Easy Shrimp Boil Recipe
This is the easiest Shrimp Boil you’ll ever make! Baked on a sheet pan, this recipe completely skips the mess while keeping all the flavor.
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Hi there! My name is Natalya and I run the blog Momsdish. If you already follow me, you know I can’t get enough of easy meals that require simple ingredients. Well, this sheet pan dish is right up my alley! We love it and know you will too!
We love the ease of one-pan dinners like Salmon and Asparagus or Spatchcock Chicken. Our rendition of a classic shrimp boil cuts down on the mess and cook time by baking all the ingredients on a sheet pan instead.
Why Are Shrimp Boils so Popular?
Shrimp boils have been all the rage in America’s South forever and for good reason. A classic boil contains shrimp, corn, potatoes, and spicy kielbasa sausage tossed with Old Bay Seasoning.
All the ingredients are boiled in a big pot full of flavorful broth and spread out across a large picnic table covered with newspaper. Guests gather around a heaping pile of boiled goodies and chow down. That’s right – a classic shrimp boil is a meal and experience all wrapped into one.
How to do a Sheet Pan Shrimp Boil
Follow these easy steps to nail this sheet pan shrimp boil. Bon appetit!
- Cook potatoes and corn in two separate pots of water until tender.
- Drain your potatoes and corn and place them into a large bowl. Add shrimp and sliced kielbasa.
- In a small bowl, combine melted butter, old bay seasoning, and garlic.
- Toss all your ingredients together with your melted butter seasoning.
- Transfer to a large baking sheet and bake at 400℉ for 15 minutes.
Tips For The Best Shrimp Boil
- Potatoes: Baby dutch or Yukon potatoes are your best bet. Cut potatoes into even-sized pieces to promote even cooking.
- Corn: Boiled sweet corn is the perfect complement to all the savory ingredients in your boil. Cut cobs into 2-inch sized pieces.
- Sausage: Smoked Andouille Sausage or any Cajun-style sausage will work. You could also use Polish Kielbasa in a pinch. Kielbasa and Potatoes go really well together.
- Seasoning: Old Bay seasoning is a must. Every authentic shrimp boil requires it! You can find it at most grocery stores or even online.
- Shrimp: Tail-on, large shrimp work the best. If you can get your hands on tiger shrimp, do it! Raw, thawed, and tail on is the way to go.
To Quick-Thaw Shrimp: If you don’t have time to thaw your shrimp in the refrigerator overnight, thaw it quickly by placing it in a colander in your sink. Run cool water over the frozen shrimps for 7-8 minutes until the ice dissolves then drain and pat dry with paper towels.
What to Serve with a Shrimp Boil:
A shrimp boil is a hands-down crowd pleaser and a meal in itself. Just add a few sides to the mix and you’ve got a feast on your hands.
This pairs really well with Homemade Bread, some creamy Coleslaw, and a heaping pile of lemon wedges around your shrimp boil.
Try A Few Other Seafood Recipes
- Grilled Salmon: Grilled salmon is smoky, flaky, and juicy. You’ll love the flavored butter.
- Baked Salmon: Our #1 Salmon recipe with garlic and dijon marinade
- Fish Tacos: This taco recipe features the BEST taco sauce.
- Cod Recipe: Light and healthy cod is the perfect summertime meal.
- Air Fryer Salmon: The air fryer cooks salmon perfectly every time — and fast.
Shrimp Boil Recipe
This is the easiest shrimp boil you’ll ever do! Baked on a sheet pan, this recipe completely skips the mess while keeping all the flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 lb baby potatoes, cut into equal pieces
- 3 ears of corn, each cut into 5 pieces
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp Old Bay seasoning
- 16 oz smoked andouille sausage, cut into pieces
- 1 lb large shrimp, raw, tail on
- 2 lemons, cut into wedges
Instructions
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In a large pot with water, cook potatoes until they become tender. In a separate pot with boiling water, cook corn for about 10 minutes.
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Drain corn and potatoes, and place them into a large bowl.
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Clean and pat dry shrimp, and add them to the bowl. Also, add sausage to the bowl.
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In a small bowl, combine butter with minced garlic and Old Bay seasoning. Pour the butter mixture over the shrimp boil ingredients and toss it all together.
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Transfer everything to a large baking sheet and bake at 400 °F for about 15 minutes or until the shrimp is fully cooked. Serve with lemon wedges.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Natalya Drozhzhin
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Delicious & so flavorful! The only change I will make the next time is to use peeled shrimp…easier to eat. Bonus is how fast it is to prepare. xx
Sounds good, and great to know that you loved this recipe. Thank you for the review, Kelly!
