Cajun Seafood Boil Recipe with Garlic Butter Sauce

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This easy seafood boil recipe with delicious cajun flavors is whipped up in just over 30 minutes! Three different types of seafood -- snow crab legs, crawfish, and jumbo shrimp-- soak up a flavorful broth with sausage, potatoes, and sweet corn.

All of this juicy goodness gets drenched in a spicy finger-licking-flavorful Cajun butter sauce packed with spice and herbs. Try it with my creamy cajun dipping sauce, too!

If you love a good restaurant-style seafood boil, try my Seafood Boil in a Bag. Or if you're in the Chesapeake Bay area, my mama's Old Bay Crab Feast is perfect for steaming fresh blue crab!

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Easy Cajun Seafood Boil Recipe with Garlic Butter Sauce

If you were looking to bring a perfect highly impressive, low-effort little savory seafood goodness to the cookout or to the holiday dinner this year, you're going to love this recipe.

My classic Cajun seafood boil is so easy to make, the most minimal of prep and cook for 15-20 minutes. So thankfully, no one is going to be waiting forever to get the entire family fed

It's overflowing with a variety of seafood and fresh ingredients that soak up that fantastic seafood boil broth flavored with tons of aromatics and spices. Then we pour a lip-smacking spicy and buttery sauce that's packed with a ton of flavor all over the seafood and whip up an even easier sauce to help cool your mouth off from all the heat: a creamy Crawdaddy Dipping Sauce. 

Because I'm extra and can never have just one sauce with my seafood, can I?

My Favorite Seafood for Cajun Boils

There are many seafood boil mainstays. Some people add in mussels and clams, others will throw in lobster and dungeness crab, but I kept to the main three you'll almost always see in a southern seafood boil.

• Crab - this is such a mainstay in any seafood boil. You'll always find crab pre-cooked and frozen unless it's a local breed (like Blue Crab here in the Chesapeake Bay or in the Gulf). While not cheap, the most affordable will be Snow Crab legs and Dungeness Crab while the most expensive will be King Crab legs. Give them a rinse, but scrub them if they have black dots -- those are (harmless and dead) crab leech eggs and they'll need to come off.
• Crawfish - how can it be a Cajun seafood boil without the Cajun shellfish?! While live mudbugs are only in season from January to very early June, you can buy frozen, cooked crawfish whole any time of the year online. I know many can't buy them locally in or out of season, Louisiana Crawfish Company is the site I buy my frozen crawfish from and they have live crawfish as well during the season. Thaw your frozen boys and rinse them well in water, no one is going to clean your food like you do!
• Shrimp - you want big ole boys, the massive shrimp! Don't go by names like 'jumbo' or 'colossal', they're unregulated marketing terms. Instead, go by numbers. The ones I used were 13/15, meaning 13-15 shrimp per pound. The smaller the numbers, the bigger the shrimp!

Seafood Boil Ingredients

Full ingredients, measurements, and printable instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

• Cajun Seasoning - you can buy one like Tony Chachere's or Slap ya Mama Seasoning, or you can use my homemade Cajun seasoning blend.
• Cajun Seafood Boil Seasoning Blend - this is the important part, y'all. This is the majority of the seasoning that flavors your seafood boil, a blend of spicy peppers, cloves, mustard seeds, garlic powder, bay leaves, black pepper, dill seeds, etc. There are many brands that sell it, like Zatarain's an  or you can make your own crab boil seasoning.
• Seafood - I used snow crab clusters, frozen crawfish, and 13/15 sized shrimp. 
• Hot Sauce
• Lemons
• Yellow Onion
• Andouille Sausage - this is a spicy pork sausage! You can also use one that is more mild, like a kielbasa.
• Corn on the Cob - use fresh corn if it's in season, but frozen corn works perfectly here, too.
• Baby Potatoes - I have a mix of red potatoes and yellow baby potatoes.

Seafood Boil Sauce Ingredients 

• Salted Butter 
• Chicken Broth - I actually use Better than Bouillon Chicken Base, mix it in with the melted butter, then add the water needed to make the broth. Getting those flavors mixing in with garlic and butter just gives it a little more oomph, ya know?
• Dijon Mustard - we don't want the sauce to taste like mustard, we're using it as a bit of an emulsifier. We don't end up with a broken water-butter thing with spices on the bottom.
• Lemon Juice
• Fresh Parsley
• Hot Sauce
• Minced Garlic - please use the fresh stuff, I promise that the jarred stuff doesn't taste the same in this sauce.
• Cajun Seasoning
• Worcestershire Sauce - this is an umami-packed sauce that's very powerful so we don't use too much! Just enough to give us plenty of tasty flavor.

