Heat a 11 inch skillet on medium heat. When the skillet is hot, add butter. Let the butter melt and then stir in the garlic, paprika, lemon pepper and Cajun seasoning. Mix well.
Add in sausage, and stir to coat the sausage with the butter. Add shrimp and stir well.
Cook for 3-5 minutes until the shrimp has cooked through.
Add in hot sauce and lemon juice, and serve hot.
Tips And Tricks For Making Cajun Shrimp And Sausage
Add a table spoon of olive oil to the pan before adding the butter to keep the butter from burning. Keep the pan on low medium heat as well when melting the butter too keep it from browning.
You can bring the heat up back to a medium heat once you've added the shrimp and sausage to the pan.
Make sure to be constantly mixing the shrimp and sausage in the butter to baste it as much as you can while it is cooking. The butter really lends a lot of flavor to the dish.
There is enough flavor in the dish to leave out the hot sauce if you're not a fan of the heat or if you're cooking for little ones.
Don't add the lemon juice or the hot sauce until the dish is almost done. You lose a lot of the acidity if you add them too early.
You can use either smoked paprika or regular paprika, whichever you have on hand.
Use my Homemade Cajun Spice Mix instead of store bought spices! Using a homemade spice mix really makes a world of difference in how it tastes!
You can use opt to use frozen shrimp, but you need to defrost them a little bit before cooking them with the sausage. Just set them in some warm tap water while you gather the other ingredients together and you're good to go.
The dish doesn't freeze well, but refrigerates quite nicely. You can make some extra for the next day and the flavors actual meld even more in the fridge over night.
Cajun Shrimp and Sausage Variations
There are lots of things you can add to this dish to make it family friendly or just to mix it up a bit. Here are just a view ideas to get your started:
You can opt to boil the recipe with pasta to make Shrimp and Sausage Pasta. I'd suggest a smaller pasta like rotini. This way your family can have the pasta dish while you enjoy the keto friendly version.
You can make some plain rice to serve with the Cajun Shrimp and Rice for the family.
Steamed broccoli makes a fantastic addition to the dish. You can also just serve steamed broccoli to the side if you prefer it without the Cajun seasoning.
You can also add cauliflower, bok choy, green beans or really any vegetable that you'd like.
You can also use spicy Italian sausage for a change of pace.
You can sub scallops for shrimp if you'd prefer.
If you aren't a fan of seafood you can use chicken instead. Just use chicken tenders and cut them into bite sized pieces so that the will cook quickly.