Wow. I doubled the sauce based on reviews I had read and it did not disappoint! Will definitely be making this again and I HIGHLY recommend doubling the sauce!
I also used frozen shrimp I had on hand and ended up completely peeling them including the tails. The shrimp came out just fine for those that were curious!
Hi Julia! Thank you so much for the review. I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for sharing with us.
Question do you leave shell on shrimp
It depends on you but for this recipe, I remove the shell but leave the tail on.
My first time making this and it was a hit out of the park! Super flavorful and plates were wiped clean. Haha
I didn’t have Old Bay, so I used Cajun Seasoning. I substituted the andouille sausage for mild spicy Italian sausage, it’s what I had. I removed the casing, my kiddo doesn’t like it, the substitution enhanced the flavor. I didn’t add the sausage into the bowl to mix it, incase it created more heat flavor to the sausage.
Definitely one I’ll make over and over again! Thank you.
Glad to hear that it was already a hit on your first try! Thanks for your review and for sharing you experience trying this recipe.
This is a hit at my house! My kids loved it! I did turkey sausage and it turned out wonderful! A+
Thanks again Natasha!
That is the best when kids love what we moms make. I’m glad this was a hit with your family, Kendra!
Planning a birthday celebration for a family member and this sounds perfect for the party! Question — that sounds like a long time to boil corn on the cob and then bake it too? Does it turn out tough? Thank you!
Hi Tracey! It was not tough! We absolutely loved it! I hope you give this a try soon!
what is old bay seasoning i have not seen it here in the uk
Old Bay is a versatile savory seasoning blend including mixed spices, herbs, and peppers. I recommend a google search, and I quickly took a look, and substitutes for Old Bay Seasoning, can be celery salt, seafood seasoning, or paprika. Chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and celery salt can also work. I hope this is helpful
Best shrimp boil I’ve made yet, and I’ve cooked a lot of them! The shrimp isn’t overcooked and the flavor is amazing. Thank you! My kids love it!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Pamela!
Made the shrimp broil, and the family loved it. thank you will make it again and again
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
Hi Natasha, I love watching your videos and cooking with you and I love the knife that you cook and scrape with. I just want to know whats the name of it and where would I purchace one?
Hi Gwendolyn, you can find our favorite kitchen tools in our Amazon Affiliate Shop HERE.
You could also add clams to the shrimp boil dish. Yum!
Great idea! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
I like the old fashioned boil with old bay, 1 pot not all the preparation before just add items to pot as cooking time I also add lobster crab and mussels being last
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
If we wanted to add crab to this or lobster how would we do this. I’ve never cooked either. Thanks
Hello Ani, I bet that could work but I haven’t tested that yet to advise. If you do an experiment, please share with us how it goes.
Is the sausage cooked,& just to be reheated in the boil ? Thx. Love your recipes !! 👏
Hi Mary, yes, that’s right.
Do you have any cookbook that can be purchased
Hi Margie, I don’t have a cookbook out yet, but it’s on my list of life goals.
How do you cut the corn without destroying it like I did. Ended up just snapping it in half as I could not cut it neatly like it looks in the picture. Help please!
Hi Maria, a large, heavy knife helps with cutting corn and if it’s very difficult, you can use a serrated knife to get through the tough center of the cobb.
Oh my gosh this was SO GOOD! My husband and two boys LOVED this (and it is hard to please all of them!) I used smoked sausage and seared first with a bit of cajun seasoning instead of the andoiulleand it turned incredible! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
You are very welcome, Suzanne. I’m happy to hear that your family enjoyed this recipe!
Does the smell linger in your oven when using the baking sheet method? I see one comment where they put it in a roasting pan with a lid.
Hi Margie, I haven’t had any issues with any lingering smells, but I do like to prop my oven open slightly while it’s cooling which may help with that.
Made this tonight and my husband and I both loved it! I used chicken andouille sausage, otherwise same ingredients. I may try it next time as someone mentioned by cooking raw corn & potatoes for 20 min, then adding shrimp and I assume sausage for 10 min. Lovely dish! We also love your salmon cakes and portabellas with spinach & havarti. Can’t wait to try other recipes!
Sounds wonderful! I hope you love every recipe that you try, Mary.
I love all your stuff.I use all of them.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying our recipes Shelley!
This will be our weekend dish! Delish!!!
Awesome! Looks like this is going to be one of your favorite recipes.
We truly love this recipe try it the first time and now it’s part of meal plans. Atleast one every 2 weeks, I make it. Thank you!
So nice to know that this has been added to your favorites list! Thanks for your good feedback, Mima. We appreciate it.
Made this last night for our annual crab feast! It was a huge hit!! There was so much flavor, and it was so much easier than boiling everything. Love your recipes!
I am so glad that the it was a success! Thank you so much for sharing that with us.
