrost them fully in the fridge before beginning the recipe. 
• Creole or Cajun seasoning — use your favorite store-bought brand that has salt in it. You can also make your own Creole seasoning, if desired.
• Parmesan cheese — we finish the pasta with grated parm. It melts into the sauce and pasta a little better than shredded, in my opinion. You can use this for garnish, too. 
• Green onions — also known as scallions, we use these as a garnish for a pop of color along with fresh parsley. These are paramount to any Cajun recipe.

How to make Crawfish Fettuccine

Before starting on the sauce, cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta, and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente. Reserve ¾ cup of pasta water in a liquid measuring cup and set aside. Drain the pasta and toss lightly with olive oil to prevent sticking, and set aside.

Mise en place. Before beginning on the sauce, chop the sausage and veggies. Shred the cheeses, too.

Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven. Do this over medium heat.

Measure in the diced andouille. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until lightly browned. It will smell wonderful as it’s cooking! Watch out for the butter popping as you do this.

Add the holy trinity. Measure in the chopped onion, celery and bell pepper next. Cook the vegetables until softened. They do not need to brown… you just want them to be nice and soft.

Don’t forget the garlic! Add the minced garlic next and cook until fragrant.

Make the roux. Measure in the flour, and stir it into the vegetable mixture. Cook for 1-2 minutes so that it does not have a raw flour taste.

This will create a blonde roux, which will thicken the sauce. It is imperative, so do not skip it.

Make the sauce. Lower the heat and slowly pour in the milk, stirring constantly, until the sauce begins to thicken.

Sprinkle in the shredded cheddar cheese and monterrey jack cheese.

Stir constantly and let the cheeses melt completely before moving to the next step.

Add the crawfish tails.  Don’t forget the liquid from the packaging — that’s the fat, and it adds so much crawfish flavor to the dish.

Season with the Cajun or Creole seasoning blend, and stir into the sauce mixture before cooking until warmed through.

Finish with the pasta. Add the parmesan cheese to the sauce, and stir to combine.

Next, measure in the cooked fettuccine pasta directly to the sauce, and toss.

Serve immediately. Garnish with extra grated parmesan cheese, chopped parsley and green onions, and enjoy!

Frequently Asked Questions

Quick tips and tricks to make the best Crawfish Fettuccine

• Follow the recipe as written. This is the grown-up version of the Louisiana classic… and it might not taste exactly like what you remember. If you want the elevated version, this is it! If you don’t, follow a different recipe.
• Mise en place. The sauce is significantly easier to assemble if you chop and prep everything before you’re assembling it on the stovetop.
• Serve it alongside a green salad and crusty bread with butter. There’s not much more comforting than this!

This is how you can make it in your own kitchen…