My vegan étouffée is made with chickpeas and vibrant veggies like peppers, zucchini, onions, and celery is a flavorful Cajun-spiced sauce. This hearty southern-inspired meal is easy to make and loaded with flavor!
Cajun food may not exactly sound like the most vegan-friendly cuisine. That's because...well...it's not. Traditional Cajun dishes are full of meat! But I can always find a way to make them vegan. And whether it's replacing the meat with tofu like I did with my vegan po' boy sandwiches, swapping out sausage with beanballs, à la my vegan gumbo, or just taking the easy route and using vegan sausage, like in my vegan jambalaya, it's always delicious!
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Étouffée is a Cajun stew that's normally made with shrimp. But you know what else it's normally made with? Vegetables! Vegetables are about as vegan-friendly as it gets, so I decided to just add more of them in place of the shrimp.
Traditional étouffée is made with the holy trinity of onions, celery, and green bell peppers. I added red bell peppers and zucchini to my vegan étouffée, along with some chickpeas. (Okay, so vegetables and beans. You got me.) It turned out absolutely delicious, and though I've never actually had legit étouffée, I can't imagine it being any tastier than this stuff!
Ingredients You'll Need
Below you'll find a list of ingredients in this recipe, with notes and substitutions. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe, including the amount of each ingredient.
- Vegan butter. You can find this in the refrigerated section of most grocery stores, near the regular butter. Feel free to substitute vegetable oil if vegan butter isn't something you normally buy.
- Flour. I've only tested the recipe with all-purpose wheat flour, but I think a gluten-free blend should work too.
- Onion.
- Celery.
- Bell peppers. You'll need a red and a green.
- Garlic.
- Spices. We're using paprika, thyme, oregano, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and bay leaves, all of which you can get in the spice aisle of just about any grocery store.
- Vegetable broth.
- Chickpeas. These can be swapped out with other types of beans, like kidney, lentils, butter beans, or cannellini beans. Use what you have!
- Hot sauce. I like using Crystal brand hot sauce in this recipe. Tobasco is another good option, but it's quite a bit hotter, so consider using less and adding a splash of vinegar if you use it.
- Vegan Worcestershire sauce. Whole Foods and Annie's both make vegan Worcestershire sauces. You can also make it yourself, using my vegan Worcestershire sauce recipe. It's easy!
- Zucchini. Yellow summer squash will also work.
- Salt.
- Accompaniments. You'll want to serve your vegan étouffée over rice, with a sprinkle of parsley and scallions, along with some extra hot sauce on the side.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Step 1: Melt your vegan butter in a large pot, then add the flour. Stir the flour into the butter and cook the mixture over medium-low heat until it smells nutty and darkens a bit, as shown in the photo above. This is a roux, and it'll be the thickener for your stew.
Step 2: Add diced onion, celery, red and green bell peppers to the pot. Raise the heat a bit and cook the vegetables until they begin to soften up, stirring often to prevent anything from burning.
Step 3: Stir your minced garlic into the pot, along with the paprika, thyme, oregano, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Cook everything briefly, stirring the whole time.
Step 4: Begin stirring the broth in, adding a big at a time and completely stirring it in until the liquid is nice and smooth.
Step 5: Now stir in the chickpeas, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and bay leaves. Bring the stew to a boil, lower the heat and let it simmer for a while.
Step 6: Finally, add your zucchini. Let the stew continue to simmer until all of the vegetables are fully cooked.
Step 7: Take the pot off of heat. Remove the bay leaves and add salt to taste. You can also adjust any other seasonings you'd like at this point — add more cayenne pepper, black pepper, hot sauce, or Worcestershire sauce.
Your vegan étouffée is ready to enjoy! Serve it with rice, along with some chopped parsley and scallions.
Leftovers & Storage
Leftover vegan étouffée will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about three days, or in the freezer for about three months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cajun food in general is pretty spicy, and this stew has a little kick, thanks to the hot sauce and cayenne pepper. You can reduce the amounts of these ingredients if you'd like, but they add a lot of flavor, so I don't recommend totally omitting them. For a milder dish, try my hearty vegetable stew or my vegan slow cooker stew.
I think so, but I haven't tried it myself. I've heard from readers who have had success making a roux with all-purpose gluten-free flour blends, so that's worth a shot. You could also go the less traditional route and skip making the roux. Instead, thicken your stew with a cornstarch slurry when it's just about done cooking.
More Vegan Stews
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Vegetable Étouffée
Ingredients
- ¼ cup vegan butter
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 medium celery stalks, diced
- 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
- 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 (15.5 ounce/439 gram) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper hot sauce, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 medium zucchini, quartered and sliced
- Salt, to taste
For Serving
- Cooked rice
- Chopped fresh parsley
- Chopped scallions
- Cayenne pepper hot sauce
Instructions
- To make your roux, first melt the butter in a large pot over medium-low heat. Once the butter has completely melted, stir in the flour. Cook the butter and flour mixture for about ten minutes, until it darkens slightly and begins to smell nutty. Be sure to stir the mixture frequently as it cooks to prevent burning.
- Raise the heat to medium. Add the onion, celery, and both bell peppers to the pot. Stir well to coat the vegetables in the roux. Cook the vegetables for about five minutes, until they start to soften, stirring frequently.
- Stir in the garlic, paprika, thyme, oregano, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. Cook everything while stirring for about one minute, or until the garlic becomes fragrant.
- Begin adding the vegetable broth to the pot, pouring in about a half cup at a time and stirring in each addition before adding more.
- Once all of the broth has been added, stir in the chickpeas, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and bay leaves. Raise the heat to high and bring the liquid to a boil, then lower the heat so that it's cooking at a low simmer. Let the mixture continue to simmer for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pot when you stir, to prevent the sauce from scorching.
- Stir in the zucchini. Let the stew continue simmering for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender.
- Remove the pot from heat. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season the stew with salt to taste, and adjust any other seasonings to suit your taste.
- Ladle the stew into bowls. Top each bowl with a scoop of rice and a sprinkle of scallions and parsley. Serve.
Notes
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I just finished eating this and we really liked it. I followed the recipe except only added about 1/4 t of cayenne and a bit less Worcestershire sauce. I prepared the veggies and the spices ahead of time. It came together really nicely and I am excited to have leftovers for tomorrow.
Thanks - was looking for something like this since it was Mardi Gras time and I am in the northeast.