Joy the Baker

Easy Summer Shrimp Boil

by 52 Comments

Easy New Orleans Shrimp Boil

I’ve learned something very important about New Orleans… I’ve learned that there’s A LOT I don’t know about New Orleans.  

This beautiful, majestic, haunted, steamy city I’ve called home for over a year has secrets.  Big secrets about past lives and lost loves. Small secrets about where to get the best Sazerac (still tbd) and how to make a stellar seafood boil.  

Actually… the seafood boil isn’t a small secret.  It’s important.  

The secret is heart and soul, guts, care, attention, salt, big ol’ shrimp, and boil seasoning.  Mostly heart and soul.  That’s the main ingredient.  Also… if you have a few salacious secrets, throw those in the boil too.  I think that’s why some of these New Orleans boils are so dang spicy.  

It’s Summer and whether we’re down in the swamp or not… I think we should boil ourselves some seafood, wave our neighbors over, drink cold beers and spill all of our tea.  

Easy New Orleans Shrimp Boil

Here’s what you’d need for an easy at-home, in the house, where you’ve opened the windows and turned on the fan, Shrimp Boil.  

•  A huge pot.  A big ol’ pot.  Dig in those cupboards and wrestle out the big boy.  

•  Louisiana or Zatarain’s Crawfish Shrimp and Crab Boil Seasoning.  We’re going to need about 1/2 cup of boiling seasoning for this recipe.  Throw in a little more if you’d like.  Wrap it in cheesecloth or throw it in the boil.  Just do you.  You can also make your own seasoning using a recipe like this:  Shrimp Boil Spice Bundle.  

•  Shrimps and corns and baby red potatoes.  

•  Salt and pepper.  Thyme and lemons.  Onions and Garlic. Parsley.  Paprika, only the smoky kind will do. 

•  Some people add mushrooms.  Not my deal.

•  Andouille Sausage makes a nice addition along with the corn.  Super flavorful.

•  Water to make a boil a boil.  

•  Butter to make a boil better.

•  Friends.  One or two will do.   If they bring cold beer, all the better. 

•  An open window.  A warm Summer breeze.  A self-congratulatory second helping of shrimp and potatoes on your plate.  

•  Confidence, because you really are great. 

Check the comment section below for other boil ingredient suggestions! 

Easy New Orleans Shrimp Boil

Here’s what I know about a good shrimp boil:  it’s takes practice, heart and soul (as mentioned before), and some guts.  Just go for it!

Chances are a born and bred Southerner will tell you you’re doing it wrong because theeeeeyyyyy do it a particular way.  Fantastic!  Invite yourself over to their home for a seafood boil, bring wine, eat too much, and take notes.  I think these recipes are best learned through watching, learning, and the osmosis of living.  

It’s about building flavors.  Adding onions and garlic to water, salt and pepper, seasoning and lemon.  That’s a layer.  Urging potatoes and corn to soak up all the goodness.  That’s another layer. The shrimp will give and take as it absorbs the salty seasoned liquid and releases its ocean-y seafood flavor into the boil.  Herbs and lemon for brightness.  Butter and paprika to make us feel expensive.  

Build flavors in layers.  Cook ingredients in layers.  Call a friend.  Get your hands dirty.  Just get in there  

Print

Easy Summer Shrimp Boil

  • Author: Joy the Baker
  • Prep Time: 15
  • Cook Time: 30
  • Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • about 4 quarts water
  • 2 lemons cut into large wedges (1 for boiling, 1 for serving)
  • 1 head of garlic, skin left on, head sliced off to reveal garlic cloves
  • 1/2 bag (about 1/2 cup) shrimp, crawfish and crab boil wrapped in cheesecloth and tied
  • 1 large red onion, peeled and quartered
  • 3 sprigs fresh thyme
  • sea salt
  • 1 lb baby red potatoes
  • 4 ears corn, husked and broken in half
  • 1.25 lbs raw shrimp, unpeeled with legs but no heads
  • 4 tablespoons salted butter, melted
  • 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, coarsely chopped
  • sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper for topping
  • smoky paprika for topping

Instructions

  1. In a large stock pot, combine water, 1 lemon in wedges squeezed into the water, head of garlic, shrimp boil seasoning, onion, thyme, and sea salt (I added about 2 tablespoons to the boil water). Taste the boil liquid as it warms to see that it’s salty enough.
  2. Once boiling, add the potatoes. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes.
  3. Add the corn pieces and simmer for 5 minutes more.
  4. Add the unpeeled shrimp and cook until pink throughout and curled, about 3 minutes. Remove pot from heat and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
  5. Ladle the garlic, potatoes, corn, and shrimp onto a large rimmed platter. Drizzle with about 1 cup of the boiling liquid and the melted butter. Sprinkle with parsley, paprika, sea salt and black pepper. Serve with lemon wedges. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.
  6. The shrimp boil can be strained and saved for seafood stock! Freeze it up!

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 4

Easy New Orleans Shrimp Boil

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Hi Joy – This looks amazing & exactly what I’m craving for dinner tonight. Quick question – I want to make it for just me and my guy, do you think this recipe could be halved? Like half the water, corn, potatoes and spice? (I would probably still do the 1.25 lbs of shrimp) Also I think the biggest pot I own wouldn’t house everything this recipe calls for, which is another reason I’m asking. Thoughts?

    Reply

  2. Last time I was at a crawfish boil they put pineapple rings in there. Seemed weird at the time, but oh mighty was it good! The pineapple added sweetness to everything, but it soaked up a lot of the spice. Delicious spicy-sweetness!

    Reply

  3. I grew up in Louisiana and this makes me so homesick! In our family we added garlic, lemon, and butter to the boil but not mushrooms or artichokes, although I am convinced that cotton socks could cook in the boil liquid and come out delicious. I vote for head-on shrimp, but can’t remember the last time I saw any in the shops here. I miss New Orleans…

    Reply

  4. Man, I don’t eat boiled shrimp NEARLY often enough. I’ve stockpiled boxes of Zatarain’s bags and frozen shrimp from my visits home to Louisiana, so I think this is going to happen real soon. Thanks for the great idea of adding butter — there’s no way that can be a bad thing!

    Reply

  7. My husband was born in Louisiana, and it took him three years to make this for me! I cannot tell you how much I want this right now, because it looks absolutely amazing.

    Reply

  8. i want to cook this and eat it, and then i want to cook it again and serve it to my father in law. he’s the only person in my family who appreciates seafood the way seafood should be appreciated, and he deserves this.

    Reply

  12. This looks amazing! I’m with you on the mushrooms, never included in a Texas Gulf Coast shrimp boil. Can’t wait to try your recipe.

    Reply

  13. Here in AZ we’ve adapted our own seafood boil – we do crab legs, shirmp, clams, mussells, andouille, corn, potatoes & little boiling onions. And a whole heap of Old Bay and beer. In fact, I had just been to the grocer for some seafood to do this tomorrow night when I saw your post!

    Reply

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