New Orleans Dishes – Our Guide to the Best Foods in the Big Easy

New Orleans is famous for its cuisine and the food here is like nowhere else in the world. If you take a holiday to New Orleans, forget about your healthy diet for a few days and simply indulge in the delicious smorgasbord of stick-to-your-ribs Southern cooking that this amazing city has to offer. We had such a blast trying as many different New Orleans dishes as we could and here are a few of our favorite foods that we gobbled up during our stay in the Big Easy:

Our Favorite New Orleans Dishes

Po Boys

Submarine sandwiches are wonderful, so how could you possibly improve on them? How about making the meat juicer, the bread softer and the whole experience much more indulgent? A Po Boy is served on a warm and supple French baguette, with a crisp crust and a fluffy center perfect for soaking up the meaty juices dripping from the hot sausage or roast beef. Po Boys are one of the most well-loved New Orleans dishes and there is even a festival dedicated to them every year.

Jambalaya

Jambalaya was probably one of our favorite New Orleans dishes. It consists of rice, sausage, chicken, sometimes seafood, vegetables and lots of fantastic Creole spices. This dish is similar to the Spanish rice concoction Paella and it is thought that it originated when the Spanish tried to make Paella in the New World and couldn’t get any saffron so they used tomatoes and Caribbean spices instead. This was smart thinking of them, because their cooking improvisation works and Jambalaya is so good that we couldn’t get enough of it!

Gumbo

This is another one of the very traditional New Orleans dishes that we sampled on our trip. It is a rich dark stew or soup with celery, bell peppers, onions and perhaps some seafood, served over rice. Gumbo is thought to have originated in Louisiana in the early 18th century and the theories are divided as to whether it came from West African or French origin. No matter what it’s history, it is hearty, comforting and has a strong and savory flavor.

Muffuletta

When we ordered our first Muffuletta we were shocked when it came to the table. We thought that sharing one sandwich would be a nice small snack, not realizing that this Italian-American immigrant creation is made with a full round loaf of Sicilian sesame bread. One Muffuletta is the size of two sandwiches and with plenty of salami, pepperoni, ham, provolone, swiss cheese and marinated olive salad we definitely got more than we bargained for.

Beignets

There is a famous eatery right in the heart of the French Quarter called Cafe du Monde which seems to only sell two items, coffee and French-style donuts with powdered sugar called Beignets. What it lacks in selection it makes up in quality because these donuts are absolute melt-in-your-mouth sweet heavenly perfection. They are served warm and the powdered sugar gets absolutely everywhere as you try to get them in your mouth and they are totally worth standing in line (and there is almost always a line!).

These are just a few of our top favorite New Orleans dishes that we enjoyed during our visit to this amazing city. Have you been to New Orleans? Let us know what your favorite New Orleans dishes were in the comments below!