What Is Crayfish and How Can I Use It?
If crayfish has turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use it with confidence and how to choose it, cook it, store it, what to substitute, and 10 recipes to try it in.
Key Points
- Small freshwater crustacean like a miniature lobster; also called crawfish, crawdads, or mudbugs.
- Whole crayfish star in a Louisiana boil with corn, potatoes, and sausage in spiced water.
- For the peeled tail meat and how to buy and reheat it, see the crawfish tails page.
What is crayfish?
Crayfish are small freshwater crustaceans that look like miniature lobsters, also spelled crawfish or known as crawdads and mudbugs across the American South. Most of the eating meat lives in the tail, with a little more tucked into the claws of bigger ones.
The flavor is sweet and mild, close to a small lobster. Whole crayfish are the star of the Louisiana crawfish boil, where pounds of them are simmered in heavily spiced water with corn, potatoes, and sausage, then dumped on a table and peeled by hand.
To boil them live, drop the cleaned crayfish into furiously boiling seasoned water and cook just until the shells turn bright red, roughly 5 to 7 minutes, then let them soak in the spice. They also lend their sweetness to French dishes like Crayfish with Nantua Sauce.
For the peeled tail meat used in etouffee, bisque, casseroles, and most everyday cooking, including how to buy and reheat the pre-cooked frozen kind, see the crawfish tails page.
Quick facts
- In Chinese
- 小龙虾
- British (UK) term
- Crayfish
- en français
- écrevisse
- en español
- cangrejo de río
Recipes using crayfish
There are 10 recipes that contain this ingredient.
Bisque De Cribiches(Freshwater Crayfish Bisq
Creole-style freshwater crayfish bisque with coconut milk, fennel, and egg yolk thickener. Crayfish sauteed, pureed, and simmered into a silky, rich soup.
Frank's Crawfish
Louisiana crawfish etouffee with a dark roux, holy trinity vegetables, tomatoes, and cayenne served over rice. A Cajun classic built on a proper 10-minute dark roux.
Veal-And-Crayfish Stew
Veal and crayfish stew in a sherry cream sauce with mushrooms, nutmeg, and lemon. Tender braised veal meets sweet crayfish tails in this elegant French-inspired dish.
Crayfish Tail Salad
Boiled crayfish tails tossed with spinach, Belgian endive, blanched green beans, and fresh herbs, dressed in nutty hazelnut oil. A refined French-inspired seafood salad ready in 45 minutes.
Sonny Bono's Frutta Di Mare a la Palm Springs
A spectacular Italian seafood stew with swordfish, snapper, salmon, scallops, shrimp, mussels, clams, and crayfish in a tomato broth laced with anchovies and fennel. Serve over linguine.
Crayfish Etouffee
Crayfish etouffee built on a deep buttery base of onion, celery, green pepper, and garlic, simmered with tomato paste, white wine, and tender crayfish tails. The Cajun classic, served over rice. Best made a day ahead.
Crayfish with Nantua Sauce
Classic French Nantua sauce built from live crayfish, cognac flambé, mirepoix, tomato, and cream, reduced to a velvety finish. A masterclass in old-school French technique.
Nantua Sauce
Classic French Nantua sauce built from live crayfish, cognac, mirepoix, and cream. A double-reduced, deeply pink shellfish sauce for quenelles, fish, or seafood pasta.
