This DIY Seafood Cooling and Holding Rack allows the seafood to stay cool, fresh, and keeps the flies away from the seafood.
Do you host Seafood Boils for family and friends? My family is from South Louisiana. We look forward to the spring and summer months.
You can often find us during warm weather in our backyard boiling up a big pot of Crawfish or Crabs for family and friends.
Once we boil our Seafood, we dump them out on a holding rack, which allows the Crabs or Crawfish to cool down and gives everyone room to grab a tray and dig in!
I think the Seafood Cooling and Holding Rack is a genius idea! My father-in-law came up with the concept over 40 years ago.
He passed down the original one he made to my husband years ago. It’s incredible how many Crawfish and Crab Boils we put that rack through. Sadly it fell apart the other day, so I decided to make another one.
The above picture shows my Father-in-law’s original Seafood Cooling and Holding Rack, with 80 lbs of Crawfish.
Can you believe the rack above is really over 40 years old?
Supplies for the DIY Seafood Cooling and Holding Rack
- 1- 8 ft long Galvanized Steel Rabbit Fencing with small holes
- 2- 8 ft long 2×4’s
- 4 Pack Galvanized Corner Braces with Screw
- 8 Screws
- 1- Box U Nails
- Hammer
- Saw
- Cordless screwdriver
How to Make the DIY Seafood Cooling and Holding Rack
- Cut the two 8-foot long 2×4 pieces into 6-foot long pieces.You should now have 2-6ft pieces and 2-2ft. pieces of wood.
- Use the 6ft pieces for the sides and use the 2 ft pieces for the ends to make the frame for the cooling rack.
- Screw the frame together.
- Next, screw the corner braces into the inside of each corner of the frame.
- Flip the frame over onto a flat surface, lay the 8ft piece of Rabbit fencing on top of the bottom of the frame.
- Using U Nails attach the Rabbit fencing to the frame. Flip back over and admire your new Seafood Cooling and Holding Rack. You will need to place the rack on top of two sawhorses or 2 tall garbage cans.
*Kim’s note- refer to the picture of the empty cooling rack above for guidance.
Tips for using the DIY Seafood Cooling and Holding Rack
When using the rack for seafood place a 16 ft long piece of screen on the bottom of the frame and let 8 feet of the mesh screen hanging over one end. Pour the seafood into the holding rack.
You can add a little ice on top of the seafood to keep them staying fresh while everyone is sitting down eating.
Make sure to fold the screen that is hanging over the edge to cover the seafood. Using the screen will keep the flies off your seafood!
When we boil Crabs, I pour the crabs into the cooling rack without the screen. But, I do use the mesh screen to cover the food.
After we eat all the seafood, we wash and rinse the holding rack and the mesh screen. Then I hang the holding rack in my garage on a hook.
What do you think about my Seafood Cooling and Holding Rack?
More Recipes for you
- Pan-Fried Speckled Trout with Creamy Crawfish Sauce
- Crab Balls
- Cajun Boiled Red Potatoes
- Crawfish Omelette Egg Cups
- Cajun Chicken and Sausage Pasta
- Crawfish Balls
- Fried Soft Shell Crabs
- Fried Soft Shell Crabs with Creamy Crawfish Sauce
- Cajun Shrimp Maque Choux
- Cream Cheese Shrimp Dip
- Creamy Coleslaw Recipe
And all my seafood recipes!
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This post was updated 6/16/2019.
Allison says
What a cool idea! I will have to show the hubby. He wants to have a crawfish boil.
KimSeghers says
Hi, Allison! Thank you so much for taking the time to visit. I hope your husband likes the rack. You should make one for him. It comes in handy when cooking, shrimp, crawfish or crabs. I also was thinking about using it for gardening. I can see using it to hold vegetables while picking them or rinsing them off and letting them dry out. Anyways, have a great weekend! Kim
yanique says
That looks so good! I'm missing out…I've never been to a Seafood boil before. Great tutorial by the way. I like that you don't need a million and one pieces of material to make it and everything you need can be easily found at a local hardware store. Pinning!
KimSeghers says
Thank you Yanique! Yes, you're definitely missing out!!! I think everyone should experience a crawfish boil. The rack was really easy to make, even I could make it ..lol!! Have an awesome weekend, Kim
lesliesholly says
I want to come to your house so you can cook for me! That looks delicious and a seafood boil sounds like so much fun!
KimSeghers says
I would love to cook for you, Leslie! Maybe one day we can get together for a crawfish boil! I think that would be fun!!! Have a lovely weekend, Kim
Deepika says
This is such a great idea, so helpful. And all that seafood is making me hungry. Thanks for sharing.
KimSeghers says
Thank you Deepika! Every time I look at my pictures of seafood I start wanting some ..lol! Have a great weekend.
Adrienne Brown says
You have brought back a lot of childhood memories. I used to love going to crawfish boils at my cousin's house in Baton Rouge. The food looks delicious!
KimSeghers says
Thank you Adrienne! There's nothing better than crawfish boils with family and friends. When I moved away from Louisiana for a while we use to special order our seafood for crawfish boils but it got expensive!! Have a great weekend.