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12 Vegetarian Mardi Gras Recipes You’ll Crave All Year

A meat-free feast that pays homage to Louisiana cuisine and makes it easy to let the good times roll, veggie style.

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Air-Fryer Hush Puppies

Karen Rankin
Eating Well

These crispy and golden hush puppies, studded with bits of onion and jalapeño, get a healthy makeover by skipping the deep fryer. The air fryer delivers on the classic crispy crust while using just a fraction of the oil from the classic version.

Vegan Étouffée

Vaishali Honawar
Holy Cow Vegan

Étouffée (pronounced ay-too-fay) is a luxurious stew from Louisiana that’s typically made with shellfish. In this delicious, veggie-packed vegan version, bits of golden, chewy tofu spiced with Cajun seasoning make an appetizing stand-in for the seafood.

Vegetarian Dirty Rice

Marianne Williams
Southern Living

This recipe gets its rich umami from a combination of sautéed mushrooms and smoky tempeh bacon, which team up with the “holy trinity’ of Louisiana cooking—onion, celery, and bell pepper—plus plenty of spices. It’s filthy good.

Oven-Fried Okra

Kathleen Royal Phillips
Grits and Gouda

All the flavor of and crunch of cornmeal-crusted, fried okra without all the oil of deep-frying. The trick is to toss the okra in egg white to help the cornmeal stick to the okra as well as aids in crispiness as it bakes in the oven.