With culinary influences from countires like France, Germany, Italy and Vietnam. New Orleans is one of the bests food cities in America. It’s also a city with two signature sandwiches and multiple desserts. But, for many, Cajun and Creole food shines brightest in the tasty Louisiana city.
Discover 20 dishes not to miss during your next trip to the New Orleans.
1. Gumbo
Gumbo could be one of the greatest soups in the world… assuming that it’s a soup and not a stew. However, there’s no debate that a roux-thickened, brown bowl of Louisiana gumbo, filled with thick slices of Andouille sausage, chicken or seafood, is a quintessential American dish.
Dig Deeper: Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Recipe
2. Jambalaya
Jambalaya is rice dish inspired by settlers from Spain and West Africa. Beyond rice, a proper jambalaya recipe includes andouille sausage, shrimp, Louisiana’s vegetable trinity (celery, onions and green peppers) and a whole bunch of spices. Creole jambalaya adds tomatoes while Cajun jambalaya is a tomato-free dish.
Dig Deeper: Tasty Jambalaya Recipe
3. Po Boy Sandwich
Invented by New Orleanians, this submarine hybrid stands out from the sandwich pack starting with its Leidenheimer baguette. Adding crispy seafood and slow cooked beef elevates the po boy to icon status.
Dig Deeper: Top Po Boy Shops in New Orleans
4. Muffuletta
Invented by some of the first Italians to immigrate to America more than a century ago, the muffuletta is NOLA’s second sandwich icon. Those immigrants channeled their roots when they first made this round sandwich with bread traditionally eaten in Sicily and filled it with tasty toppings like cured meat, cheese and marinated olive salad.
Dig Deeper: Mini Muffuletta Recipe
5. Fried Chicken
Female chefs Leah Chase and Willie Mae Seaton, both now deceased, perfected the art of frying chicken at their restaurants (Dooky Chase’s Restaurant and Willie Mae’s Scotch House) located a block apart from each other. Now managed by their descendants, those two Tremé restaurants both won James Beard awards and have become destination dining for fried chicken fans around the world.
Dig Deeper: Tasty Fried Chicken Around the World
6. Turtle Soup
Popular in New Orleans where Cajun and Creole food rule the roost, turtle soup proves the age-old adage that most proteins taste like chicken. But make no mistake – the savory soup does indeed include turtle meat in its stock and also as an ingredient.
Dig Deeper: Lunch at Commander’s Palace
7. Yak-a Mein
Crescent City cooks prepare yaka mein by adding beef and noodles to a salty broth before topping the fusion soup with chopped green onions and a hard boiled egg. Sometimes they go crazy and replace the beef with shrimp. After sampling a cup in the funky Bywater neighborhood, we now wonder why the hangover remedy hasn’t become a brunch staple in more cities.
Dig Deeper: Great Global Soups
8. Oysters
Finding oysters in New Orleans is the opposite of a problem. Restaurants serve the plump bivalves raw over crushed ice all year long, not just during months that contain the letter ‘r.’ Some NOLA cooks fry the little critters before piling them inside Po Boys while others bake and grill them.
9. Shrimp Remoulade
Simpler than many New Orleans dishes, shrimp remoulade is basically a shrimp salad served with remoulade sauce in lieu of dressing. But this remoulade is slightly different from its French cousin. Cajun seasonings and ingredients like spicy mustard and horseradish bring a bit of heat to the saucy party.
Dig Deeper: Great Global Salads
10. BBQ Shrimp
To make BBQ Shrimp in New Orleans, NOLA chefs sauté plump Gulf shrimp in a pan with Worcestershire sauce and a whole lot of butter. While many New Orleans restaurants serve BBQ Shrimp swimming in sauce as a main course or starter dish, Po Boy shops pile the buttery beauties on top of baguettes to create BBQ Shrimp Po Boys.
11. Alligator
Eating alligator meat is an unusual thing to do in most cities. Located in the Bayou, New Orleans is not one of those cities. Instead, it’s a city where it’s easy to find alligator meat in Cajun and Creole dishes like gumbo, creole stew and fried alligator tail.
12. Crawfish (Seasonal)
Spring time is crawfish time in New Orleans. Locals eat as many of the small crustaceans as possible at crawfish boils, festivals and restaurants from February until the middle of May. Don’t worry, food travelers are welcome to the annual seafood party too. They typically eat crawfish in buckets along with andouille sausage, corn on the cob and potatoes.
13. Red Beans and Rice
Red beans & rice is a simple dish in which red beans are stewed with leftover pork bones or smoked ham hocks and served over white rice. The dish became a Monday tradition as an easy dish to cook on ‘clean up’ days. While Mondays are still the traditional day to eat red beans & rice at black-owned restaurants like Dooky Chase’s, Neyow’s Creole Café and Willie Mae’s Scotch House it’s no longer the only day to eat heaping bowls of red beans & rice in New Orleans.
14. Zapp’s Kettle Chips
American potato chips are fairly standard except in New Orleans where kettle chips come in flavors like Spicy Cajun Crawtator and Voodoo. Zapp’s has been producing these unique flavors, as well as special edition Mardi Gras chips, in Louisiana since 1995.
Dig Deeper: Great American Chips
15. Hot Sauce
There’s not just one hot sauce that’s popular in New Orleans. Many New Orleanians choose Crystal which is produced locally. Others opt for Tabasco produced in Avery Island near Lafayette. Yet others choose Louisiana Hot Sauce which is produced in New Iberia also near Lafayette.
Dig Deeper: Hot Sauces that Bring the Heat
16. Vietnamese Food
Vietnamese people have become an influential element of the city’s cultural tapestry. In fact, it’s become difficult to imagine New Orleans without this growing population. The city’s popular Vietnamese dishes include pho and banh mi sandwiches.
Dig Deeper: Banh Mi Sandwich Recipe
17. Bananas Foster
Bananas foster debuted more than a half century ago in New Orleans. Its preparation involves combining butter, cinnamon, brown sugar and bananas (of course) in a pan before adding rum and banana liqueur. Flames flair and excitement builds before the caramelized mixture is plated along with a heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Dig Deeper: Irresistible New Orleans Desserts
18. Beignets
Although the beignet wasn’t invented in New Orleans, it’s been an integral part of the city’s food culture since the 18th century when Acadian settlers started frying French fritters in Louisiana. Today, it’s so popular that it’s the state’s official donut.
Dig Deeper: Great Global Donuts
19. Snow Balls
Snow balls became a thing in New Orleans when Hansens’ Sno-Bliz opened in 1934. Today, multiple snow ball shop typically offers a range of flavors like classic strawberry and orange as well as more modern flavors like honey lavender and satsuma. Additional ingredients like ice cream and coconut milk are also typical.
Dig Deeper: Great Global Desserts
20. King Cake (Seasonal)
Made with braided dough and frosted with icing, king cakes are cinnamon-flavored cakes notable for having the Mardi Gras tricolor of purple, green and gold sugar on top. Each king cake contains a plastic baby hidden inside the cake. People who find hidden babies in their slices are considered lucky. In addition to the risk of breaking a tooth or choking, they’re also responsible for hosting future Mardi Gras parties or buying the king cake for next year.
Read Next: The Best New Orleans Restaurants
Now that you know the must-eat New Orleans foods, it’s time to learn where to eat them all. Start your New Orelans restaurant crawl at the city’s most iconic restaurants. They range from cheap eats to fine dining and they’re all great.
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