This is the BEST Seafood Boil recipe you can whip up right at home, y'all. It's loaded with jumbo shrimp, crab, andouille sausage, potatoes, eggs, and corn on the cob that's simmered in a flavor-filled broth of Cajun spices and aromatics. All that hearty goodness gets drowned and smothered in an epic garlic butter sauce. This finger-licking-good seafood boil recipe is an easy meal that serves a crowd!
Recipe by Quin Liburd on June 24, 2023
Prep time: PT15M
Cook time: PT40M
Total time: PT55M
Rating
5 stars ( reviews)
Keywords
seafood boil, garlic butter sauce, cajun seafood boil, crab and shrimp, andouille, best seafood boil, easy seafood boil
Ingredients
3 quarts water
1 (12-ounce) can of beer- optional but highly recommended
3 tablespoons Creole Cajun Seasoning– homemade or store-bought
1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
Hot sauce, to taste
1 medium yellow onion, roughly sliced into half-moons
1 large lemon, cut into wedges- plus more for serving
12 ounces andouille sausage, sliced into rounds
1 lb baby potatoes, red or gold (or a mix of both)
1 lb pre-cooked snow crab leg clusters, fresh or frozen
1 – 1 ½ lbs jumbo shrimp, deveined, shell-on or peeled
4-6 ears sweet corn on the cob, I use the mini ones
4-6 hard boiled eggs- optional
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
10 cloves of garlic, finely minced or pressed
2 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1 teaspoon Creole Cajun Seasoning– homemade or store-bought
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Hot sauce, to taste
Categories
Main Dishes
Cuisine
Southern
Steps
In an extra large stockpot or dutch oven (about 10 quarts or larger) over medium-high heat, combine the water and beer (if using). Bring the liquid to a boil. Then season the boil with the Creole Cajun seasoning, Old Bay seasoning, and a few dashes of hot sauce- to taste. Add the sliced onion and lemon wedges into the pot. Stir all the ingredients well to thoroughly combine. Let the mixture boil for 15 minutes.
Carefully add the andouille sausage rounds and baby potatoes into the pot, stirring well to fully combine with the boil. Let the andouille and potatoes cook for 15-20 minutes- or until the potatoes are just about fork-tender.
Gently nestle the snow crab clusters into the pot along with the shrimp and corn on the cob. Be sure that everything is fully submerged under the boil and carefully stir to ensure all ingredients are well combined. Continue boiling for another 5-7 minutes, cooking until the shrimp is pink. Meanwhile, prepare the garlic butter sauce.
On a separate burner, in a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, garlic, lemon juice, Old Bay seasoning, parsley, Creole Cajun seasoning, smoked paprika, and hot sauce- to taste. Stir all ingredients and simmer the sauce until the butter melts and the sauce is well combined, stirring often, about 5-7 minutes. Then remove from heat.
Line an extra large baking sheet with foil/parchment paper (or newspaper if you’d like!). Use a spider strainer to remove the seafood boil contents from the pot and place onto the prepared baking sheet along with the hard boiled eggs (if using)- remove and discard the onion/lemon bits. Note: If you’d like your garlic butter sauce to be thinner, you can add some of the seafood boil broth to adjust to desired consistency. Now, this is the fun part! Pour the garlic butter sauce over the seafood boil ingredients. Then use your hands (fitted with disposable gloves if desired) to toss the sauce with everything, smothering every nook and cranny in sauce.
Feel free to serve this Cajun seafood boil as-is with everyone just grabbing what they’d like from the baking sheet directly (it’s the chaos and messiness of seafood boils that are so fun!) or divide the boil onto individual plates to serve if you prefer. Serve immediately with lemon wedges, if desired. Be sure to sop up any runaway garlic butter sauce. Enjoy!
Reviews
Jeremiah Housler on 2025-12-25 (5 stars): We just did this for Christmas dinner. It was absolute perfection! Never cooked or even eaten a seafood boil before. This was truly an amazing experience. Thank you for such an easy to follow recipe.
Nimi on 2025-12-28 (5 stars): This was THE best seafood boil we've ever had...hands down.
