This skinny shrimp stew recipe is perfect year round! This shrimp stew uses a dry roux so it is a lower calorie version of a traditional shrimp stew while tasting exactly the same!
Being from Louisiana means you eat gumbo or stew all year round and from the time you are a young child, you are taught how to make a roux and brown your onions without burning them.
The problem with a traditional shrimp stew or shrimp gumbo is that you use a lot of oil (fat) in those recipes as your base. This means a lot of calories coming from fat.
That being said, you shouldn’t have to avoid eating a shrimp stew simply because it is “unhealthy” due to the amount of oil in it. So I decided to make a skinny shrimp stew that uses a dry roux as the base, but instead of using it first, you add it last!
A dry roux is perfect for ANYONE because it can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge or it can be made right before you use it. I usually make a big pan full of dry roux and store in the fridge for 3-6 months depending on how many times I cook a gumbo or stew. It doesn’t last that long during the winter months!
If you are needing to make a quick weeknight dinner and don’t want to wait the hour it takes to make the dry roux, making it ahead of time is essential!
The recipe for my dry roux is here on my Low fat chicken gumbo recipe.
You do everything the exact same except you don’t start with your roux to make this shrimp stew. You want to brown your onions and make them really dark like you would a traditional shrimp stew. This is the longest process no matter what you do because you have to continue to stir your onions so they don’t burn. It’s not as hard as standing over a roux and making sure it doesn’t burn, but it still takes time.
From there, you add your garlic and shrimp and cook the shrimp until completely cooked through. Add in your water and seasonings and simmer.
Once your stew has finished simmering, you add in the dry roux. You can’t add the dry flour to the boiling water because you will get clumps of flour in your shrimp stew making it look terrible.
So instead, you take your roux and mix it with water to make a pour-able paste and pour it into the stew. If you don’t find the amount of roux I have below to be thick enough for you, simply add more to your shrimp stew!
Try it out and enjoy your skinny shrimp stew!
| Servings |
|
- 1 lb shrimp
- 2 each onions, chopped
- 1 Tbsp canola oil
- 1/2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 capful liquid crab boil
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/3 cup browned flour, strained See Low Fat Gumbo for this recipe!
- salt and pepper to taste
Ingredients
|
|
- Chop onions and brown with 1 T canola oil. Cook onions until dark brown, about 10-20 minutes.
- Add 1 t minced garlic. Add 1 lb shrimp and cook until the shrimp are completely cooked through.
- Add 4 cups water, 1/4 cup fresh parsley, 1 capful of crab boil, and salt/pepper to taste.
- Simmer for 30-40 minutes.
- Measure 1/3 cup of browned flour and strain into bowl. Add 1/4 cup of water and mix until well combined.
- Add this mixture to stew. Simmer 20-30 minutes.
- Serve over rice and enjoy!
