The Best Shrimp and Crab Boil Recipe to Eat on Summer Vacation

Sharing what our family thinks is the BEST shrimp and crab boil recipe you can find & eat. This easy shrimp boil recipe is delicious and can feed a hungry crowd. It our favorite summer dinner to enjoy when we are on vacation, whether at the beach or the lake with family.

The Best Shrimp and Crab Boil Recipe

Serving Size – 16 people or 10 REALLY Hungry Adults

Prep Time – 20 Minutes

Cook Time – 1-1.5 Hours

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Part of the fun of summer vacation is sharing meals with one another.

Everyone brings their BEST recipes and we eat in style. 🙂

For our dinner night we made a shrimp and crab boil & it so much fun & just fabulous!

I adapted this recipe from one my girlfriend Elise makes.  A few weeks ago we had stayed at their family’s cabin & they had served us a shrimp boil that was out of this world.

Jason & I immediately knew that this was the meal we wanted to make on our summer vacation with family along with the addition of Alaskan King crab Legs.  

Before buying all the ingredients, make sure you have a large crab or canning pot to cook this in. I usually bring along my large stock pot for soup when we go on vacation.

Ingredients Needed for Shrimp and Crab Boil

• 8 quarts of water
• 2 bottles of beer
• 1 3oz bag of crab boil (we used Zatarain’s)
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 4 onions peeled and quartered
• 1 whole garlic bulb ( cloves whole and peeled)
• 3 lbs red potatoes cut and quartered
• 10 ears of corn shucked and cut in half
• 3 lbs kielbasa cut in one inch strips
• 4 lbs uncooked peeled shrimp
• 2 lbs king crab legs
• Fresh bread and butter

Instructions for How to Make a Shrimp and Crab Boil

Step One – Boil 1st 7 Shrimp and Crab Boil Ingredients in Large Stock or Crab Pot

This step can vary time wise depending on how hot your stove is.

If you are renting a house on summer vacation like we usually are make sure to give yourself plenty of time to make this shrimp and crab boil.

It usually takes a good 1/2 hour to bring all the water, beer, crab boil, cayenne, salt onions & garlic to a roiling boil.

Step Two – Add your Red Potatoes

Toss in red potatoes for 15 minutes and turn burner down to low.

Step Three – Add your Kielbasa & Corn

Add kielbasa and corn for another 8 minutes.

Step Four – Turn Off Heat & Add Shrimp & King Crab

Turn off burner and add shrimp and crab for fifteen minutes.  

Below is a pic of Jason and his brother peeling the shrimp.

Do yourself a favor & buy already peeled shrimp. It will save you SO MUCH time!!! Although, it can be a great time to bond with your family. 🙂

Step Five – Pour Out the Water & Serve

Pour out water and dump out ingredients on your table with some aluminum foil.

It is so much fun to see all these yummy ingredients displayed running down the center of your dining or kitchen table.

We have also found that aluminum foil works best to clean up after all the food is eaten & gone.

We ate this with some lemon wedges & extra old bay sprinkled on top.

The men also sprinkled extra cayenne pepper on theirs. We like hot stuff in our family!

Fresh bread with Herb Butter

We served it with fresh bread out of the oven with herb butter.  

For herb butter you just mix some ground thyme (substitute any of your favorite herbs) & minced garlic in with plain old butter.

Shrimp & Potato Dipping Sauce

Jason also made some Dipping Sauce for the Shrimp and Potatoes:)  It was delish!!!  

To Make: ( Stir 60% mayonaise 40% cocktail sauce mix and then add Old Bay Seasoning to Taste…As Jason says the more the better. 🙂

Everything was a hit!!!  Below is the after…  It is officially our new summer vacation dinner.

by Tara Lehman

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