A spicy, delicious appetizer, these Jambalaya Cajun Shrimp Bites are perfect for your Mardi Gras celebration, or any time you just want something different!
Who’s ready for Mardi Gras?
I know we are! St. Louis is known as one of the cities with the largest Mardi Gras celebrations. Huge parades, floats, day events and of course the annual Fat Tuesday events are in abundance here.
My children’s father is from Louisiana and one year we were actually there for the big event. While I don’t do that sort of thing much anymore, you can still find me in the kitchen having a lot of fun with food that day. We just love Creole food, it’s so spicy and wonderfully flavorful.
Why we love this recipe
- easy
- fast, so perfect for weeknights
- spicy and flavorful
- easy to source ingredients
- tastes incredibly amazing!
Traditionally, we usually make a big old pot of Jambalaya the day of the parade festivities. We would invite some family over and watch everything on tv.
We are doing that again this year, but instead of a big pot of Jambalaya, I decided to mix it up a little and serve bite size food.
This year we are making Jambalaya Cajun Shrimp Bites!
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Puff Pastry Cups, prepared according to package directions – Nice and easy, you can use any brand, or technically you could make your own puff pastry and form them into cups.
- Jambalaya Mix (we used Zatarains but any brand will do)
- medium shrimp, uncooked
- Creole Seasoning – We use Tony Chachere. It’s our absolute favorite and the only thing I’ve used for like 20 years now.
- cooking oil – any type you would like to use
They are so tasty and easy to just pop into your mouth. Because you saute the shrimp in Creole seasoning first, you get a little extra spice from that too.
More Jambalaya Inspired Recipes
Recipe for Jambalaya Cajun Shrimp Bites
Jambalaya Cajun Shrimp Bites
Ingredients
- Puff Pastry Cups prepared according to package directions
- 8 ounce Jambalaya Mix we used Zatarains
- 1.5 pounds medium shrimp uncooked
- 2 teaspoons Creole Seasoning
- 1 Tablespoons oil
Instructions
- Prepare puff pastry according to package directions.
- Prepare the Jambalaya mix according to package directions.
- In a large skillet on the stove, heat oil over medium high heat.
- In a bowl, toss the shrimp and creole seasoning together to coat evenly.
- Cook and stir shrimp in the hot oil in the skillet until they are bright pink on the outside and the meat is no longer transparent in the center, which took about 4-6 minutes.
- Fill each pastry cup with prepared Jambalaya mix.
- Top each pastry cup with a shrimp. Serve on a large platter and be sure to make plenty, because they go fast!
I could make a meal of these, Nicole! Beautiful!
Spicy shrimp on puff pastry??? Sign me up for a plateful!!!
What perfect little bites!!
I would LOVE this, Nicole! I’m going to make this next week – it’s beautiful, and looks so delicious!!
I would love to sink my teeth into a few of these! Looks delicious.
I had no idea St Louis was into celebrating Mardi Gras! How cool. These bites are the perfect way to celebrate too!
Nicole
Your Shrimp Bites are the perfect Mardi Gras appetizer recipe!
These are absolutely adorable and I love the flavors!
What perfect little bites!!
Are you able to take the puff pastry sheets and cut small circles out of them? Puff pastry cups at my store our big and not bite-size.
Absolutely! We’ve cut all sorts of shapes out of them. I would recommend doing a small square instead of a circle because the way the corners come up, sort of holds the ingredients inside. A circle will work just fine, just make sure everything is lower in the cup. Enjoy!