Recipes
New Orleans Seafood Boil
Serves 6-8
| Prep Time: 60 mins
| Cook Time: 45 mins
Discover The Recipe
Any great backyard party in NOLA will feature a large cauldron of bubbling seafood, known as a crab boil or a seafood boil. These parties feature a lot of crab, crawfish, andouille (spicy) sausage, and/or beer. The authentic way to eat the boil is of course to throw down sheets of newspaper on a table and dump the strained seafood, meat, and vegetables on the paper and encourage your guests to load up their plates. Serve this recipe however you like.
The key to a good boil is the secret little pouch of whole and ground spices and aromatics that infuses the seafood, vegetables and other ingredients with a spicy-yumminess. Our Seafood Boil spice blend is ready for you to tie up in the provided pouch and boil with the seafood, meat and vegetables of your choosing. We list some common ingredients but feel free to sub anything you like: artichokes, shrimp, sausage, corn, potatoes, beans, crab, lobster!
Ingredients
2 lemons, halved
2 large onions, quartered
1 head of garlic, halved horizontally
4 ears of corn, cut into thirds
1 pound of small red potatoes
1 pound of mussels or clams
1 pound of uncooked med or large shrimp
2 whole crabs or lobsters
1 pound of spicy sausage, cut into 3 inch pieces
1 packet Piquant Post Seafood Boil (add to the provided drawstring bag before boiling)
1 tbsp salt (optional)
chopped parsley for garnish (optional)
melted butter for dipping (optional)
Notes
While authentic backyard pots may feed a family reunion, this recipe is sized to easily feed 6 people plus some leftovers. You can downsize the recipe portions in half by only using half the provided Seafood Boil spice blend and saving the other half for another time (or use it all :). The cotton bags can be reused if drained, rinsed, and stored.
Click this link to review how to clean and prepare mussels.
The muslin (cotton) bags we provide are organic, made in the USA, and non-bleached food-grade bags. Add as much of the seafood boil to the muslin bags then tie it up with the drawstrings. If there is any Seafood Boil spice left, just dump it directly into the pot of water.
We also provide a little bag of bay leaves. You can add these directly to the pot with the lemon juice/rinds.
You can use pre-cooked seafood (e.g., shrimp, crab) if necessary. Wait until the pot is 5 minutes from being done, turn down the heat to a simmer, and throw in the cooked seafood. Since its already cooked, your goal is to just heat it up. Don't overcook seafood as it becomes chewy.
Add the garlic and onions (and any other vegetables) with the corn in Step 2.
Optional ingredients add a little character and flavor but don’t sweat it if you don’t have or use them.
Instructions
Alternatives & Substitutions
One great alternate dish that we have tried is this crockpot jambalaya recipe. Use our Seafood Boil spice in place of the spices/hot sauce in this recipe. To make a full recipe, fill the muslin bag 1/2 to 3/4 full with Seafood Boil and place in the bottom of the crockpot so its fully submerged in the liquid. If you make a half recipe, adjust the amount of our spice in the muslin bag accordingly.
You can also substitute frozen seafood (e.g., shrimp, calamari, etc) for the fresh ingredients in our recipe. If uncooked, add the frozen subs at the same time the recipe calls for. If frozen and pre-cooked, add the frozen seafood about 5-6 mins before the end of the recipe cooking time. Make sure the seafood is fully heated before serving.
For our vegetarian friends, you can substitute alternatives like vegan prawns, vegan fish balls, and vegan sausage. You can also add any vegetables you desire. (Note: we haven't tried vegan seafood, but suspect that you probably know what you would like).
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New Orleans Seafood Boil
Ingredients
2 lemons, halved
2 large onions, quartered
1 head of garlic, halved horizontally
4 ears of corn, cut into thirds
1 pound of small red potatoes
1 pound of mussels or clams
1 pound of uncooked med or large shrimp
2 whole crabs or lobsters
1 pound of spicy sausage, cut into 3 inch pieces
1 packet Piquant Post Seafood Boil (add to the provided drawstring bag before boiling)
1 tbsp salt (optional)
chopped parsley for garnish (optional)
melted butter for dipping (optional)
Instructions
Notes
While authentic backyard pots may feed a family reunion, this recipe is sized to easily feed 6 people plus some leftovers. You can downsize the recipe portions in half by only using half the provided Seafood Boil spice blend and saving the other half for another time (or use it all :). The cotton bags can be reused if drained, rinsed, and stored.
Click this link to review how to clean and prepare mussels.
The muslin (cotton) bags we provide are organic, made in the USA, and non-bleached food-grade bags. Add as much of the seafood boil to the muslin bags then tie it up with the drawstrings. If there is any Seafood Boil spice left, just dump it directly into the pot of water.
We also provide a little bag of bay leaves. You can add these directly to the pot with the lemon juice/rinds.
You can use pre-cooked seafood (e.g., shrimp, crab) if necessary. Wait until the pot is 5 minutes from being done, turn down the heat to a simmer, and throw in the cooked seafood. Since its already cooked, your goal is to just heat it up. Don't overcook seafood as it becomes chewy.
Add the garlic and onions (and any other vegetables) with the corn in Step 2.
Optional ingredients add a little character and flavor but don’t sweat it if you don’t have or use them.
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