No backyard or huge stockpot, no problem! If you’re like us and living that apartment balcony life, cooking some of your favorite summer meals can be tough. I’m obsessed with oyster cookouts, crab feasts, and low country boils loaded with crawfish! As you can imagine that can be a little tough in a small kitchen and no outdoor space, but with a little ingenuity (and lots of newspaper) you can eat all the messy summer food your heart desires! This easy low-country boil for two is perfect for a summery date night. Or if you’re feeding a crowd this is the same recipe my family uses on a large scale for summer cookouts!
My family has a cabin in southern Georgia where the creek is loaded with crawfish! It makes it so much more fun adding your own catch into your low-country boil. You can use frozen crawfish here, but if you can’t find crawfish at all then you can can stick to shrimp and crab legs which is great as well!
We have an outdoor wicker table on our balcony that was perfect for spreading out newspaper and not worrying about ruining any furniture! Whatever you have, just make sure you spread down lots of newspaper so you can get as messy as possible stress-free.
How to Make a Low-Country Boil for Two
– We like to use Zatarain’s Crawfish, Shrimp, and Crab Boil bags and Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning. The more the merrier, we like it SPICY! You want the water to turn really dark and fragrant when you’re adding the seasoning.
– Mild pork sausage cut into 1″ chunks. A lot of people use smoked sausage in their boils but we prefer the fresh link sausage.
– A whole bulb of garlic, cloves kept whole. This seems like a lot of garlic, but they turn really mild and sweet after they’ve been boiling.
– Red potatoes, you can either use 4 or 5 of the larger red potatoes and quarter them, or 10-15 small baby red potatoes. Whatever you can find or have on hand!
– 3 ears of fresh corn, cut into 2″ pieces.
– 1 large sweet or yellow onion, quartered
– the seafood is what makes this so great! Crawfish and shrimp is my favorite, but you can also use crab legs which are obviously delicious as well. Use 1-2 pounds of crawfish and 1-2 pounds of large raw shrimp with the shells on.
Finishing touches: Okay, this might be deviating from a classic southern low-country boil, but I love fresh parsley on top of this. Also squeezing lemon on top and having melted butter on the side to dip your shrimp and potatoes is SO GOOD. Gotta have the buttah..
For any crawfish newbs out there, here’s how you eat a crawfish!
- Hold the crawfish on both sides, with a twisting motion, snap the head away from the tail.
- For the tail meat, peel away the shell from the widest part of the tail, pulling back from the center, just as you would peel a shrimp! Gently tug out the meat and enjoy that tiny morsel of heaven. A little work, but SO WORTH IT.
- And not for the faint of heart, suck the crawfish head! There is so much good flavor in there and I feel like sucking the head is the true experience of eating crawfish. Go for it!
Pin this easy low-country boil recipe for two for later if you’re looking for summer dinner inspo, and some other good seafood dishes we love are Asian Peppercorn Dungeness crab, crab salad, Lobster rolls, and Open-faced Shrimp Sandwiches.
Easy Low-Country Boil for Two
Ingredients
- 1 bag Zatarain's boil in a bag
- Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning Enough to darken your water and get the spice level you want to achieve. No measurement needed, just go by look and taste.
- 12 oz beer
- 1 bulb garlic, cloves peeled
- 1 large sweet or yellow onion, cut into quarters
- 4-5 Large Red Potatoes, or 10-15 smaller potatoes
- 1 pound fresh pork sausage links
- 3-4 fresh ears of corn, cut into 2" pieces
- 1-2 pounds crawfish or crab legs
- 2-3 pounds large raw shrimp
- Fresh parsley, lemon wedges, and melted butter for serving.
Instructions
- In the largest soup pot you have, bring seasonings, beer and water to a boil. liquid should be a little over healfway in your pot since you'll be adding a lot to it.
- Once boiling, add the onion and the whole peeled garlic cloves and boil for 3-5 minutes. Add potatoes and sausage and boil another 10 minutes. Add the corn and boil for 5 mote minutes. Lastly add in your seafood and boil an additional 3 or so minutes. If the shrimp are on the smaller side, add in the crawfish first and just boil the shrimp for a minute or so.
- Remove pot from heat; scoop out ingredients with a slotted spoon, place on a newspaper lined table or in a big tin pan. Serve with parsely if you'd like along with lemon wedges for squeezing and melted butter for dipping!
Yum! This looks absolutely delicious. My family is from New Orleans and we eat a lot of seafood.
Author
I love New Orleans and the tradition of spreading out seafood all over the table! So good 🙂
The country boil sounds delicious. Not sure about the head of the crawfish, but there’s a first time for everything 🦐🦞🍋🌽🧄
Author
Haha the head is the best part! 😉
How much water for this recipe?
Making this recipe for me and my girlfriend and grandparents thank you for the idea!