If you don’t already know from looking at my past recipes WE LOVE SEAFOOD! We especially love the spicy savory seafood boils at different restaurants across Houston. But with a family of five eating at these places can get expensive so from researching different recipes I came up with my own version of a seafood boil. EXCEPT I don’t boil the seafood lol. I actually steam it in an oven bag you would use for turkeys in the oven. This seafood steams and the flavors get infused which tastes much better to us than boiling it and letting it sit and water where sometimes the flavor gets diluted. After many requests for the recipe I figured I better write this down and share on the blog so everyone would have one point of reference. So let’s make a seafood boil!
Ingredients:
- 2 oven bags – I use the large size. We use two because we will double bag our seafood. You will also need a rectangular dish to lay the bag in.
- Assorted seafood – we use snow crabs and shrimp but you can use what’s our family prefers- if you use frozen make sure to thaw out prior to cooking
- 5-6 sticks of real butter (salted or unsalted)
- 5 cloves of minced fresh garlic (don’t use the jar!)
- 1 tsp of garlic salt
- 1 tsp of garlic powder
- 1 tsp of onion powder
- 1 tsp of Cajun seasoning
- 2-3 tbsp of spicy crab or crawfish boil seasoning plus extra for sprinkling on the seafood
- 2 tbsp of paprika
- 1 tsp of lemon pepper
- 1 tsp of dried minced onion
- Juice from 1/2 fresh lemon or you can use the juice in the bottle
- 1 tbsp or brown sugar (optional)
- 1 tbsp of dry ranch seasoning
- 1 tbsp of old bay
- Hot sauce or cayenne pepper (optional)
- 3-4 small red potatoes (you will want to cook these in the microwave ahead of time for about 3-5 minutes
- 3-4 small ears of corn
- 1 sausage chopped (optional)
Directions: preheat oven to 400 degrees. Make sure seafood is thawed out and rinsed. Place seafood, corn, potatoes and sausage in bag and then double bag it (similar to how you do your groceries at the store). Place bagged seafood in dish and sprinkle crab boil seasoning over seafood and set aside.
Place medium sized pot on medium low and add butter. Once butter has melted add minced garlic and stir. Add the seasonings, lemon juice and stir (with a whisk or fork). Mix in the brown sugar last if using. Let mixture come to a simmer for about 3-5 minutes. Turn off heat and let cool slightly (just a few minutes so it isn’t scorching hot and burn your bag). Pour a little of the mixture into a bowl for dipping later. Pour rest of the mixture in bag. Now I physically massage the seasoning into my seafood but you can just tie a knot in the bag and massage thru the bag. Place pan with bag in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes. Remove form oven and let sit for about 5 minutes. I cut open the bag and let the juices flow into the pan and sit there for a few minutes prior to serving. We serve this family style by bringing the pan directly to the table and picking the seafood out to eat.
We love to do this for our family but it would be great for parties too. I hope you make this and your family enjoys it as much as we do! And if you do try it make sure to tag me on Instagram @severalpeoplesmama
Love Ricki
severalpeoplesmama.com 