Fresh baked pistolette bread roll stuffed with a creamy, cheesy flavorful crawfish filling. Cajun cooking at its best, using up those yummy leftover crawfish tails - crawfish pistolettes are a southern staple around crawfish season.
Next time try my Crawfish Pie, for another great Cajun recipe!
Crawfish recipes are abundant at the beginning of the year, when crawfish season is upon us. I always like to make these crawfish pistolettes as a treat during Mardi Gras. It's a nice surprise for any visitors who are tired of the same old typical crawfish boil / barbecue type food you'd see.
This was inspired by my Crawfish Bread Recipe also on this site, and pairs well with this amazing corn and crab bisque recipe.
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🧅 Ingredients
- Butter
- Cajun Sausage Meat
- Onions
- Green Bell Pepper
- Celery
- Garlic
- Velveeta Cheese (processed cheese)
- Green Onions
- Creole Seasoning
- Evaporated Milk
- Cheddar Cheese
- Crawfish Tails
- Pistolette Bread Rolls
See recipe card for quantities.
🥣 Instructions
- Step 1: In a large skillet cook the sausage meat and set aside.
- Step 2: Add the butter to the skillet and melt/heat.
- Step 3: Add the diced onion, bell pepper and celery and cook until translucent.
- Step 4: Add the garlic and cook another 2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Step 5: Peel the crawfish tails and set aside.
- Step 6: Add the crawfish tails and the cooked sausage meat back to the skillet.
- Step 7: Add the velveeta, seasoning, green onions and evaporated milk and heat through until melted.
- Step 8: Add the freshly grated cheddar cheese, stir until combined and melted.
- Step 9: Cut out a hole in the center of each pistolette. Keep the top portion as a plug.
- Step 10: Fill the hollowed out pistolette with spoonfuls of crawfish mixture.
- Step 11: Top with the reserved plug and brush with melted butter.
- Step 12: Bake in the oven (350°F) for 20 minutes.
Hint: Use the brown and serve pistolettes as they are only half way cooked. This way the bread won't be too crunchy/ over-cooked.
🔄 Substitutions and Variations
- Lettuce - instead of using pistolette bread rolls use a large leaf of lettuce and make this a lighter option.
- Bun - use gluten free buns instead of white pistolette buns to make this gluten free.
- Shrimp - if crawfish is not as easy to come by for you feel free to try using shrimp instead, this is also a great option!
- Spicy - add chili pepper flakes while cooking to imbue heat into the dish, or chopped fresh chilies.
- Deluxe - add extra salad items, like lettuce, crispy onions etc on the side.
- Kid friendly - add crushed potato chips (ketchup chips!) and use less heat/seasoning.
🔌 Equipment
See in the recipe card below for links to my favorite skillet that I use in this recipe. A heavy bottomed skillet is best because the heat is more evenly distributed.
🧊 Storage
Once the Crawfish Pistolettes have cooled completely store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 days.
🦞 Other Crawfish Recipes
- Crawfish Ravioli
- Crawfish Etouffee
- Crawfish Monica
- Crawfish Bread
- Crawfish Enchiladas
- Crawfish Dip
- Crawfish Pistolettes
- Crawfish Pie
- Crawfish Mac and Cheese
- Crawfish Au Gratin
If you liked this Cajun classic, you should try my Cajun Muffuletta Sandwich recipe.
💡 Top tip
Expert Tip: Reheat in the air fryer for best results! If you don't have an air fryer, use the oven, to keep the pistolettes crispy.
Crawfish Pistolettes
Cajun cheesy crawfish stuffed pistolettes, filled with sausage and seasoning to bring it up a notch or two. One will never be enough.
Ingredients
- ½ lb Cajun Sausage Meat
- ¼ Cup Butter, salted + extra for basting
- 1 Yellow Onion, diced
- 1 Green Bell Pepper, diced
- 1 Stick Celery, diced
- 4 Cloves Garlic, minced
- 2lb Crawfish tails, peeled
- 8oz Velveeta Cheese, cubed
- 3 Green Onions, chopped
- 2 Teaspoons Creole Seasoning
- 1 Cup Evaporated Milk
- ½ Cup Cheddar, grated
- 18 Brown and Serve Pistolette Rolls
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Add the sausage meat to a large skillet and cook through. Remove from the skillet and set aside.
- Add the butter to the same skillet and heat up.
- Add the onion, bell pepper and celery and cook until translucent.
- Add the garlic and cook again another 2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Peel all the crawfish and add the tails to the skillet along with the cooked sausage meat.
- Add the Velveeta cheese, green onions, Creole seasoning and evaporated milk. Stir until all melted.
- Add the grated cheddar cheese and stir until totally melted.
- Take a pistolette roll and cut a hole in the top, keep that top cut out part to keep as a plug. Dig out the excess bread inside.
- Spoon the crawfish mixture inside the hole of the pistolette and plug it closed with the reserved bread piece.
- Repeat with the remaining pistolette bread and crawfish mixture.
- Brush melted butter all over the stuffed pistolette buns and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
You can use the frozen crawfish tails if you don't have any crawfish boil leftovers (it won't have the same flavor so you may have to add more seasoning). Don't use the Chinese crawfish though, make sure the frozen tails are from Louisiana!
Nutrition Information
Yield 9 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 395Total Fat 25gSaturated Fat 12gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 8gCholesterol 190mgSodium 1033mgCarbohydrates 11gFiber 1gSugar 6gProtein 31g
Originally Published December 2021.
Check out this list of 20+ Mouthwatering Cajun Holy Trinity Recipes.
Carol Fountain says
I sell these for Marshland Festival every year. 13 gallons of the mix and about 1000 of the stuffed rolls. The recipe I use s similar but not exactly the same.
Melanie Cagle says
...and aren't they so good!!!
gary newport says
I would like to know if you can airfry the crawfish pistolettes? How hot and long must they be airfried. Please respond ASAP because I have company coming tomorrow (Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022)and would like to cook them then. Thanks
Melanie Cagle says
Hi Gary, I would air fry at 325°F for 15 minutes. I would love to hear how they come out!