Shrimp Boil Recipe and Ingredients

A Shrimp Boil is a traditional one-pot dish that is easy to prepare for family and friends. Coastal Caterers provided this Shrimp Boil Recipe and cooking instructions. Their expert cooking tips will make your shrimp boil the best!

Preparing, cooking, serving, and cleaning up is easy. Especially if you serve your Boil on a table covered with newspaper or butcher’s paper for easy cleanup, no plates or silverware are needed if you eat everything right off the table.

Serves 6 to 8 people. Cook time: 40 minutes.

• 2 Pounds of Shrimp
• 2 Pounds of Smoked Sausage
• 2 Pounds of Kielbasa
• 2 Pounds of Red Potatoes
• 12 Pieces of Corn on the Cob
• Old Bay Seasoning and Parsley Flakes for garnish
• Cut sausage into 2 oz. pieces
• Cut potatoes into similar-sized pieces to cook evenly.

Use a large lidded pot with a strainer basket. Fill the 10-gallon pot with four gallons of water. The pot will be a little less than halfway filled. No place the pot on your burner. Turn on the burner and bring your water to a boil.  

If you have never used a pot on a propane burner before, we watch this video about how to connect a burner to a propane tank and light it.

Cooking the Red Potatoes

First, place the red potatoes into your pot of boiling water. Then, boil the potatoes until a fork can penetrate them but they are still firm. Next, once the water is boiling, it will take about 20 minutes for the potatoes to finish cooking. Another way to tell the potatoes are close to being done is that you will smell the aroma of the potatoes. Adding some sausage to the potatoes while they are boiling will enhance the flavor of the potatoes.

Overcooking the potatoes will make the skins start to separate the potatoes. The potatoes will also be too soft. Don’t overcook the potatoes. To avoid this, test the potatoes with a fork about every 5 minutes for firmness. The fork should be able to penetrate the potato, but the potato still has firmness.

It is essential to cut your potatoes into similar size pieces. By cutting potatoes into similar-sized, your potatoes will finish cooking simultaneously.

Also, adding the potatoes to your pot while the water is coming to a boil is ok. Filling your pot with warm water before you put it on the burner will reduce the time you have to wait before the water comes to a boil.

After removing the cooked potatoes from the water, place them into a pan. Then dust the potatoes again with Old Bay Seasoning to ensure they are thoroughly seasoned. Wrap the pan with aluminum foil to keep the potatoes warm.

Cooking the Corn on the Cob

Cook the corn on the cob in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Remove the corn on the cob from the boiling water and add them to the tray of red potatoes. Season the corn on the cob again with Old Bay seasoning. Adding some sausage with potatoes and corn will give them more flavor. Place the corn on the cob and potatoes in a pan with the potatoes and cover. 

Cooking the Shrimp and Sausage

Cut the smoked sausage and Kielbasa into 2-ounce pieces for cooking. Place the smoked sausage and Kielbasa into the boiling water and cook the sausage for 3 or 4 minutes. After the sausages have been cooked thoroughly, they will become plumper than when you first put them in the boiling water.  Also, when the sausage is cooked, it will float near the top of the water. The combination of sausages will enhance the flavor of your Shrimp Boil. 

Add the shrimp to the boiling water with the sausage. The water in the pot should still be boiling, so the shrimp will cook in under a minute. Cooked shrimp turn a light orange color on the outside. The meat will become white. 

Add the shrimp and sausage to the covered corn and red potatoes pan. Season the shrimp, sausage, corn, and red potatoes again with Old Bay and garnish everything with Parsley flakes. Keep the Boil covered in the pan until you are ready to serve it.

You may prefer to use medium or large shrimp in your shrimp boil. Medium or large shrimp are usually more tender than jumbo shrimp. Jumbo shrimp have lived longer to grow to their larger size, making the meat a little tougher.

Visit our Online Seafood Market to purchase the seafood you need for your Shrimp Boil.

Cocktail Sauce

Cocktail sauce is a favorite condiment with a Shrimp Boil or Fried Seafood. Watch our video on making a delicious two-ingredient cocktail sauce.

Shrimp Boil Old Bay

Old Bay is one of several seasonings made specifically for seasoning a shrimp boil or other seafood boils. So, using Old Bay Seasoning on your shrimp makes a Shrimp Boil Old Bay recipe. The other ingredients for your shrimp, seafood, or crab boil will be the same.

More Shrimp Boil Recipe Tips

After placing all the ingredients into a covered pan, season everything again! Notice that most of the seasoning put in the pot when you begin cooking will form a ring on the inside of your pot, just above the waterline. Unfortunately, very little of the seasoning added to the boiling water will end up on the Boil. 

Adding seasoning to the water will give you and your guests a pleasant aroma. However, it will not go a long way toward the final seasoning of your shrimp boil ingredients. So be sure to season all your ingredients again. Garnish the Shrimp Boil with Parsley flakes to make it look even more appetizing!

However, don’t use potatoes in your recipe if you want to reduce the cooking time by about 20 minutes.

Also, learn about Sautee Shrimp, Deep Fry shrimp, Blacken Mahi Mahi, and more.

If you want to have an oyster roast to go along with your Shrimp Boil, please watch this video on how to steam oysters.

Need some ideas for side dishes to complement your Shrimp Boil?