Cajun Corn Maque Choux with Creole Shrimp

Have you ever tried corn maque choux? This traditional Cajun side dish is made with bell peppers, fresh corn, and a blend of spices, often simmered in a creamy broth. It’s a versatile dish, perfect as a side or a base for Cajun-seasoned proteins. In this recipe, I used Pure Flavor’s Sweet Bell Peppers in vibrant red, orange, and yellow, adding color and freshness to the dish. To top it off, I paired the maque choux with Cajun Spiced Shrimp, which perfectly complements the flavors. Read on for the full recipe and add this to your dinner menu this week!

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For this dish, you’ll need:

Cajun Corn Maque Choux

• 4 Slices of Bacon, crumbled
• 2 tablespoon Butter
• ⅓ Cup Sweet Onion, minced
• 1 tablespoon Garlic, minced
• 1 Red Pure Flavor® Sweet Bell Pepper, diced
• 1 Yellow Pure Flavor® Sweet Bell Pepper, diced
• 1 Orange Pure Flavor® Sweet Bell Pepper, diced
• 4 Cups Sweet Corn, cut straight from the cob
• 1 Large Jalapeno, minced
• 2 tablespoon Cajun Seasoning
• 1 Chicken Bouillon Cube
• ½ Cup Water
• 1 Bay Leaf
• ½ Cup Heavy Cream
• Green Onions, chopped
• Parsley, minced

Creole Shrimp

• 1 lb. Shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• ½ tablespoon Cajun or Blackening Seasoning
• 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
• ¼ - ½ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

For this recipe, I also recommend the use of a cast iron pan.

If you’ll be making the Creole Spiced Shrimp to go with the maque choux, go ahead and marinate it.

I like to marinate my shrimp while I chop. This recipe moves fast, so having the shrimp ready to go at the end makes your life so much easier!

In a small bowl, pour the oil, blackening spices, paprika, and cayenne directly over the cleaned shrimp. Give them a slight toss to make sure they are all coated, cover with plastic wrap, and move on.

Chop, chop, and then chop some more!

This recipe allows you the opportunity to practice your knife skills!

To set yourself up for success, I recommend chopping all of your veggies before you start. As mentioned above, this recipe moves fast! So having everything prepped saves you a ton of time.

Chop the onion, garlic, each of the peppers, the jalapeno. Now let’s work on the corn.

Working with fresh corn can be a little intimidating if you aren’t just grilling it. There’s an easy way to remove the fresh kernels from the corn cob. You don’t even need any fancy gadgets!

1. Grab yourself a large bowl and a small bowl.
2. Flip the small bowl upside down in the center of the large bowl.
3. Cut the tip of the cob off so you have a nice flat edge, place it on top of the small bowl, and slide your knife down the side of the cob. It’s that simple!

This will help remove the kernels properly without shredding them and gather some of the “milk” from the cob that this recipe needs. The “corn milk” (the white liquid that comes out of the cob when you run your knife over it) aids to the silky texture in the finished dish.

Once you’re all prepped, let’s fry up some bacon!

I love the smoky flavor of bacon in my maque choux, although bacon is not necessarily a popular ingredient in traditional maque choux recipes. I recommend you try it!

Cook the bacon in a cast iron skillet over medium heat until crispy. Remove it from the skillet, drain the bacon grease* from the pan, and gently wipe up any puddles that may still remain in the pan.

*Some maque choux recipes recommend the use of bacon fat. I prefer to use butter instead of bacon fat for this recipe so I remove it. If you want to use bacon fat instead, omit the butter.

Okay, fire up your engines!

Turn the heat on your stove down to medium-low and melt the butter in the cast iron pan.

Add the onion and allow it to cook for about 3 – 5 minutes, just until its barely translucent.

Add the minced garlic and cook until just fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add a little color!

Pour in the chopped bell peppers, jalapeno, corn, and Cajun seasoning. Give it a stir.

While you’re getting everything incorporated, dissolve a chicken bouillon cube in half a cup of water. Once dissolved, pour the broth, add a bay leaf, and let it simmer for about 5 – 10 minutes until the broth reduces by about half.

Prepare the Creole Shrimp

While your broth is reducing slightly, you’ll want to cook your shrimp so everything is ready at the same time.

Sear your marinated shrimp over medium-high heat in a saucepan until opaque. Set aside to cool slightly.

Add the bacon and a little cream, and dinner is ready!

At the very end, right before dinnertime, fold in the crispy bacon bits and slowly pour in the heavy cream. Stir gently and cook for a few minutes just to make sure everything warms through.

If you’ll be enjoying the Creole Shrimp along with this meal, place the shrimp on top of the maque choux and top with chopped green onions and parsley.

As mentioned, Cajun Corn Maque Choux makes for a great side dish as well! Simply omit the Creole Shrimp and follow all of the remaining instructions.

There are several other proteins that pair well with this dish besides shrimp! If shrimp isn’t your thing, consider one of these!

• Blackened or BBQ Chicken
• Ribeye Steaks
• Brats (with the bun or without)
• Catfish, or my personal favorite – redfish!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I enjoyed making it! It’s one of my favorite dishes.

As fall is starting to make its appearance, I am getting more and more excited about warm and cozy recipes like these!

If you try this recipe out, don’t forget to post a rating and comment!

I’d love to see your pictures on Instagram too! Tag @a_toastedcrumb and @pureflavor!