Celebrate Mardi Gras with the ultimate feast! A seafood boil is more than just a meal; it’s an event that brings people together, tantalizing your taste buds with the rich, sweet, and salty flavors of crawfish and shrimp, perfectly paired with the hearty textures of sausage, potatoes, and corn on the cob. But, despite the fact that this recipe is definitely a crowd-pleaser it has a secret – it’s super easy to make! The only thing you really need to worry about is timing (adding things to the pot at the right time), so you can ensure every bite is cooked to perfection.
Seafood Boil / Shrimp Boil / Crawfish boil Ingredients List
The best part about seafood boils is that they are flexible! If you love crawfish, double the amount! If you love potatoes, add more! At Universal Orlando you can get a shrimp boil, a crawfish boil, or a combination of both! The amounts below are just a guideline to feed 4-6 people. Again, if you know your group either loves or hates something, feel free to either leave it out, replace it with something else, or double it!
To serve 4-6 people, you will need:
- 2 pounds of crawfish, live and purged (or frozen from Walmart)
- 2 pounds of large shrimp, deveined (we prefer fully peeled shrimp, tail off)
- 1 pound of andouille sausage, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 pound of baby red potatoes (or mix it up with baby gemstone potatoes)
- 4 ears of corn, halved
- 2 lemons, halved
- 1 head of garlic, halved
- 1 large onion, quartered
- 1 cup of Zatarain’s Crab Boil Seasoning
- 2 bay leaves
- Old Bay Seasoning for sprinkling (as desired)
Essential Kitchen Gadgets for Seafood Boils
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There are some important things you’ll need to have so you can have a successful seafood boil!
1. Large Stock Pot:
You do NOT need to spend the money on an expensive seafood/shrimp boil pot. Any stock pot with a thicker bottom will work just fine! The Cook N Home 20 qt stockpot is perfect for any type of boil you’d like to do, and is MUCH less than getting a shrimp boil pot!
2. “Spider” Spoon:
What goes into the water must come out! To make sure you aren’t ladling heaps of seasoned sea-water from your stock pot, it can be helpful to use a “spider” spoon! Perfect for retrieving your seafood and veggies without the broth, this spider set from Hiware is affordable and very useful!
3. Seafood Baskets:
Now, these are purely for aesthetics! While you don’t have to serve your seafood boil in a seafood / fast food basket, something about doing so just FEELS right. These Newstar FoodService Baskets available on Amazon are perfect for serving up burgers, seafood boils, and much more from home!
It’s all about Time – When to add stuff to the Pot
While seafood boil recipes are super easy to make, it all comes down to one thing – timing. You want to make sure that you give the potatoes enough time to cook and soften, but you don’t want to end up with overcooked, rubbery seafood! So, the trick is to add the stuff that takes the longest to cook to the pot first, and then add your other ingredients later.
Below we have a list of commonly included ingredients and how long they take to cook. You can use this list to help build a “cheat sheet” for your ultimate seafood boil! The goal is to bring your water and spices to a boil first, and then set a timer for the longest cooking item (normally the potatoes). Then you just add other ingredients as you hit their cooking times on the timer (example: Potatoes take ~15 minutes, so you would set a timer for fifteen minutes. If you wanted to add shrimp as well, which takes 3-5 minutes, you would add the shrimp to the pot when your timer gets down to 3-5 minutes).
Ordered by longest cooking to shortest cooking:
- Baby Potatoes: 15-20 minutes
- Crawfish (frozen): 10-15 minutes
- Eggs: 8-10 minutes
- Andouille Sausage: 7-10 minutes
- Lobster Tails (5-6 oz): 5-6 Minutes (One Minute per ounce, round up for every partial ounce (e.g. 6.4 ounces gets rounded to 7. Cook for 7 minutes)
- Crawfish (fresh): 3-5 minutes
- Shrimp: 3-5 minutes
- Crab Legs: 3-5 Minutes
Cooking times may vary slightly depending on the size and quantity of your ingredients. Keep a close eye on the pot to ensure nothing overcooks. Additionally, make sure your boil mixture (water, spices, and aromatics) are boiling before you add in your ingredients to cook.
Seafood Boil Instructions
1. Prepare the Seafood Boil Mix
Fill your stock pot with enough water to eventually cover all the ingredients (1/2 full – 3/4 full). Make sure you leave enough room in the pot so that when you do add your ingredients the water does not overflow . Add the crab boil seasoning, bay leaves, lemons, garlic, and onion to the water. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat.
2. Get your Boil On!
Once your water is boiling you can add your ingredients. Add the ingredients that will take the longest to cook first and set a timer. Then add the other ingredients in when your timer reaches that ingredient’s cooking time. For example, for a boil that includes potatoes, andouille sausage, shrimp, and corn, you will do the following:
- Add in the Baby Potatoes and set a timer for 15 Minutes.
- When the timer is down to 10 minutes remaining, add the andouille sausage to the pot.
- Lastly, when the timer reaches 5 minutes remaining, add in your shrimp and your corn.
By staggering your ingredients, you can make sure everything gets cooked properly!
3. Serve & Enjoy
Once all the ingredients are cooked, turn off the heat. Using a “spider” spoon, lift your ingredients out of the boil mixture, put in your food baskets, and absolutely drench it in cajun butter sauce! If desired you can sprinkle old bay seasoning on everything before eating. Enjoy!
