Cajun Shrimp & Sausage Vegetable Skillet

This Cajun Shrimp and Sausage Vegetable Skillet is a plain, one-pan meal that is ready quickly. It’s a well-balanced weeknight meal your whole family will love that’s ready in 30 minutes.

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Cajun Shrimp and Sausage Skillet Recipe

Believe us when we say we know how tough weeknight dinners can be. Even for a food blogger, dinnertime can be tough for us as well.

This straightforward skillet recipe is great for busy weeknights with minimal effort and a single pan.

It’s full of cajun spices, protein and veggies. It’s suited to those nights when you don’t have a lot of time but are craving a healthy and hearty meal.

What’s even better is that it’s made in one pan, so you’ll be cutting down time doing dishes too!

Why Recipe stays in the rotation

The method is one we know you’ll fall in love with again and again.

• It’s so quick and straightforward to cook. You can have an straightforward weeknight supper on the table in under 30 minutes.
• It’s a table favorite. The veggies take on the cajun flavor. Well-balanced for picky eaters!
• It’s a healthful meal with a hint of spice (but not too much!) that has all the heartiness you crave for a well-balanced meal.

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make this Cajun shrimp and sausage skillet:

• Avocado oil – We love cooking with avocado oil because of its high smoke point, but olive oil or your favorite cooking oil will work fine.
• Shrimp – You’ll want peeled and deveined raw shrimp for this. Stick with large shrimp so they don’t get lost in the dish. We actually like buying the jumbo shrimp for this. Diced chicken is also a great option if you’d prefer a recipe without seafood.
• Cajun seasoning – You can buy cajun seasoning at the grocery store or make your own from-scratch cajun spice mix. It’s made with a mixture of paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and dried herbs. In a pinch, you could use Taco seasoning If needed!
• Onion – You can use any kind of chopped onion here, such as white, sweet, or red onion. You can also use a shallot instead.
• Zucchini – Chopped zucchini practically melts in your mouth in this recipe, but yellow squash or spaghetti squash would be good as well.
• Mini peppers – Chopped mini sweet bell peppers are full of flavor so we love them in this recipe, but feel free to use any full size bell peppers. We like red bell pepper a house favorite, but yellow and orange are satisfying as well.
• Salt & pepper – Coarse kosher salt, sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper are our go-tos in the kitchen.
• Smoked turkey sausage – Sliced turkey sausage is so full of protein, but feel free to sub in andouille sausage, beef, or pork smoked sausage instead.
• Garlic – Don’t skimp on the garlic! You can use fresh garlic minced with a garlic press or use the kind that comes pre-minced (one of our favorite cooking shortcuts).
• Broth – Chicken or vegetable broth will work well. If you don’t keep broth on hand, bouillon cubes are super handy and great for small pantries.

What to serve with this straightforward cajun shrimp recipe

This cajun dish makes a well-balanced low carb meal on its own, but we like serving it along side a few things.

This skillet is so good over White Rice Or rice pilaf. Other grains like quinoa or farro would work well too. It could even be served over grits for a shrimp and grits inspired meal.

Another idea is to turn it into a pasta dish. Serve it over your favorite pasta like bowtie pasta or penne pasta, or even spaghetti! Orzo Would also be fantastic mixed in.

For an extra veggie, you could serve it over zucchini noodles, cauliflower rice, or Spaghetti squash.

And if you’d like to add some more veggies into the mix, we love to add okra and stewed tomatoes.

On the side, you might want to make some Cornbread To round out the meal.

How to cook a Shrimp & Sausage Skillet

This Cajun recipe with shrimp and sausage is straightforward to put together. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

1. First, prep all your ingredients. Dice the onion and chop the zucchini. De-seed the peppers, then dice them. Mince the garlic. Cut the sausage into slices.
2. Add the avocado oil to a heavy-bottomed large skillet over medium heat. (This is our Favorite skillet.)
3. Add the shrimp to the skillet in a single layer and season with the cajun seasoning blend. Cook for about 2-3 minutes per side, and be sure not to overcook the fresh shrimp. You want plump shrimp that it’s tough or overcooked. Cook in batches if needed.
4. Remove them from the skillet and set aside.
5. Add onion, zucchini, and mini peppers to the skillet . Season with salt and pepper. Saute for about 5 minutes, until they begin to soften.
6. Add the smoked sausage to the skillet with the garlic and sprinkle with additional Cajun seasoning.
7. Once everything has cooked through and softened, add a splash of broth to the skillet to deglaze the pan and get up all the browned bits.
8. Add the shrimp back in and it’s ready to serve.

Add the shrimp to the skillet and season with cajun seasoning. Cook for about 2 minutes per side, be sure not to overcook. Cook in batches if needed.

Add onion, zucchini, mini peppers, and salt and pepper to the skillet. Saute for about 5 minutes, until they begin to soften.

Add the smoked sausage to the skillet with the garlic and sprinkle with additional cajun seasoning.

Once everything has cooked through and softened, add a splash of broth to the skillet to deglaze the pan and get up all the browned bits.

Tips & Tricks

Make sure the shrimp is fully thawed and dry before adding it to the skillet . You want them to be able to sear in the oil without water being released.

Cajun seasoning is a satisfying spice blend based on New Orleans cuisine. It’s so good in this Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta Alfredo!

One thing to know about this kind of seasoning is that it’s best to season your food throughout the cooking process for a house favorite flavor.

If you only season at the beginning of cooking, your finished dish will be a bit lacking in the flavor department!

If you want a creamy version of this dish, you could mix in some heavy cream or even cream cheese at the end.

Can we use pre-cooked shrimp?

You can! You will want to season it and warm it up quickly at the beginning, then set it aside as the recipe calls for. You’ll add it back in at the last step.

Do we need to peel the sausage before cooking?

For slices of sausage, it helps to keep the casing on because it holds the shape better. The casing is natural and totally edible.

However, you can remove the casing if you like, which will give you more of a ground meat texture in your skillet . Here’s a helpful tutorial about Decasing sausage.

How to store leftover cajun shrimp and sausage

Allow the dish to cool completely and then place it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Sausage, Cabbage, and shrimp

This skillet meal would also be great with cabbage. For this, simply swap out the vegetable for chopped cabbage and proceed with the recipe as written.

We'd recommend using a head of green cabbage, but you could also use purple or a mix of both.

For a shortcut, they sell shredded cabbage in the bagged salad section of most grocery stores.

Products used to make shrimp and sausage skillet

Staub Enameled Cast Iron Traditional Deep Skillet, 11-Inch

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Knife set

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Tongs

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