New Orleans Food Guide: 25 Dishes You Have to Try

The New Orleans dishes you shouldn’t leave without trying are gumbo, a fried shrimp or roast beef po’boy, a muffuletta, beignets, red beans and rice on a Monday, and boiled crawfish if you visit between March and May. That is the short list. The full 25 are below, with what each one is, where it comes from and how to order it without looking lost.

People come to New Orleans for the music and the architecture, but they come back for the food. This is a city where lunch conversations are about dinner, where a sandwich has its own vocabulary, and where certain dishes are tied to specific days of the week and seasons of the year. Travon is based in the French Quarter, and this guide is the list we send to every friend who visits.

Below are 25 dishes and drinks that define eating in New Orleans, what they are, where they come from and how to order them like you have done it before. We have grouped them by type and added the seasons that matter, because in New Orleans, timing is part of the recipe.

• 25Essential dishes and drinks
• MondayRed beans and rice day
• Jan–JuneCrawfish season (peak spring)
• Jan 6 – Mardi GrasKing cake season

Creole vs. Cajun: what’s the difference?

You will see both words on menus, and they are not the same thing. Creole cuisine developed in New Orleans itself, shaped by French, Spanish, West African, Caribbean, Native American, German and Italian influences. It is city food, often richer, and frequently uses tomatoes, as in Creole jambalaya and shrimp Creole. Cajun cuisine comes from the descendants of French-speaking Acadians who settled in rural south Louisiana after being expelled from Canada in the 18th century. It is country food, hearty, built around what could be hunted, fished and grown, and Cajun jambalaya usually skips the tomatoes.

Both share the “holy trinity” of onion, celery and bell pepper, and many dishes start with a roux, flour cooked in fat until it reaches the shade the cook wants, from blond to deep chocolate brown. In practice, modern New Orleans kitchens borrow freely from both traditions.

Soups and stews

1. Gumbo

The defining dish of Louisiana. Gumbo is a thick, dark stew built on a roux, served over rice. Common versions include chicken and andouille sausage, and seafood gumbo with shrimp, crab and oysters. It may be thickened with okra, whose name in some West African languages is related to the word “gumbo,” or with filé powder, ground sassafras leaves, a contribution from the Choctaw people. Every family argues about the right way to make it, and they are all correct.

2. Turtle soup

A rich, slightly tangy soup made with turtle meat, often finished with a splash of sherry at the table. It is a Creole fine-dining classic, especially at the old-line restaurants.

3. Crawfish étouffée

“Étouffée” means smothered. Crawfish tails are cooked in a buttery, roux-based sauce with the holy trinity and served over rice. Shrimp étouffée is the year-round alternative.

4. Shrimp Creole

Shrimp simmered in a spicy tomato sauce with the holy trinity, served over rice. It is lighter than étouffée and very much a city dish.

Rice dishes

5. Jambalaya

Rice cooked together with meat, sausage and sometimes seafood. Creole or “red” jambalaya includes tomatoes. Cajun or “brown” jambalaya gets its color from browning the meat. It is often described as a cousin of Spanish paella.

6. Red beans and rice

Red kidney beans slow-cooked with ham hock or sausage until creamy, served over rice. Traditionally eaten on Mondays, which used to be laundry day, because a pot of beans could simmer untended while the washing got done. Many restaurants still serve it as a Monday special.

7. Dirty rice

Rice cooked with chopped chicken livers or giblets, ground meat and spices, which give it its “dirty” color. It is a classic side dish.

Sandwiches

8. Po’boy

The po’boy is served on New Orleans–style French bread, with a crisp, shattering crust and an airy interior. Popular fillings include fried shrimp, fried oysters, fried catfish and roast beef “debris,” the shreds of beef and gravy from the bottom of the pan. Order it “dressed” for lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayonnaise. One popular story traces the name to sandwiches given to striking streetcar workers, the “poor boys,” in 1929.

9. Muffuletta

A round Sicilian-style loaf with sesame seeds, layered with salami, ham, mortadella, provolone and a chopped olive salad that soaks into the bread. It is associated with the Italian grocers of the French Quarter, especially Central Grocery, and is commonly sold in halves or quarters, since a whole one easily feeds several people.

10. Roast beef po’boy with debris

It deserves its own entry. Slow-cooked roast beef in its own gravy, so messy you will need a stack of napkins, and so good you won’t care.

Seafood

11. Boiled crawfish

Crawfish are boiled in heavily seasoned water with corn, potatoes, garlic and sometimes sausage, then dumped on a newspaper-covered table and eaten with your hands. Twist off the tail. Pinch the shell, then peel and pull. Some people “suck the heads” for the spicy fat. The season roughly runs from January through June, with the best and cheapest crawfish usually in March through May.

12. Char-grilled oysters

Gulf oysters grilled on the half shell with garlic butter, herbs and Parmesan until they bubble and char. Get extra French bread for dipping.

13. Raw oysters

Gulf oysters are large and mild, with a clean briny finish, often served with cocktail sauce, horseradish and saltine crackers at oyster bars. Shuckers behind the bar are part of the show.

14. Barbecued shrimp

Confusingly, New Orleans barbecued shrimp has nothing to do with a grill. Whole, head-on shrimp are cooked in a peppery sauce of butter, Worcestershire and spices. Bread is essential for the sauce.

15. Shrimp and grits

A Southern brunch staple, given a New Orleans twist with spicy sauces and andouille.

