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Fried Soft Shell Crabs With Crawfish Sauce

Crabs· Crawfish· Pasta· Seafood· Southern Food

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Fried Soft Shell Crabs With Crawfish Sauce is a favorite dish of mine to make for my family. Especially during crawfish season.

I always make sure to peel some of our boiled spicy seasoned crawfish to use for this soft shell crab recipe.

A few years ago my husband and I decided to sell our home on the Bayou and moved to a neighborhood.

We wanted our son to have a safe place to play. So we traded in our backyard filled with some of Louisiana’s finest seafood and Alligators for paved sidewalks and green grass.

Sadly, we miss living on the water and being able to catch fresh seafood from our backyard.

Also, we both miss raising soft shell crabs. We had several fiberglass shedding boxes that we would keep buster crabs until they shed, then we would freeze them to use in our recipes.

Fortunately, for us, we have found a local Seafood Market that has fresh seafood. So we can still enjoy cooking soft shell crabs and other seafood that we love.

Have you ever eaten a soft shell crab?

What is a Soft Shell Crab?

A soft-shell crab is technically a Blue Crab that has recently molted their old exoskeleton, and that is soft.

Soft Shell crabs that are starting to shed is called a buster crab. Once, the crab sheds they are moved from the water to prevent hardening.

It’s incredible to watch a crab go through the molting process, it literally backs out of its old shell through a split in it’s back.

How to Make Fried Soft Shell Crabs With Crawfish Sauce

First, to make Fried Soft Shell Crabs With Crawfish Sauce we cleaned and prepped the soft shell crabs. Next, we made a milk bath to dip the crabs into using eggs, mustard, and milk.

Second, we coated each soft shell crab with a mixture we made using flour and Slap Ya Mama Fish Fry. Additionally, we dipped each crab back into the milk bath then coated each crab again with the flour mixture.

Third, we heated oil in the deep fryer (like this one) until it reached 350 degrees. Make sure the oil is hot are your crabs will turn out soggy.

Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab

Fourth, we placed the soft shell crab legs into the oil to make sure it was hot enough before submerging the entire crab.

The oil should bubble and sizzle. Furthermore, we fried each crab until they were golden brown. Then we placed them onto a wire rack.

Fifth, we made a Crawfish Sauce in a cast iron skillet using crawfish tails we peeled and saved from a previous crawfish boil.

And, we added butter, whipping cream, minced garlic, green onions, and parsley.

Fried Soft Shell Crabs With Crawfish Sauce

Plating the Fried Soft Shell Crabs With Crawfish Sauce

Last, we placed pasta on a plate then put a hot deep fried soft shell crab on top. And, spooned some of the crawfish sauce over the crab and pasta.

Additionally, we topped the crawfish sauce with parsley and a little bit of Slap Ya Mama.

But, you could use any cajun seasoning or Old Bay if you like. Doesn’t this soft shell crab and crawfish recipe look delicious?

Just in case you’re wondering how to eat a soft shell crab, you eat the entire fried soft shell crab!

Just like you eat any other fried seafood. Learn How to Clean Soft Shell Crabs Easily with my step by step tutorial.

more seafood recipes for you

Fried Soft Shell Crab with Crawfish Sauce

Fried Soft Shell Crabs With Crawfish Sauce

Yield: 2 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

Fried Soft Shell Crabs With Creamy Crawfish Sauce. 

Ingredients

For Crabs:

  • 2 thawed and cleaned soft-shell crabs
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup Slap Ya Mama Fish Fry 
  • 1/2 cup milk 
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon mustard
  • 5 cups of oil for frying, or more

For Crawfish Sauce: 

  • 1 pound peeled crawfish tails
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup minced garlic
  • 1/2 cup green onions 
  • 1/2 cup parsley 
  • Additional: 

Additional: 

  • Parsley and Slap Ya Mama for garnishing 
  • Cooked Pasta for plating

Instructions

For Fried Soft Shell Crabs: 

  1. Clean soft shell crabs, remove eyes, mouth, apron, gills, and lungs.
  2. Heat oil in a deep fryer to 350 degrees. 
  3. Make a milk bath with the milk, mustard, and eggs. Whisk together in a bowl. 
  4. In a separate bowl mix together the flour and Slap ya Mama Fish Fry.
  5. Coat the crabs in the flour mixture, dip the crabs in the milk bath, then back into the flour mixture again.
  6. Place crabs one at a time legs first into the oil. Cook each crab 2-3 minutes or until golden brown.
  7. Carefully remove and place crabs on a wire rack. Using a wire rack keeps the crabs crisper than using paper towels. 

For Crawfish Sauce: 

  1. In a cast iron skillet or heavy pan melt 1 stick of butter.
  2. Stir in minced garlic, green onions, and parsley. Saute for 3-4 minutes.
  3. Add crawfish tails let cook on low heat for 5 minutes until crawfish is heated through.
  4. Whisk in heavy whipping cream, stir until the sauce is warm and thickens. Remove from heat.
  5. If sauce isn't thick enough add a little cornstarch. 

For plating:

Put some pasta on the center of a plate. Place a soft shell crab on top of pasta. Spoon some crawfish sauce over crab and pasta. Garnish with parsley and some Slap Ya Mama seasoning or Old Bay. 

Notes

You can use store bought crawfish tails. Also, you may substitute shrimp for the crawfish.

© Kim Seghers
Cuisine: Cajun / Category: Seafood

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Fried Soft Shell Crabs With Crawfish Sauce

Check out my Louisiana Crab Boil recipe and my Crawfish Boil recipe.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  12. Erin says

    Yum! I’m from the south and my family LOVES crawfish and crab. This dish has me feeling nostalgic. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply

    • Kim Seghers says

      Hi Erin! You should try this recipe . It’s so good. You could probably order seafood offline from a market in Louisiana if you can’t find it where you live. Have a great day, Kim

      Reply

  15. Sandra Mekosh says

    This looks amazing! How about you come to visit and I’ll make you a low country boil and you can make these. LOL Honestly though this looks amazing and I’ll be pinning to make for my family.

    Reply

    • Kim Seghers says

      Thanks Sandra! I love a good low country boil. We make some good boiled crawfish. I can’t wait for the prices to go down so I can start boiling!! Hope your family loves this recipe. Have a great week, Kim

      Reply

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