Louisiana Shrimp-Stuffed Mirliton

Shrimp-Stuffed Mirliton
Shrimp-Stuffed Mirliton

This shrimp stuffed mirliton is a tasty Louisiana treat, and a perfect Thanksgiving side dish.

Louisiana Shrimp-Stuffed Mirliton
Serves 10
Mirliton, a squash variety that thrives in Louisiana, is stuffed with Gulf shrimp.
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Ingredients
  1. 12 mirlitons (chayote squash), halved
  2. 1/2 cup butter
  3. 2 large onions, chopped
  4. 4 bell peppers, seeded and chopped
  5. 1 bunch celery, chopped
  6. 1 1/2 pounds smoked ham, chopped
  7. 2 to 3 pounds peeled fresh shrimp, chopped
  8. 1 teaspoon salt
  9. 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  10. 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  11. 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
  12. 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs, plus more for topping
Instructions
  1. In a large Dutch oven of water, boil mirlitons until tender, 30 to 45 minutes. Remove from water; when cool enough to handle, halve lengthwise, remove seed from each, and discard seeds.
  2. Remove mirliton flesh by delicately scooping, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Set flesh aside, and turn the shells upside-down on a cooling rack to drain.
  3. Preheat oven to 300°.
  4. In a large Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and celery, and cook until onion is translucent. Add ham, shrimp, salt, pepper, and garlic, and cook until shrimp are pink and firm. Add reserved mirliton flesh, and cook 5 minutes.
  5. Gently fold in bread crumbs. (Because mirlitons are watery, you may need more bread crumbs to reach the desired consistency.) Add additional salt and pepper to taste, if desired. Cook 5 minutes more.
  6. Place mirliton shells in a large casserole dish, and gently stuff with shrimp mixture. Top with additional bread crumbs, cover, and bake 20 to 30 minutes.
Louisiana Cookin' https://louisianacookin.com/

25 COMMENTS

    • After consulting with our Test Kitchen, we feel these stuffed mirlitons are best when made fresh. Freezing the final product could mess with the texture and flavor. If you wanted to try, we’d suggest cooking the mirlitons a little less in the beginning (but enough to remove the seed and flesh), then freezing the shell and the stuffing separately. If you try it, let us know how it turns out.

      • My grandmother made stuffed mirlitons all my life. She my all kinds of stuffed mirlitons since she grew them in her garden, she did shrimp stuffed, ham and ground beef even ground pork. She always frozen dozens upon dozens and they always tasted wonderful. Wish I had her recipes now, she passed over 35 years ago now. Hindsight

    • Yes! They freeze really well! (At least mine do, but I cook down the trinity and mirlitons flesh way more than this recipe says. I cook a lot of the water out, and need less bread crumbs).

  1. my family has made these for years. Recipe was from my grandmother. My mother made these and also made it in a casserole and it did freeze well. My sister has also froze the individual stuffed mirlitons and always good. We have always used shrimp and instead of ham diced smoked sausage or andouille. Talk about good!

  2. I have made these for years. But today instead of diced ham I did use finally chopped andouille sausage with my shrimp and a little bit of rendered bacon. They were delicious !!!! Paired with lump crabmeat and fresh corn bisque, it was a lovely rainy Sunday Cozy Kitchen Supper.

  3. I have tried cooking merliton a couple of times in the past following similar directions and thought I was doing something wrong, they would never get tender. This week I finally had success and my casserole came out wonderfully. I’m glad I hadn’t seen this recipe before doing so because it took 5 hours of boiling at medium- high heat for them to get tender!

  4. Ruth…I am from New Orleans and my mother cooked Mirliton all the time. Although, I had seen them being cooked, I never thought that it would take forever to broil until tender. It was refreshing to hear that this must be the “norm”. I love them too but this is the first time that I have attempted to prepare them myself. I am looking forward to having them for dinner tonight. Thanks, Margeaux

    • Hi Karen, that’s correct—you boil the mirlitons whole. You can pierce them with a fork or paring knife to see if they’re tender. They should take about 30 to 45 minutes to boil.

    • Buy a instant pot! Takes 10 minutes ya’ll! They are cooked when you stick a fork or large toothpick into them and they tender. I’m attempting to make mine ahead of time this year then freezing them. Wish me luck

  5. My mom cooked theeevfor years. My father and grandfathers grew them along our fences and they were very plentiful. Mom did ones with shrimp never ham, sausage, or andouille because it took away from the seafood taste. She also made them with ground meat. So delicious! My daughter now does them for the holidays. Oh the casserole is just as good if you don’t like the shell just the stuffing. Bon Appetite! Happy Hoildays.

  6. I don’t boil my mirliton’s whole. I cut them in half, take out the seed, and boil. I tested with a fork after 30 minutes and they were tender. After cooling I scraped out the meat of the mirliton into a colander and let drain before adding to the pot with seasoning. Delicious.

  7. This is a wonderful traditional New Orleans dinner. My grandmother also grew her miritons on her fence. She would cook up a large batch. Our family was large and she never had to worry about freezing any because we ate them all.
    Interestingly mirlitons are absolutely delicious as a pie. If you can imagine a very light pumpkin pie thrn that’s what you can get. One caution is these things are waterlogged and you have to make sure to get out the excess water.

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