16. Redfish on the half shell

Redfish grilled with its scales and skin on, “on the half shell,” which keeps the fish moist. Blackened redfish, coated in spices and seared in a very hot skillet, was popularized in the 1980s and became famous worldwide.

Breakfast and brunch

17. Beignets and café au lait

Square doughnuts of fried dough, buried under powdered sugar, served in threes with café au lait made with chicory coffee. Chicory, a roasted root, was used to stretch coffee during shortages and became part of the local taste.

18. Grillades and grits

Thin pieces of beef or veal, browned and simmered in a rich gravy, served over grits. It is a traditional brunch dish, especially around holidays.

19. Pain perdu

New Orleans French toast, meaning “lost bread,” a way to rescue day-old French bread.

Sweets

20. Bananas Foster

Bananas sautéed in butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, flambéed with rum at the table and served over vanilla ice cream. It was created in New Orleans in the early 1950s at Brennan’s and named for a local civic leader.

21. Bread pudding

Day-old French bread soaked in custard and baked, served with a whiskey or rum sauce. Nearly every restaurant has its own version.

22. Pralines

A creamy candy of sugar, butter, cream and pecans. In New Orleans, it is pronounced “PRAH-leen.” Shops in the French Quarter make them fresh daily.

23. King cake

A ring of sweet brioche-like dough with cinnamon, glazed and decorated in purple, green and gold, the colors of Mardi Gras. A tiny plastic baby is hidden inside, and whoever finds it is expected to buy the next cake. King cake season runs from January 6, Twelfth Night, until Mardi Gras day. Eating one outside that window is considered bad form by many locals.

24. Snoballs

Not a snow cone. New Orleans snoballs are made with finely shaved ice, as soft as fresh snow, soaked in flavored syrups, sometimes with condensed milk or soft-serve. Snoball stands open in spring and summer and are a local institution.

Drinks

25. The Sazerac (and friends)

The Sazerac, made with rye whiskey, sugar, Peychaud’s bitters and an absinthe rinse, is closely tied to New Orleans cocktail history, and the Louisiana legislature named it the official cocktail of New Orleans in 2008. Other local classics include the Ramos Gin Fizz, frothy with egg white and cream; the Vieux Carré, created at the Hotel Monteleone; the Pimm’s Cup, the signature of the Napoleon House; and the famously sweet, rum-heavy Hurricane.

Eating by season

• Carnival (Jan 6 – Mardi Gras): King cake.
• Spring (Mar–May): Boiled crawfish at its peak, strawberries, festival food.
• Summer (Jun–Aug): Snoballs, Creole tomatoes, lighter seafood dishes.
• Fall (Sep–Nov): Oysters returning in quantity, gumbo weather, football tailgates.
• December: Réveillon dinners, special multi-course holiday menus at many restaurants.

How to eat well in New Orleans

• Reserve the classics. Old-line Creole restaurants and popular new spots book up, especially on weekends and festival dates.
• Do lunch at the fancy places. Some famous restaurants offer lunch specials, sometimes with inexpensive cocktails, that cost far less than dinner.
• Follow the Monday and Friday traditions. Red beans on Monday, seafood on Friday, especially during Lent.
• Leave the French Quarter. Some of the best food is in Mid-City, Uptown, the Marigny, the Bywater and Gentilly.
• Ask for “lagniappe.” It means “a little something extra,” and the spirit of it is everywhere.
• Pace yourself. Portions are generous. Split plates and save room for dessert.

Where to eat beyond the French Quarter

The Quarter has wonderful restaurants, but some of the best eating in New Orleans happens in neighborhoods where locals live:

• Mid-City: po’boy shops, neighborhood Creole restaurants and old-school bars near Bayou St. John.
• Uptown and Magazine Street: a mix of classic dining rooms, snoball stands and modern bistros.
• The Marigny and Bywater: creative, casual kitchens and late-night food near the music clubs.
• The Seventh Ward and Tremé: soul food, fried chicken and the city’s Black culinary traditions.
• New Orleans East: Vietnamese restaurants and bakeries, reflecting a large Vietnamese community that has shaped the city’s food, including the banh mi–po’boy crossover.
• Metairie and the suburbs: excellent seafood houses and crawfish boils in season.

Cooking classes and food tours

If you want to bring New Orleans home with you, take a cooking class. Several schools in the French Quarter teach gumbo, jambalaya, pralines and bread pudding in demonstration or hands-on classes, usually with lunch included. Guided food walking tours are another good choice for a first visit, combining tastings with history.

Dress code and etiquette

Most New Orleans restaurants are casual, but a few historic dining rooms still expect jackets for men at dinner or ask guests to avoid shorts and flip-flops. Check before you go. Tipping follows standard US custom, usually 18 to 22 percent at sit-down restaurants. At po’boy shops and counters, a small tip in the jar is appreciated.

A one-day food crawl

1. Breakfast: beignets and café au lait by the river.
2. Mid-morning: pralines from a French Quarter candy shop.
3. Lunch: split a muffuletta and a shrimp po’boy.
4. Afternoon: a snoball in summer, or oysters at a raw bar.
5. Happy hour: a Sazerac or Pimm’s Cup in a historic bar.
6. Dinner: gumbo, crawfish étouffée or barbecued shrimp, then bananas Foster.

Planning the rest of your visit? Use our 48 hours in New Orleans itinerary and our guide to where to stay in New Orleans.

Frequently asked questions