Blackened Seasoning

Peppery and sweet, our salt-free Blackened Seasoning embraces classic Cajun flavors in a versatile blend that’s not just for blackening. We combine sweetness and heat from paprika and cayenne with aromatic garlic and onion and the grounded pungency of mustard, black pepper, and cumin. Then we add the herbaceous spark of bitter oregano and grassy thyme, floral bay leaf, and briskly bitter celery seed, creating a roller coaster of a blend that bursts joyfully onto the plate, exciting and unpredictable. We mix this salt-free blend by hand in small batches in our facility, so our Blackened Seasoning is at the height of flavor.

Celebrity chef Paul Prudhomme developed the blackening technique while working in a New Orleans restaurant. He had fiddled with the cooking method—high heat, heavy seasoning, sufficient fat to protect the food from burning—for several years, but the dish didn’t fully come into its own until he opened his own restaurant, K-Paul’s. There, Prudhomme dredged a fairly thin fish filet in drawn butter and a seasoning blend and put it in a sizzling hot cast iron pan, prepped with a large knob of butter. The solids in the butter are what blackens and forms the distinctive crust; the seasonings stay rich and flavorful, bathed in butter. K-Paul’s first put blackened redfish on their menu in March, 1980. Within days, the restaurant was enjoying lines of customers clamoring for this new style of cooking. Within years, blackening had become ubiquitous with the idea of Cajun food, so much so that we forget it’s a modern technique and not a classic one.

Tips From Our Kitchen

To seal in the juices of the meat by forming a spicy crust you need to use lots of heat. Use a cast-iron pan for blackening, since it will stand up best to prolonged, high heat. If cooking space is limited, pre-heat your pan on an outside grill on high heat for 30 minutes, or put in a 450°F oven until your stovetop is ready to use. Then:

For best results use 1-2 tablespoons of Blackened Seasoning per cup of butter.

This technique works for fish, chicken, beef, lamb, and seafood, as well as sturdy vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower. You can also use this as a basic Cajun spice blend that works with grilled chicken or shrimp. Add to grilled eggplant or portobello tops for a vegetarian twist on a Cajun cookout. Toss with vinegar-based potato salad, or mix into a cheesy corn bake. Roast onions and tomatoes with Blackened Seasoning for a spicy ragout, or go full-on Southern and mix Blackened Seasoning into the breading for fried green tomatoes.

This seasoning blend contains paprika, garlic, yellow mustard, onion, black pepper, oregano, cumin, cayenne, thyme, bay leaves and celery seed.

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