Copycat Boiling Crab Recipe

The Boiling Crab, as its name implies, is a seafood chain that specializes in seafood boils. Developer Patterson Watkins describes it as "a choose your own adventure sorta seafood joint" since you pick a type of seafood, a sauce, a spice level, and some extras to go in the pot. This recipe reflects her choice of crab legs with potatoes, corn, and sausage links, but she had to get creative when coming up with a dupe for The Boiling Crab's Whole Sha-Bang sauce.

Whole Sha-Bang is a combination of The Boiling Crab's other three sauces, these being garlic butter, lemon pepper, and Rajun Cajun. The menu doesn't go into any more specifics than that, though, since as Watkins explains, "The Boiling Crab holds those Whole Sha-Bang recipe cards tight to the chest because the recipe is trademarked." She characterizes the sauce as "robustly seasoned and aromatic ... with balanced heat and a touch of sweet," so she went with butter flavored with lemon juice, lemon pepper, garlic, Cajun seasoning, hot sauce, Old Bay, and a little bit of honey. This last ingredient, she says, not only sweetens the sauce but helps it to stick to the boil ingredients.

Watkins is opting not to boil the different ingredients, but to steam them in a roasting pan. This way, the steam is confined to the oven and you won't have to worry about finding a pot large enough to hold all of the ingredients.

For the crab boil itself, you will need crab legs, corn cobs, red potatoes, Andouille sausages, and some beer for cooking. The sauce, as we mentioned, is made with butter, lemon juice, garlic, Old Bay, Cajun seasoning, lemon pepper, hot sauce, and honey, while chopped parsley adds a pretty green garnish to the finished dish.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Line a roasting pan with a wire rack. Pour the beer into the bottom of the pan.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place in the oven to preheat for 15 minutes, just long enough for the beer to warm and begin steaming.

Once steaming, add the crab legs, corn, potatoes, and sausages to the pan.

Cover with foil, return to the oven, and steam for 1 hour, or until the potatoes are fork-tender.

Meanwhile, place the butter, lemon juice, garlic, Old Bay, Cajun seasoning, lemon pepper seasoning, hot sauce, and honey in a medium saucepan.

Warm over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter has melted and the garlic is fragrant and tender, about 8–10 minutes. Keep warm.

Once the pan has steamed, remove it from the oven and remove the foil.

Divide the crab legs, sausage, potatoes, and corn between 4 zip-top plastic bags.

Add a couple spoonfuls of the sauce to each of the bags.

Seal the bags and shake to coat the ingredients in the sauce.

Transfer all of the ingredients to a serving tray or platter. Garnish with fresh parsley, and serve with any remaining sauce on the side for dipping.

While some purists might feel that it's a mistake to start messing with your seafood boil by adding anything beyond the simplest of ingredients, the Boiling Crab is all about doing things your way, and Watkins agrees. She describes the chain's menu as "awash with other seafood options," but notes that with her copycat recipe, she went with a larger type of shellfish, with her reason being that it "reheats right along with the time it takes to get those taters tender." She says the timing on this recipe works for blue crabs and lobster, too, but suggests that if you're going with something smaller, such as crawfish, shrimp, or clams, you should wait until the 25- or 30-minute mark to put them in the pot.

As for the other elements of the crab boil, if you don't want corn or potatoes, Watkins says you can leave them out and opt for one of the other sides on The Boiling Crab's menu, such as fries, rice, or gumbo. None of these would be boiled along with the crabs, however, but would instead serve as stand-alone sides like they do at the restaurant. She also says that the sausage can be changed up, too. She went with Andouille, saying " It sorta fit in that Cajun theme" (and also she just really likes it), but if it's unavailable, you can use a different type of sausage, such as the milder kielbasa, instead

Whether you are hosting a crab boil for guests or will be indulging in one all by yourself, it will be a rather informal affair. As Watkins advises, "You'll want to protect whatever table you'll be serving this feast on" and suggests either eating at an outdoor picnic table or covering the table with newspapers (perhaps both). If the thought of eating off paper does'nt appeal, she says a plastic tablecloth will also work, but this is no time to break out the fine linens. Shellfish or nut crackers can help break open the crab legs, while teeny-tiny shellfish forks will aid in digging out all of the meat. "Oodles of paper towels," Watkins adds, will be necessary for cleanup, as crab cracking tends to be messy

While the sauce from this crab boil will coat the sausage, corn, and potatoes along with the crustaceans, Watkins says you can certainly have other dips on hand if you like, suggesting cocktail and tartar sauce as classic seafood additions. She also tells us that "Crackers are always nice to have nearby ... for palate cleansing and snack assembly," and feels that lemon wedges are a must-have.