How to Make a Cajun Seafood Boil

• Step 1 | Take the halved red potatoes, onions, and halved lemons into your stock pot filled with water. Add in the crab boil seasoning and bring the pot to a boil for 15 minutes.
• Step 2 | Add in the corn and crab legs, and cook for 10 minutes.
• Step 3 | While this is going, you make the sauce. Melt the butter, then add the garlic to the melted butter with the parsley, mustard, and the different spices. Once all that is whisked together, add the lemon juice and chicken broth
• Step 4 | Turn off the heat, add the crawfish and shrimp and cover the pot with a lid for 7 minutes. The heat will cook the shrimp and the crawfish will soak up the broth and rewarm without overcooking.
• Step 5 | Use an Asian Spider spoon to scoop the seafood and vegetables out of the broth and into a large mixing bowl. Pour the buttery sauce over the seafood and give a gentle toss to coat everything.
• Step 6 | Pour it all onto a parchment paper or newspaper-lined large baking sheet or other platter. Drizzle half that butter over the seafood again and serve with the other half of the butter and my crawfish dipping sauce (it's literally just whisk together and go!). So easy!

How to Serve Seafood Boils

Utensils - while we eat with our bare hands always have some claw crackers, forks, and plenty of wet wipes available. Break up the crabs into smaller pieces for kids, they have so much fun 

Sides - sure seafood boils come with corn, sausage, and potatoes, but we often add other sides into the mix! Cornbread or some cheddar bay biscuits, southern baked mac, savory baked beans...basically cookout food!

Sauces - we got the garlic butter, and I've mentioned crawfish dipping sauce, but there are so many sauces you can enjoy with a seafood boil! Get the bang bang sauce, sushi-restaurant-style spicy mayo, or try my fave silky, thick, and creamy garlic butter seafood sauce.

Variations and Pro Tips

• Use Frozen Seafood -  fresh seafood is only for if you are buying in season shellfish! Frozen seafood was frozen at its peak, so it's going to be perfect when you thaw it.
• What about eggs? - boiling eggs in a seafood boil is a distinctly Floridian thing. If you want to add them, you can, but remove them after about 8-10 minutes, shock and shell them before adding them to the platter of seafood.
• Buy shell-on, deveined shrimp - this is what makes this recipe so quick and easy! I find mine at Costco, or if it's shrimp season here I'll head to my local mom and pop fishmonger and ask them for a few pounds deveined.
• Adjust seasoning as needed - the best seafood boil recipe is a flavorful boil, but it shouldn't end up burning your face off. Adjust the seasoning for the butter sauce and add more water if the broth is too spicy!
• The cooking times will vary if you use other seafood like mussels, clams, live crawfish, calamari, etc.

Storage and Reheating

 Store any leftovers in an airtight container or zip top bag in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Rewarm in simmering water seasoned with a little cajun seafood boil on the stove for a few minutes to rewarm everything.

Equipment

• an extra large pot - a large stockpot, talking 12 quarts to 20 quarts, or large dutch oven, at least 7-10 quarts for a small boil
• saucepan - for the garlic butter seafood sauce
• asian spoon
• whisk

FAQs

More Reader Favorite Seafood Dishes

Cajun Seafood Boil

By: Eden Westbrook

4.75 from 4 votes

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Learn how to make a flavorful Cajun seafood boil recipe with a Cajun-spiced garlic butter sauce, featuring crawfish, shrimp, crab, sausage, corn, and potatoes soaking up the spicy, flavorful broth.

