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Seafood Boil.
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4.61 from 457 votes

Seafood Boil (The Best Recipe!)

Cajun seafood boil just like in New Orleans, Louisiana, with shrimp, crawfish, Manila clams and a homemade seasoning and butter sauce. So easy and delicious!
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: American Recipes
Cuisine: Seafood
Keyword: Seafood Boil
Servings: 4 People
Calories: 580kcal
Author: Bee Yinn Low

Ingredients

  • 1 lb (500g) head-on and shell-on shrimp, rinsed
  • 1 lb (500g) crawfish, rinsed
  • 1 lb (500g) Manila clams, rinsed and scrubbed
  • water for boiling
  • 1 lemon halved
  • 2 ears corn cut off the cob into 2-inch pieces (5 cm)
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 heads garlic peeled and minced
  • 2 tablespoons Louisiana hot sauce

Seafood Boil Seasonings

  • 4 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
  • 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
  • 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

Instructions

  • Rinse the shrimp with water, use a pair of scissors to cut off the mustache and legs. Set aside. Soak the crawfish in water and rinse a few times until the water becomes clear. Rinse and scrub the Manila clams. Drain and set aside.
  • Combine all the ingredients of the Seafood Boil Seasoning in a bowl. Stir to mix well. Set aside.
    Seafood boil seasoning.
  • Fill a large stockpot halfway with water and bring to a boil. Add the lemon halves, follow by the shrimp, crawfish, Manila clams and corns. Cover the stockpot and cook the seafood and corns until they turn red or cooked through, about 2 minutes. Drain the seafood and corns, discard the water and lemon. Set aside.
    Boiling seafood in a seafood boil pot.
  • While the seafood is cooking, in a big skillet over medium heat, add the butter and stir in the minced garlic. Saute the garlic for 1 minute (not brown). Add the Seafood Boil Seasoning and Louisiana hot sauce. Stir to mix the spicy butter sauce well. Turn off the heat.
    Seafood boil sauce.
  • Transfer the seafood and corn into the spicy sauce, stir to combine well. If you have a small skillet, mix the butter sauce and the seafood in two batches. Serve immediately.
    Seafood boil in a skillet.

Video

Notes

Adapted from Cultural Chromatics. This is a Vietnamese-Cajun version of seafood boil, which in my honest opinion, so much better than traditional seafood boil. 
I skipped potatoes and smoked sausage. Feel free to add 8 oz. of baby potatoes and 8 oz. of sausage in the seafood boil.
You may also add crab legs, blue swimmer crab, Dungeness crab and mussels in your seafood boil.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 580kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 49g | Saturated Fat: 29g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 18g | Cholesterol: 329mg | Sodium: 999mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 8g