This recipe was delicious and a learning experience!
We got everything for at the store, but our eyes were bigger than our sheet pan (lol) so, we got 1.5 lbs of fresh white gulf shrimp, and did around 17 oz. of polish sausage, and three whole unshucked ears of corn (we shucked them and cut them down to size, but corn got everywhere trying to cut through the ears) – did the pre-boil of the corn and potatoes (I threw in a little butter and old bay with both pots after reading others comments about doing the same!) smelled heavenly!
Cleaning 1.5 lbs of shrimp when you’ve never done it is a little time-consuming, so I think next time we’ll get that done first and set them on ice, before doing everything else first. It was still worth it in the end!
After we realized that it wasn’t all going to fit neatly on one large sheet pan, we decided to throw it all into our roasting pan and put it in the oven with the lid on.
Smells heavenly! We paired it with a side of coleslaw/power slaw mix, lots of lemons, a loaf of heb French bread and cold beers dressed with tajin and lime!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me Kristina! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
I made this last night and it was soooo good! Love how easy it was to throw together too! Will be making this again.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that Jane! thank you for sharing that great review with me!
Going to try today but my family likes the sauce to dip it in, do I just double the butter mixture you provided and have you added crab legs to it.
Hi Yolanda! I bet that could work!
We made this last night and it tastes amazing! One suggestion: Add a yellow onion, peeled and cut in half, to the water with the potatoes, then coat it with the butter/Old Bay mixture. Turned out so sweet and so yummy!
Thank you so much for that suggestion, Gretchen! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe.
I have made Frogmore Stew (shrimp boil) for years and this is so much easier. I made it even easier buy tossing the raw potatoes, raw corn, and the sausage with about 2/3 of the butter mixture and baking that for about 20 minutes, then tossing the shrimp in the rest of the butter and adding it to the pan and cooking for about another 10 minutes until the shrimp is done! So good. No more giant pots of boiling water!
That’s a great idea! Thank you for sharing that awesome review with us Lucy!
Can chorizo work as well? Thanks
Hi Cat, yes that would work.
Made this tonight for Father’s Day dinner — It was great !! Everyone loved it and want it again — the only thing I would change is to make more !!! Great flavor – and the sauce !!!
So wonderful to hear that everyone loved this recipe. Thank you so much!
I live in a small town and our grocery store doesn’t carry Old Bay Seasoning. Would Cajun seasoning work in it’s place or do you have another alternative? Thanks!
Hi Nina. Old Bay seasoning is a must. Every authentic shrimp boil requires it! You can find it at most grocery stores or even online. I have not tried using cajun seasoning yet to advise.
Natasha,
I enjoy your site and you have several times inspired my cooking. Case in point, your Low Country Bo… Bake! As I live in the South (Central Alabama), I substituted Old Bay with 2Tbs of Zataran’s Crab Boil. Amazing results. Thanks for the inspiration.
You are so welcome and it’s my pleasure to be able to help inspire you to cook.
Omg so yummy! I made this last night. The butter/Old Bay seasoning is very good; so good I doubled it 😀. I added scallops with the shrimp and replaced the corn and potatoes with zucchini and whole radishes plus broccoli, to keep it low carb. So easy To make, love the one pan meals.
That is awesome! I’m so glad you loved this recipe and thank you for sharing that with us.
Could you do this in the air fryer?
Hi Melody, I have not tested that in an air fryer to advise. If you experiment please let me know how you like that.
This was delicious! My family asked if this can be a repeat meal. The only thing I would do next time is double the sauce because it’s that good!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
we made it and it was so good
That’s just awesome!
Could sweet Potatoes be used instead ?
Hi Kayla, I haven’t tested that with sweet potato but I imagine it may work. If you experiment please let me know how you like that.
Made this last night because of that picture and totally loved it. Will be making again.
I’m so happy to hear that! It sounds like you found a new favorite in this shrimp boil recipe.
Hi Natasha. I would love to make this for my husband on Father’s Day. Quick question for you (if I may). Aside from the corn, potatoes, shrimp, and sausage…would it be okay to add one more item…like…hmm…a little bit of crab meat? Would that be okay or would it mess it all up? Love to hear your thoughts. We love all of your recipes by the way. You’re amazing!
Hi Sarah, I bet that could work! If you experiment please let me know how you like that!
Could this be done on the bbq?
Hi Julie, that should work instead of the sheet pan but I would probably turn them into individual foil packets and then put them on the grill.
Looks delicious!
It is so yummy. I hope you can try this!
We had so much fun making doing this as a family and the food was incredible. Great idea and fantastic recipe!
Thanks for your great comments, Stephanie. I am so glad you all enjoyed this recipe!