Kim Thai's At-Home Cajun Seafood Boil

Serves

2

Total Time

60 min

Difficulty

Hard

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Seafood boil with crab legs and lobster.

Recipe-

Summary

my friend kim showed me how to make this DELICIOUS stovetop seafood boil and i HAD to share her recipe with you! i love a good seafood boil because it’s completely customizable. kim’s recipe calls for shrimp, but you can add whatever seafood you like, and feel free to adjust the spice level to your taste (warning: the Thai chili peppers pack some serious heat!). the secret to this recipe is the rich cajun garlic butter sauce. i seriously want to put this sauce on everything- of course, it’s great with shrimp, lobster, and mussels, but you could also pair it with pasta, or just dip some bread in it! pro tip from kim: try to make the sauce at least one to two hours in advance to really let the flavors meld together (you can also store it in the freezer for up to a week)!

Ingredients

FOR THE SAUCE

  • 2 cups fresh garlic, chopped
  • 2 cups (4 sticks) Kerrygold butter, salted
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tbsp. Knorr chicken flavored broth mix
  • ½ lemon
  • ½ tbsp. black pepper
  • 1 tbsp. Walker & Sons "Slap Ya Mama” cajun seasoning
  • 1 tbsp. McCormick Lemon Pepper with Garlic & Onion
  • 1 tbsp. Louisiana Fish Fry Cajun Seasoning
  • 1 tbsp. McCormick Dried Basil Leaves
  • 1 tbsp. McCormick Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
  • 1 tbsp. McCormick Ground Cayenne Red Pepper
  • 1 tbsp. Huy Fong Chili Garlic Sauce
  • 2 Thai chili peppers, finely chopped (optional)

FOR THE BOIL

  • 1 12 oz. package Aidell’s cajun style andouille smoked sausage, chopped
  • 2 ears of corn, shucked and halved
  • ½ lb. baby gold or red potatoes
  • seafood of choice
    • 4-6 king crab legs
    • 2-4 lobster tails or 2 whole lobsters
    • 15-20 unpeeled, deveined raw shrimp, tail on
    • 10-15 mussels, scrubbed and debearded

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

  • 2 cups jasmine rice, prepared
  • 4 Persian or Mexican cucumbers (sometimes called cocktail cucumbers), sliced lengthwise
  • 2 wedges lemon or lime

Instructions

  1. begin making the sauce by adding freshly chopped garlic and 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter to a deep skillet over high heat. once butter begins to melt, reduce heat to medium and stir in one cup of water.
  2. mix in chicken broth powder, then season with black pepper, lemon pepper, cajun seasonings, basil, cayenne, and crushed red pepper flakes. for extra spice, sprinkle with chopped thai chilis.
  3. add the remaining 2 sticks (1 cup) of butter to the pot and stir in the chopped andouille sausage. mix in the chili garlic sauce and the juice of ½ a lemon. reduce heat and let simmer on the lowest setting until butter is fully melted and seafood is ready to serve (the longer you can let it simmer, the deeper the flavors will become).
  4. add about 3 quarts of water to a large
  5. stock pot and bring to a boil. add potatoes, then corn on the cob, followed by your seafood of choice. stagger this wisely, keeping in mind that baby potatoes take about 15-20 minutes to boil, corn takes around 6-8 minutes, and different seafood options require varying cook times, described below:
    • shrimp: 2-3 minutes
    • mussels: 3-6 minutes
    • crab legs: 6-10 minutes
    • lobster tails: 8-12 minutes
    • whole lobster: 12-20 minutes
  6. once all ingredients are cooked and tender, strain and plate over rice, and garnish with thai chili peppers. serve with sliced cucumbers for dipping and a few wedges of lemon or lime. top with a heavy pour of the cajun sauce, or dip into the sauce as you go- don’t be afraid to get a little messy, that’s what makes it fun!

Kim Thai's At-Home Cajun Seafood Boil