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 27 minutes mins

Total Time: 37 minutes mins

6 hearty servings

Rate this Recipe Print Pin

Equipment

• large stockpot
• Saucepan
• asian spider
• whisk

Ingredients 

• ▢ ½ cup Cajun seafood boil seasoning
• ▢ ¼ cup Cajun Seasoning, homemade or use Tony Chachere's or Slap ya Mama brand
• ▢ 4 lemons, halved
• ▢ 1 large yellow onion, quartered
• ▢ 1 lb baby potatoes, cut in half
• ▢ 12 ounces Andouille sausage, sliced into 2 inch pieces
• ▢ 3 lbs snow crab legs, thawed and scrubbed
• ▢ 2 lbs frozen crawfish, thawed and rinsed
• ▢ 2.5 lbs 13/15 white shrimp, shells on, deveined
• ▢ 6 corn on the cob, cut into 2 inch pieces, each

Cajun Garlic Butter Sauce

• ▢ 16 ounces salted butter
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ▢ 6 cloves garlic, finely minced
• ▢ 1 teaspoon hot sauce, more or less to taste
• ▢ ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
• ▢ 1 teaspoon lemon zest, grated
• ▢ 2 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
• ▢ juice of 2 lemons, about ¼ cup
• ▢ ½ cup chicken broth
• ▢ 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

Instructions 

• Put the cajun seafood boil seasoning, the Cajun seasoning, potatoes, lemons, sausage, and onion quarters into your stockpot, then fill it with water about ¾ of the way full. Bring to a boil on the stove top and let boil for 10 minutes.
  ½ cup Cajun seafood boil seasoning, ¼ cup Cajun Seasoning, 4 lemons, 1 large yellow onion, 1 lb baby potatoes, 12 ounces Andouille sausage
• Add the snow crab legs and corn to the pot, let cook for another 10 minutes. (While this is going, make the butter sauce using the instructions below).
  3 lbs snow crab legs, 6 corn on the cob
• Turn off the heat, add the crawfish and shrimp and cover the pot with a lid for 5-7 minutes so they can gently cook and soak up the seasoning. When the shrimp is pink and
  2 lbs frozen crawfish, 2.5 lbs 13/15 white shrimp
• Use an Asian spider or slotted spoon to scoop all the juicy seafood and fixin's from the pot and onto a newspaper lined baking sheet or into a large enough mixing bowl to fit everything.
• Pour half of the butter sauce all over the seafood and give a little toss to coat everything. Have the extra sauce for dipping.

Make the Cajun Garlic Butter Seafood Sauce

• In a separate saucepan over medium heat, melt down the butter. As it's melting, whisk in the mustard, garlic, hot sauce, parsley, lemon zest, and Cajun seasoning. Let cook for about 1 minute so the garlic has a chance to cook the raw taste out.
  16 ounces salted butter, ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard, 6 cloves garlic, 1 teaspoon hot sauce, ¼ cup fresh parsley, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, 2 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
• Whisk in the lemon juice, chicken broth, and worcestershire sauce. Let this simmer for 10 minutes and reduce slightly.
  juice of 2 lemons, ½ cup chicken broth, 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

Last step!Be sure to snap a pic and share on Instagram #sweetteaandthyme and tag me at @sweet_tea_thyme so we can all see!

Recipe Notes

Storage and Reheating

Store any leftovers in an airtight container or zip top bag in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Rewarm in simmering water seasoned with a little cajun seafood boil on the stove for a few minutes to rewarm everything.

Variations and Pro Tips

• • Use Frozen Seafood -  fresh seafood is only for if you are buying in season shellfish! Frozen seafood was frozen at its peak, so it's more likely to be

• • What about eggs? - boiling eggs in a seafood boil is a distinctly Floridian thing. If you want to add them, you can, but remove them after about 8-10 minutes, shock and shell them before adding them to the platter of seafood.

• • Buy shell-on, deveined shrimp - this is what makes this recipe so quick and easy! I find mine at Costco, or if it's shrimp season here I'll head to my local mom and pop fishmonger and ask them for a few pounds deveined.

• • Adjust seasoning as needed - the best seafood boil recipe is a flavorful boil, but it shouldn't end up burning your face off. Adjust the seasoning for the butter sauce and add more water if the broth is too spicy!

• • The cooking times will vary if you use other seafood like mussels, clams, live crawfish, calamari, etc.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1g, Calories: 527kcal (26%), Carbohydrates: 35g (12%), Protein: 54g (108%), Fat: 19g (29%), Saturated Fat: 6g (38%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 7g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 336mg (112%), Sodium: 2042mg (89%), Potassium: 1161mg (33%), Fiber: 4g (17%), Sugar: 8g (9%), Vitamin A: 558IU (11%), Vitamin C: 32mg (39%), Calcium: 163mg (16%), Iron: 3mg (17%)