Crawfish Boil Guide

First time cooking crawfish?

Check out these tips to make your first boil go as smooth as possible.

It is recommended to cook your crawfish as soon as you get home, if you plan to store your crawfish to cook at a later time or date please see our Live Crawfish Purchase and Storage Guide guide for some tips to ensure your Crawfish are well maintained.

Your Crawfish will naturally be a little sluggish either right after you receive them or from being stored. Once they have warmed up a little they will start moving around like normal.

Preparing the Crawfish to Cook: Cleaning and Purging

1.      Take the Crawfish out of the sack and put them into a large plastic tub or cooler.

2.       Fill the container up with room temperature water. The crawfish will spit out the grime in their system, minimizing fishy taste and odors and reducing the size of their gritty sand vein.

3.       Stir gently occasionally with a large instrument and let sit for about 5 to 10 minutes. The moving water will help wash the mud off the crawfish's shells and gills.

4.      Empty out the water, keeping your crawfish in their container. Refill the tub with new fresh water, and stir. Let them sit for another 5 to 10 minutes and check for any dead crawfish that float to the top; remove and throw them away immediately.

5.      Rinse them one more time. After giving it a stir, the water should be much less grimy than in previous rinses. If you are satisfied with the cleanliness, you are done purging.

6.      Drain the water and proceed to boil your crawfish.

When cleaning and purging make sure you use room temperature water (Do not use hot water). If you use water that is too cold it will shock the Crawfish and put them into a sleep/coma like state (People often mistake Crawfish in this state for being dead).

For a Crawfish Boil you will need a pot that holds two quarts of liquid for every pound of Crawfish you are boiling. You will also need a gas or propane burner big enough to hold your pot of choice.

Boiling the Crawfish:

1.      Fill your pot halfway with water, just enough to cover the Crawfish.

2.      Add 1 pound of the Crawfish/Seafood boil seasoning of your choice and stir

3.      Light the burner and begin boiling

4.      Add Crawfish once the water is rapidly boiling, then cover with a lid. Wait for the water to return to a boil.

5.      Let the Crawfish boil for no more than 3 minutes.

6.      In an empty (clean) ice chest sprinkle a light layer of seasoning.

7.      Add your boiled Crawfish to the ice chest and then add another layer of seasoning on top.

8.      Repeat this process until you have cooked all of your Crawfish. With a ratio of 15 pounds of Crawfish to 1 pound of seasoning.

9.      When finished close your ice chest and shake it to thoroughly mix everything together.

10.  Keep the ice chest closed around 15 minutes and let the flavors mix together/settle.

You can also add potatoes, corn, onion, or other side of your choice to the boiling seasoned water for added flavor. Any side or vegetable that boils well can be cooked with the Crawfish. The most common sides for Crawfish are usually Corn, Potatoes, Onion, and Sausage. Other sides that you could add include cauliflower, artichokes, whole garlic cloves, asparagus, peppers or mushrooms.