Lauren Lamb on 2025-12-29 (5 stars): Super easy to follow and truly is the best food I have ever made in my kitchen. This recipe has completely ruined all seafood boil restaurants which is so hard to do. The broth makes the crab taste absolutely delicious even without the butter. I add oranges and concentrate Cajun liquid seasoning to it, but it’s more for extra flavoring than to make it better. I have made this 4 times and will always use this recipe when I make it again.
Lynn on 2025-12-31 (5 stars): I tried it and it was great. Very faithful to the original Captains boil.
Bethany on 2026-01-01 (5 stars): I hosted a New Year's Eve party for 13 people last night. It was my first seafood boil ever! I wasn't sure how much to make, so I actually multiplied this by five! I got two big pots. It was a bit more complicated managing two pots of things, especially since one was 3x and one was 2x, but it still turned out sooooo good. Two of the friends have done seafood boils a few times, and they were still super impressed, and actually asked for this recipe to add the garlic butter sauce to their boils at home. We all ate till we were full, and still had tons of leftovers. (In retrospect, 3-4x would've been fine since three of them were kids.)
Also, we made a 1x version with chicken since one of my teens doesn't like seafood. Boiling chicken wings and legs could be nasty, but we wanted to try it. We used everything as written here, just to see how it would go, except of course chicken needs to cook for about 20 minutes, so we added it with the potatoes. The flavor in the chicken is absolutely awesome, but the skin texture was indeed weird. So for today's lunch of leftovers, we rubbed some baking powder and Kinder's The Blend on the skin, then air fried it at 350° for 15 minutes while re-steaming the rest in the broth. The chicken had the interior flavor from the boil, and external flavor and crisp from the added seasoning. Highly highly recommend this for the non seafood people out there.
Thank you!
Kerry on 2026-01-01 (5 stars): This recipe was simple and yet provided exceptional results. It was amazing!
Cassandra on 2026-01-03 (5 stars): Omg. WOW! Just made this and we are so impressed. Hands down a new favorite. Thank you!
Kayleigh Bugos on 2026-02-20 (5 stars): I recommend everyone make this famously delicious dish!!!!🙏🏽Thank you. This recipe is a blessing 💖I made it for my family one night now they show up every Friday night 👍🏽🥰
Nic on 2026-01-24 (5 stars): I've made this recipe several times and it is always delicious! The only changes I make is occasionally adding boneless-skinless chicken breast chunks in the beginning with the potatoes and/or zucchini & squash pieces at the very end for a minute or two ao it doesnt overcook. Im not a huge fan of seafood, but the rest of my family is so these additions satisfy all of us. Whether you enjoy seafood or not, this recipe is delicious and can be modified to make any family happy!
Brian on 2026-02-02 (5 stars): Best Cajun Boil recipe....I have tried many and this hit the spot. Boil times were spot on. The only change I made was to prep the shrimp with 1/4 teaspoon of Baking Soda for 30 minutes in the fridge and the rinse completely before adding to the boil. Butter-garlic sauce is heavenly. Thank you for the recipe
Sarah on 2026-03-08 (5 stars): This seafood boil was the BOMB! My husband keep saying how good it was the entire time he was eating it. Thanks for such a simple recipe.
Dianne on 2026-03-30 (5 stars): WOW! Everyone really enjoyed this meal! Directions were easy to follow and since I had sweet italian sausage in the freezer, that's what I used. I cooked that in a frying pan before adding to pot. Also, I boiled a separate pot of water to cook another 2 lbs of snow crab. I had to use frozen corn on cob because it's not in season yet and even that was so yummy. Having garlic bread to sop up the garlic butter sauce was like a cherry on top. It was my first time ever cooking a seafood boil and plan to do this again. Thank you!!
Jessica on 2026-04-03 (5 stars): Oh my goodness. We threw on a seafood boil playlist and fired this recipe up. Did it EVER deliver. It is the PERFECT boil. Don't change one thing....except maybe add mussels 😏. This was so easy and fun to make and eat. Will be doing it again and again.
My husband even said this is now one of his top 3 favorite meals of all time.
10/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Big Saver Foods next weekly ad on 2026-04-04 (5 stars): The phrase about everything getting drowned and smothered in garlic butter really sets the tone—you’re not trying to make this delicate, you’re making it generous and joyful, which suits a true crowd meal.
Gin on 2026-04-05 (5 stars): Perfect every time and tastes so much better than getting at a restaurant and cheaper too!