A savory and buttery seafood boil sauce recipe used to drizzle over a seafood boil such as shrimp, crab legs, lobster tails, and clams. Our Cajun seafood boil sauce comes together super fast and can be made from the seafood boil stock or we show you how to make it for any fresh seafood meal. It's a WHOLE LOTTA YUM!
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Crab Boil Sauce
Summers are for seafood and outdoor cooking! We live on the West Coast and my husband spends his summers fishing or catching crab. And while we often eat Dungeness crab freshly cracked without any flavor, making a seafood boil is always a highlight of summer and a great way to feed friends and family.
To make a seafood boil, we first season the water that the mixed fresh seafood such as crab, lobster, clams, shrimp, or crawfish gets cooked in. Once the seafood, potatoes, and corn get removed from the pot, it all gets drizzled with our seafood boil sauce recipe before serving.
You can pour the Cajun seafood boil sauce over the top of our seafood boil recipe or any type of boiled, baked, or grilled seafood. Plan to have lots of napkins or paper towels handy since things can get a tad messy!
If you're looking for a seafood dipping sauce, keep reading! We show you how to make either a sauce for seafood boil or a dipping sauce such as cajun garlic butter or garlic butter for seafood. Our garlic butter seafood sauce is also fantastic on Old Bay air fryer shrimp, air fryer lobster, or air fryer Cajun shrimp.
Cajun Seafood Sauce Recipe Ingredients
- seafood stock (from the seafood boil) OR chicken stock what you use depends on if you're making a Cajun seafood boil and will have the seafood stock from the pot or if you're using this as a dipping sauce for other types of seafood.
- unsalted butter, melted - we don't add salt here since both Cajun spices and Old Bay add salt
- extra virgin olive oil
- onion, minced so they blend seamlessly into the
- minced garlic cloves
- Old Bay Seasoning
- Cajun seasoning - or Creole seasoning which is slightly milder than Cajun
- lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- honey or brown sugar (optional) Just a touch of sweetness perfectly balances the touch of spice!
** Please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the exact quantities **
Seafood Boil Sauce Variations
The seafood boil sauce is vegetarian, gluten-free, low carb, and gluten-free.
- Vegan- use vegan-approved margarine like Earth Balance and skip the honey
- Whole30/Paleo- use a compliant butter replacement and make sure none of the seasonings have sugar or gluten
How to make Seafood Boil Sauce
1. Prep Ingredients
If you're also making a seafood boil, using the seafood stock is recommended. However, if you're making seafood boil sauce to serve over seafood you baked, grilled, or air fried, use chicken stock instead.
2. Simmer
Cook the butter and oil over medium-low heat in a medium-sized skillet or saucepan until melted.
Add the onions and turn the pan up to medium heat cooking them until they're soft, this will take about 4 minutes.
Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Stir in the Cajun seasoning, Old Bay seasoning, lemon juice, honey (or brown sugar), and broth. Cook for a few minutes until the sauce starts to thicken.
Remove the sauce from the heat and pour it over the seafood boil ingredients or serve it on the side as a dipping sauce. Enjoy!
Tips for making Seafood Butter Sauce
- It's important to use unsalted butter since Old Bay and Cajun spices are already salted.
- ½ the recipe or double or triple it depending on how many people you're serving at your seafood boil!
- To reheat any leftover sauce, simmer it in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until heated through.
- Want your Cajun garlic butter dipping sauce even spicier? Add cayenne pepper or Lousiana hot sauce to taste.
Other ways to use Butter Sauce for Seafood
- On fresh shrimp, fresh crab, king crab legs, snow crab legs, Dungeness crab, or cooked frozen seafood
- On grilled fish or steaks
- A dip for fried seafood such as calamari or shrimp
- A stir-fry sauce for veggies
- Use it to make a simple pasta sauce
How to store Crab Boil Sauce
Store: Once the crab boil sauce (or seafood sauce) has cooled, transfer it to an airtight container or jar and store it in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Freeze: For longer storage, you can freeze the sauce for up to 3 months.
How to reheat seafood boil sauce: Reheat the sauce on medium-low heat in a skillet. If it’s frozen, defrost it in the fridge overnight before reheating it.
Crab Boil Sauce FAQ's
In addition to our Cajun seafood boil sauce mentioned above, here are some other options too!
Tartar Sauce
Cocktail Sauce
Garlic Butter Sauce
Lemon aioli dipping sauce
Pesto Sauce
Remoulade Sauce
Chimichurri Sauce
Cilantro Lime Sauce
Mignonette Sauce (for oysters)
Hollandaise Sauce
Ponzu Sauce (Japanese citrus soy sauce)
Sriracha Mayo
Juicy Crab Sauce, often associated with the restaurant chain The Juicy Crab, is a flavorful and spicy butter-based sauce used primarily for seafood and seafood boils. While the exact recipe can vary, a typical Juicy Crab Sauce also includes similar ingredients as our seafood boil sauce recipe such as Old Bay, Cajun, butter, etc.
Blove's Seafood Boil Sauce is a spicy seafood sauce created by Bethany Gaskin, known as Blove on YouTube, and it uses similar ingredients to a classic Cajun seafood boil sauce. Blove's sauce became widely known through her "mukbang" videos on YouTube, where she eats large quantities of seafood dipped in her signature sauce.
More Seafood Recipes
- Seafood boil
- How to cook Dungeness crab
- Dungeness crab cakes
- Gluten free crab cakes
Come connect with us on Instagram! Be sure to tag us (wholelotta.yum) when you make a recipe. You can also find us on Facebook, and Pinterest.
Seafood Boil Sauce Recipe
A savory and buttery seafood boil sauce recipe used to drizzle over a seafood boil such as shrimp, crab, lobster, and clams.
Ingredients
- 1 cup seafood stock (from the seafood boil) OR chicken stock
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion, minced
- 2 tablespoon minced garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
- 2 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 1 tablespoon honey (optional)
- Cayenne pepper (optional)- to increase the spice
Instructions
- If you're also making a seafood boil, using the seafood stock is recommended. However, if you're making seafood boil sauce to serve over seafood you baked, grilled, or air fried, use chicken stock instead.
- Cook the butter and oil over medium-low heat in a medium-sized skillet or saucepan until melted.
- Add the onions and turn the pan up to medium heat cooking them until they're soft, this will take about 4 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in the Cajun spices, Old Bay seasoning, lemon juice, honey, and broth. Cook for a few minutes until the sauce starts to thicken.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and pour it over the seafood boil ingredients or serve it on the side as a dipping sauce for fresh seafood. Enjoy!
Notes
It's important to use unsalted butter since Old Bay and cajun seasoning are already salted.
½ the recipe or double or triple it depending on how many people you're serving at your seafood boil!
To reheat any leftover sauce, simmer it in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until heated through.
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