Cajun Mussels with Sausage and Zucchini
with tomato broth / baguette
Smarts: If you like spicy foods, use chorizo or hot Italian sausage in the dish. Otherwise, mild Italian sausage will give you all the flavor without as much spice.
Ingredients
- Zucchini - 1 lb, cubed
- Mussels, cleaned and debearded - 1 1/2 lbs
- Cilantro - 1/4 cup, chopped
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Italian sausage, mild or hot - 10 oz (sub chorizo)
- Tomato paste - 1 Tbsp
- Cajun seasoning - 2 tsp
- Thyme, dried - 1 tsp
- Tomatoes, diced (14 oz / 397 g) - 1 can
- Stock, any type - 1 cup
- Wine, white - 1/4 cup (sub stock)
- Bay leaves - 2
- Lemon juice - 1 Tbsp
- Baguette, for serving - 8 oz
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Zucchini - Cube zucchini. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Mussels - Clean and debeard mussels (this is usually done by your fishmonger, but in the rare case that yours did not come debearded, here’s a demo from The Kitchn). Scrub and soak in a bowl of water. (Can be done 1 day ahead)
- Cilantro - Chop cilantro leaves.
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Make
- Heat a Dutch oven or large saute pan with a lid over medium-high heat. Add oil and then sausage to heated oil. Cook sausage, breaking it apart as it cooks, until nearly cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes.
- Add zucchini and saute until zucchini starts to soften, ~4 minutes more.
- Stir in tomato paste, Cajun seasoning, and thyme until fragrant, ~1 minute.
- Add tomatoes (including liquid), stock, wine, and bay leaves and bring to a simmer.
- Add mussels and cover. Cook, covered, until mussels have opened up, 5 to 6 minutes. (If any mussels don’t open, simply discard them.)
- Squeeze lemon juice over mussels. Taste broth and season with some salt and pepper if needed. Discard bay leaves.
- Divide mussels and broth between serving bowls. Top bowls with cilantro. Serve with baguette. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
14 reviews
I made this with real sausage (I went to alternatives because I didn’t want to cook mussels, but I’m not a vegetarian. Everyone loved this.
This was delicious! My husband, who is definitely a carnivore, gets excited when I make this. About to make it four the fourth time since published. The adults at my house love this one!
Truly excellent. I’ve made this about 10 times including once for a group of 35. Everybody has loved it. By making the vegetarian version I’m able to feed a large group; both meat eaters and vegetarians love it. I use Lightlife brand “smart” Italian sausage and Emeril’s Cajun spice. Italian seasoning is a great substitute for the thyme. I also found that adding a red bell pepper adds some nice color. Forgot the bay leaves once and it was still delicious.