The Best Crawfish Boil

If you’re a fan of Crawfish, you’re going to love this recipe.  The problem is that there are a lot of places that don’t have access to live Crawfish, if they have access to them at all.  If you’re lucky, you can at least find them frozen in your seafood department at your local grocery store.  “Lucky” may be a loose term because any good cook knows that any pre-cooked anything, let alone frozen, is a recipe for disaster.  But, if you consider the fact that King and Snow Crab legs don’t get shipped, practically, any other way, then believe me when I say, you’re in good hands with this post.  The trick is to reconstitute and reheat these mud bugs without over cooking them and to be sure to add enough flavor.  When it’s done right, no Cajun will ever know the difference.

How to Season Crawfish

Just to be clear, this recipe can be used for both Live or Frozen Crawfish.  It will flavor and season them both, properly.  The only difference will be the amount of time live Crawfish need to cook before they soak and to get good flavor into either/or you definitely need to soak.  Frozen crawfish are the easiest to prepare because the cleaning and purging have already been done for you.  All you need now is the right ingredients and they’ll get the re-heat they need, along with a good soak, and all of the flavor you would expect great Crawfish to have in just a matter of minutes.

So, you need to make a broth that is out of this world and it’s generally made with a ton of spice.  The good news is that these ingredients can be purchased in an all in one product, so you don’t have to dive deep into your pockets for every individual spice.  Companies like Slap Ya Mama, Zatarain’s or Old Bay have put together excellent Crab, Shrimp and Crawfish Boil Seasoning packages that are great for this sort of thing.  And you can buy the liquid too, if you prefer.  My only complaint is that the suggested water to seasoning ratio amount is generally way to spicy for most folks.  I mean, it’s too spicy for me and I even like foods hot.  A simple solution would be to add less seasoning but then you loose to much flavor.  So I came up with the idea of adding bouillon and, let me tell you, it makes all of the difference in the world.  It’s got the right heat, with a nice medium kick and all the flavor you need from a good Crawfish Boil.

I use Knorr Tomato Bouillon, because it just makes sense.  You should know that I’m not affiliated with them in any way, I just like their product.  Why Tomato, and not Chicken, Beef or Vegetable?  Well, I have found that some of my favorite recipes that have a good spice usually have a tomato base.  Mexican and Indian food are both great examples of this so, you’re just going to have to trust me.  Besides, I add an Onion and full stick of butter as well.  Crab Boil seasoning has Onion, Garlic, Paprika, Cayenne, Pepper, Lemon and Salt so you really don’t have to add anything else, unless you want to.  Ginger is a nice addition if you want more of an Asian flavor.  But, what’s great is you can really control the flavor and the heat by seasoning your Crawfish Boil this way and preparing them the way I show you in the video.

And, what ever you do, be sure to strain and save the broth for other recipes.   It can be used in sauces, soups and many recipes that require broth.  And if you’re looking for more Cajun recipes, be sure to check out my Crawfish Etouffee, Jambalaya, Oysters Rockefeller, Bourbon Chicken or Boudin Recipes.  I have more Cajun recipes than this and, if you’re interested, you can search for them by category on this website or just watch and flip through this Cajun Playlist I have on YouTube.

Crawfish Boil Ingredients:

5 lbs Crawfish
1 Gallon Water
1 Onion
1/3 cup Tomato Bouillon or more
1/8 cup Crawfish Boil Seasoning
1 stick Butter

Be sure to watch the short video Tutorial and I’ll show you just how easy this boil is to make.