Best Homemade Seafood Boil Sauce is rich, spicy, buttery, and packed with garlic flavor! This seafood butter sauce recipe is easy to make and perfect with your favorite seafood boil, shrimp boil, crawfish boil, and crab boil.
Is there anything more satisfying than a spicy Southern seafood boil? Tender pieces of shrimp, crab, sausages, and corn are served up in a sauce that’s complete with all the fixings!
Best Ever Seafood Sauce
When it comes to a seafood boil, it’s all in the sauce. Shellfish are prized for tender meat that has the ability to deliciously embody whatever spices or sauce it’s paired with. For the best seafood sauce, you can’t be stingy with the seasonings. Classic Old Bay seasoning gives this sauce its signature taste, while butter, garlic, lemon pepper, and onion add complexity to this spicy dish. Drizzle it over seafood boil, Shrimp Boil, Low Country Boil, and it’s heavenly delicious!
What is Seafood Boil Sauce?
Seafood Boil Sauce is the rich, buttery sauce that greatly complements a seafood boil. This Southern tradition has gained popularity all over the world. Butter and garlic are the main ingredients in this sauce, improved only by the addition of herbs and spices.
What’ll Need to Make This Seafood Butter Sauce
- Garlic
- Unsalted Butter
- Olive Oil
- Onion
- Old Bay Seasoning
- Chicken Broth
- Lemon Pepper
- Paprika
- Cayenne Pepper
- Red Pepper flakes
- Lemon Juice
- Brown Sugar
How to Make Seafood Boil Sauce from Scratch
1. Add butter and oil to a saucepan over medium-low heat.
2. Once the butter is melted, add onions and stir fry until they’re soft. Then add garlic and sauté until fragrant.
3. Add Old Bay seasoning, lemon pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, and brown sugar. Mix together.
4. Turn the heat to low and add the remaining butter.
5. Simmer until the butter is melted, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth and cook for a few minutes until the sauce is slightly thickened.
6. Remove from heat. Pour the sauce over your favorite seafood boil or serve it as a dipping sauce.
Seasoning for Seafood Boil
It’s no secret that seasoning is the key to a good seafood boil. First, you’ll need a hearty helping of garlic, sautéed in melted butter. Be generous with the Old Bay seasoning, the classic Southern mix that’ll give your sauce both flavor and color. Because we love a spicy seafood boil, we’ll be stirring in cayenne pepper, lemon pepper and red pepper flakes, with the milder taste of paprika to balance things out. Imagine the aroma in your kitchen when it all comes together!
Even Better with These Tips
- If you prefer a milder seafood boil, adjust the amount of cayenne and red pepper that you add in. Even without the extra spice, your meal will be full of flavor thanks to the rest of the herbs and spices.
- Be sure to keep the heat on low to allow your sauce to slowly simmer to perfection.
- Feel free to add more butter if you prefer a richer sauce.
Seafood Boil Sauce vs Bloves Sauce
Bloves sauce is another kind of seafood sauce made popular by the Youtuber of the same name. It’s similar to Seafood Boil Sauce because they’re both made with butter and garlic as the base, but Bloves sauce also includes Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce and vinegar for a more sophisticated taste.
How to Make Seafood Boil?
Seafood Boil is a delicious, yet simple one-pot meal that’s great for feeding a group. If you’ll be adding potatoes to the mix, you’ll want to put those in first, along with the seasoning and corn. Next, add in sausage and onions, ensuring they’ve been cut into bite-size pieces. Add crabs and clams next. Shrimp should be added last, since they cook the fastest. They’ll be ready in about two minutes, so be sure not to overcook. (See details in the recipe below)
How to Store the Sauce?
This sauce can easily be stored for an encore seafood boil. Pour any leftover sauce into an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it again, just heat it up in a pot and toss in your potatoes, seafood and other ingredients.
Variations
- Sweet and Spicy Seafood Boil Sauce: Adding in some sweet ingredients can take your sauce to the next level. Stir in an extra ½ cup of brown sugar, honey or maple syrup and taste the difference.
- Seafood Cajun Butter Sauce: Simply add cajun seasoning to your sauce. Now you have a rich Cajun butter dipping sauce for your favorite meat, seafood or veggies.
- Louisiana Seafood Boil Sauce: For a classic Louisiana Seafood Boil, be sure to add in bay leaves, fresh ginger and lemon slices.
Other Ways to Use Seafood Sauce
- Crab Boil
- Crawfish Boil
- Shrimp Boil
- Low Country Boil
Best Garlic Butter Seafood Boil Sauce Recipe (+ How to Make Seafood Boil)
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 onion diced
- 3 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
- 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon lemon pepper
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, add 1/2 cup of butter and oil.
- Once the butter is melted, add onions and stir fry until they’re soft.
- Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add Old Bay seasoning, lemon pepper, paprika, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, and brown sugar. Mix together.
- Turn the heat to low and add the remaining butter.
- Simmer until the butter is melted, stirring constantly.
- Add chicken broth and cook for a few minutes until the sauce is slightly thickened.
- Remove from heat. Pour the sauce over your favorite seafood boil or serve it as a dipping sauce.
Equipment
Notes
- Store the homemade seafood sauce in an airtight container and it’ll last about 2 weeks in the refrigerator.
- Adjust the amount of red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper to your preferred level for spiciness.
- Seafood Boil Ingredients
- 1 pound baby potatoes, halved
- 1 lemon, sliced
- 3 tablespoons Old bay seasoning
- 4 ears corn on the cob cut into 3-4 inch pieces
- 1 pound smoked sausage, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 onion cut into a few pieces
- 1/2 pound clams
- 1 pound frozen crab claws or legs, or crawfish or lobster
- 1 pound shrimp
- How to Make Seafood Boil
- Fill up a large pot with water. Add old bay seasoning, garlic, lemon, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil.
- Add corn and baby potatoes into the water. Boil for 8 minutes.
- Add sausage and onions . Cover with a lid and boil for an additional 10 minutes.
- Add crab and clam. Boil for 2 minutes.
- Add the shrimp. Boil for 3 minutes or until the shrimp is no longer pink.
- Drain the water. Transfer the seafood boil to a serving plate or on the newspaper.
- Serve with the seafood boil sauce and enjoy!
Angela Thomas says
This was one of the best crab boil sauces I’ve had. It wasn’t to spicy, it wasn’t to salty. It was just right. It was so good I but the leftover sauces in the freezer for later. Thank you.
Izzy says
Hi Angela, glad to hear that you like the recipe. Thanks for letting me know. Have a great weekend!
Angela Burch says
I love this Sauce . Yesterday I could not find your recipe online and had to use another one. Although it was okay It does not compare to your recipe. Oh my so good, family loves it. So i printed and added to my recipe book .Thanks
Rochelle Bingham says
This Sauce is exactly how I remembered the taste I was looking for. I made it on Monday to Serve on Saturday (5) days in the fridge.
This will be for Shrimp Only! I can’t wait to see what my get will think about it. Thank You I also (6x) the recipe.
Izzy says
Hi Rochelle, glad that you like the recipe. Thanks for letting me know. Izzy
Devona S says
Im going to try your recipe and had a few questions i wanna add eggs as this is just a shrimp boil. How long or when would i have the boil the eggs for. And didnt have the olive oil so will it be okay without using it.
Cha says
Hi Izzy! I will be boiling shrimp and try the sauce over it. Can I use the shrimp “broth” in replacement of the chicken broth? Or can I use half and half of them? What do you recommend? Thank you!
Izzy says
Hi Cha, you can definitely use the shrimp broth. It will be delicious!
Sheryl says
So tasty and easy to make. We even use bread to clean the sauce out.
Dee says
This recipe is perfect. I have been using it as my go to and has become such a star in my home for dinner. The great thing about cooking is that’ it’s a give and take. It’s all up to the cool essentially so I use this recipe and add my own flare. It’s very delicious and can be made so personal with a few unique touches of your own. I love this recipe. It is my go to seafood butter sauce recipe. I use no other.
Crystal Cervantes says
Best sauce ever!!! I tried Bloves sauce and although it was also tasty, nothing beats fresh ingredients!! Thank you! I almost couldn’t find your recipe again and almost cried ☺️. Saving this time! Thank you!
Shaelee says
Hi there,
Doing this for dinner tomorrow. However, it was suggested to do a whole Lobster. Any suggestions on when to add a whole lobster? Thanks!!
Kinsey Robinson says
AMAZING!! THANK YOU
Torie says
What if we don’t have chicken broth! Is there an alternative?!
Izzy says
Hi Torie, you can use beef broth or water.
Sonia says
Making this recipe. What can I use in place of the olive oil?
Izzy says
You can use any oil.
LeAnne says
Just what I was looking for. Absolutely delicious! Only changes made were I added less cayenne pepper (1/2 tbsp) & no crushed red pepper. It was still a little spicy but great flavor profile.
Thank you!
Miranda says
Can you use this to coat boiled crawfish?
Izzy says
Yes you can. It’ll be delicious
Sherhonda says
Made it last night and it was delicious!
Vida says
Hi is their is it ok if we do don’t have old bay seasoning ?
Izzy says
Hi Vida, it’s ok if you don’t add old bay seasoning. But if you have celery salt and paprika, you can add them to your sauce. As celery salt and paprika are two of the main ingredients in Old Bay seasoning.
Crystal says
Amazing first time I have done a seafood boil at home, put it on shrimp, crab, mussels and lobster added corn and potatoes. They loved it no leftover