The Only Sauce You Need For Summer Seafood Boils

While barbecues are often a highlight of the summer season across The U.S., seafood boils are the real king of the summertime throughout much of the South. From Lowcountry seafood boils to crawfish stews, this Southern tradition is simple, tasty, and a perfect fit for a hungry crowd. All you have to do to make this is pick out some of your favorite seafood and starches, boil your ingredients in a large pot with seasonings, and decide what to serve alongside it.

While there's a lot that can accompany a seafood boil, there's only one sauce you really need: a simple butter topping. All you need to make this is some salted butter, chicken stock, diced yellow onion and garlic, lemon juice, and your seasonings of choice. We recommend using plenty of smoked paprika, homemade Old Bay and salt and pepper to taste. The smoky flavors of Old Bay paired with the savory goodness of butter and refreshing brightness of lemon juice makes for the truly perfect sauce for this classic Southern meal.

From hearty steamed crab legs, spiced andouille sausage, sweet corn on the cob (using the best corn shucking hack, of course), to the soft boiled potatoes, this easy, luscious topping is super well-rounded and pairs well with the whole medley of sweet, savory, and smoky flavors alike. It lets the main ingredients of your stew shine while adding plenty of added taste. Plus, it's a great base to infuse with as much spice as you'd like.

To make this sauce, simply melt butter in a pan. As it bubbles up, sauté some diced onions into the mixture (dicing them up small is key so the onion fully releases its flavors while cooking). While salted butter is a good idea to use for more flavor, those that want more control over this dish's salt content might want to opt for unsalted butter instead. No matter which variety you chose, don't be shy with the butter is this is what brings true richness and flavor to the sauce.

Once your onions brown, add in your other spices and ingredients, minus the lemon juice, then simmer low and slow so the flavors are thoroughly incorporated. As the aromatics fill your kitchen, squeeze in your lemon juice for a brightening splash of citrus. Now, it's ready to serve.

Actual measurements foe this sauce will depend on the size of your seafood boil. For a thinner sauce, you'll want to add more chicken stock, and if you prefer a thicker topping, it's better to add less. You can drizzle your seafood boil in the butter sauce, or, for less of a mess, pour it into small bowls and serve it on the side. You can even throw in some of this sauce to the broth you're boiling your ingredients to really infuse the dish with flavor.

While the base of this simple seafood boil sauce is pretty simple, this is the perfect topping to experiment with by adding other flavorful seasonings. That customizability is one thing that makes this sauce so great.

For starters, to round out your butter sauce with a dark, syrupy sweetness, adding in some brown sugar would bring a nice contrast to those other smoky, spiced flavors (much like sweet barbecue sauce makes the perfect pairing for salty cuts of smoked beef). For big lovers of spice, a few dashes of hot sauce, cayenne pepper, or red pepper flakes could bring some added heat to this topping. Just make sure the crowd you're serving is on board with those additions first. Next, for some added overall flavor, Worcestershire sauce would be a lovely umami addition.

Finally, some Cajun seasoning would also do well here and would be a great nod to the seafood boil's roots. For reference, the very first appearances of the seafood boil in the United States came from Cajun people that brought the dish with them from Canada to the Louisiana bayou. From there, many different versions of the dish began to spring up all around the U.S., when people like the Gullah Geechee put their own spin on it in the Carolinas. Now, you can try your hand at this dish too served alongside a totally original version of this butter sauce.