Vietnamese Cajun Crawfish Boil Recipe

If you love crawfish, and you love Asian flavors, your mind is about to be blown by the flavor explosion that is a true Vietnamese Cajun Crawfish Boil. It’s everything you love about a traditional cajun crawfish, plus some beautiful ginger, lemongrass and fish sauce magic. Strap on your crawfish bibs and let’s do this.

Have you watched the David Chang Netflix food series called Ugly Delicious? His episode about Vietnamese Cajun fusion food in Houston, Texas was transformative for me. My husband and I planned a trip to Houston (in the middle of summer – the show was THAT convincing) to plot our Vietnamese cuisine education.

Let me tell you, it was worth every sweaty step around that sprawling city.

Chang details a compelling narrative about the culture of Houston and the many influences of Vietnamese refugees who arrived in cities around the US Gulf Coast during the war in the mid-70’s.

In New Orleans, the city welcomed Vietnamese immigrants but the traditional crawfish boil remains unchanged.

In Houston, the Vietnamese communities had a dramatic influence on the food scene, introducing lemongrass stalks and fresh ginger and fish sauce to the traditional cajun flavors of a crawfish boil.

On my trip to Houston, I visited Crawfish & Noodles, one of the local stars of the Viet-cajun food scene (twice, in fact) and I couldn’t believe how much flavor these ingredients added to the crawfish tails. I had been cooking both Asian food and seafood boils for years, and had never heard of putting them together.

So here I am sharing my version of this remarkable dish. It still has lots of garlic, just like the original. And plenty of cajun spices. But it’s all enhanced by a savory butter sauce studded with lemongrass, ginger, fish sauce, limes and cilantro. It’s my favorite way to eat crawfish and I hope you love it as much as my family does.

What you’ll need to make Vietnamese cajun crawfish recipe:

• 6 pounds crawfish
• 2 onions, quartered
• 1 head garlic
• 8-10 small red potatoes
• 2-3 ears of corn on the cob
• 2 tablespoons sea salt
• 2 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 sticks butter
• 8 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup green onions, diced (white and light green parts)
• 2 tablespoons red chili, diced
• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
• 2 tablespoons lemongrass, diced
• 2 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning or Cajun seasoning 
• 1 cup seafood stock 
• 2 tablespoons lime juice 
• 2 teaspoon fish sauce 
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper 
• 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, diced (plus more for garnish)

Step by step instructions for Vietnamese-Cajun Crawfish:

To begin, make your butter sauce for the Viet-cajun seafood boil. Melt 2 sticks of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add chopped garlic, green onion, red chili, grated ginger, diced lemongrass, Old Bay or cajun seasoning, white pepper and fish sauce to the butter.

Saute the vegetables for 5-6 minutes until they are tender and fragrant. Add 1 cup of seafood stock and lime juice and bring the Viet-cajun garlic-butter sauce to a simmer for 2-3 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.

I like to use an immersion blender to emulsify the butter sauce at this point – I think it creates a far better dipping sauce and soaking product for the seafood. So I use the immersion blender right in the saucepan and mix for about 10-15 seconds, until the sauce turns a creamy orange color and is fully emulsified.

Then add in the diced cilantro. Taste again and adjust seasoning, as needed. Set aside.

Next, if using fresh crawfish, wash crawfish very well under running, cool water. (Anything called a “mud bug” will require a good cleaning!)

The recipe below is for 2-3 people. Start by filling a stock pot or dutch oven about 3/4 full of water (for 6 pounds of crawfish I used a very large Dutch oven.)

Add 2 tablespoons coarse sea salt, 2 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning, 3 quartered onions, 2 bay leaves and a head of garlic cut in half to your pot of water.

Note: After making seafood boils for years, I heard a Louisiana chef say that seasoning the crawfish boil recipe water didn’t do very much to season the crawfish – that was the job of the cajun butter sauce. Seasoning the water just makes it smell delicious as your guests arrive. Ever since, I’ve cut way back on the crawfish boil seasoning I add to the boiling water. I want the water to be seasoned lightly, but I focus much more on adding flavor and spicy seasonings to the Vietnamese cajun butter sauce. And it’s been a winning philosophy for me!

Bring the entire mixture to a boil over high heat. Add tiny red potatoes and corn.

Cook 8 minutes (if your potatoes are larger, cut them in half, or plan to boil at this stage for 10-12 minutes and wait to add the corn until the potatoes have boiled about 5 minutes). 

I usually remove the corn and potatoes at this stage to make room for the crawfish. If your pot is big enough to hold both, go ahead and add crawfish.

Then bring the mixture back up to a boil. Once the pot is boiling, cover and cook 3-4 minutes, until the crawfish float to the surface and turn deep red.

Next, transfer cooked crawfish, new potatoes, corn, onions and garlic to a second stock pot or large container with a lid. Pour over the Vietnamese cajun butter sauce.

Finally, cover and let the crawfish soak in the butter sauce for 5-10 minutes. Garnish with chives or parsley. Serve with extra sides of Viet-cajun butter sauce and spicy aioli. I like to pour the crawfish and sides onto a large tray lined with parchment or newspaper in the center of the table, and dig in!

FAQ’s and Serving Suggestions for this Crawfish Seafood Boil:

To store, keep your Viet-cajun butter sauce separate from your crawfish boil ingredients and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

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