Great American Seafood Boil

Great American Seafood Boil served outside

 

This is a double fun recipe! We have the Great American Seafood Boil to make and we’re also going to hand make the seafood boil seasoning!

Now you can purchase a boil spice seasoning from a grocery store ready-made but then you’d lose all adoration when everyone finds out you made everything, including the flavors! 

We’ll do a simple seafood boil with the traditional items generally found but you can change things up by adding sausage or oxtail/pigs tail and other various boil-capable meats!

Spices on a cheesecloth

Let’s start our recipe by combining the various spices we’ll need and place them into a cheesecloth, so we have that in our boil.

  • 12 whole cloves
  • 1/4 cup coriander seeds and mustard seeds
  • 1/4 cup mustard seeds
  • 3 Tbs. dill seeds
  • 1 Tbs. celery seeds and red pepper flakes
  • 1 Tbs. red pepper flakes
  • 2 Tbs. whole allspice
  • 2 tsp. black peppercorns
  • 6 bay leaves, crumbled.

After mixing simply place everything into a double-thick square of cheesecloth, gather the corners together and tie securely with kitchen string. Now onto our boil! Let’s gather up what we’ll need. 

  • 8 quarts water
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 6 yellow onions, unpeeled
  • 4 celery stalks, halved crosswise
  • 2 lemons, unpeeled and quartered
  • 12 garlic cloves
  • 5 bay leaves
  • 2-inch piece fresh ginger, thickly sliced
  • Crab boil spice mix (see above) or 6 oz. packaged whole-spice crab boil
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cup sea salt, or to taste
  • 3 Tbs. Great American Cajun Seasoning
  • 1 Tbs. cayenne pepper, or to taste
  • 1 Tbs. black peppercorns, or to taste
  • 2 to 3 lb. small red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled
  • 24 live blue crabs or 4 to 6 small live Dungeness crabs
  • 6 ears of corn, husked and halved crosswise
  • 5 lb. large shrimp, with heads attached

Seafood boil in a large pot being drained

Fill that stock pot with water and add EVERYTHING except the potatoes, corn, crab and shrimp. Boil for 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and boil for 5 minutes. Add the crabs and boil for 15 minutes. Add the corn and boil for 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and boil for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and let the mixture stand for 5 minutes. 

That simple. Seafood boil on a table covered in newsprint

Now cover your table in parchment paper or a big platter and spoon out everything minus the water and serve.

Don’t forget to roll up your sleeves, this will be a wonderful messy meal and don’t forget a few nutcrackers on the table to help break shell!

Want more recipes? Click Here!

Back to blog