Crawdads boiled tomato red and sold by the pound, the signature of Isleton, the Sacramento River Delta town whose Crawdad Festival dates to 1985.

Isleton, a small city about 30 miles from Sacramento along Highway 160, held its Crawdad Festival from 1985, a defining event for the town until the late 2000s, and the festival returned to Main Street in June 2023 for the first time in 14 years, over the weekend that included Father's Day. At that edition the boiled crawdads, tomato red and sold by the pound, came from Louisiana, the way the cook preferred them, though crawdads are prevalent throughout California waters. Isleton is the sister city of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.

Where to eat Sacramento Delta Crawfish Boil in Sacramento

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Make it at home

Serves 61 hrEasy

Ingredients

  • 2.5kg live freshwater crawfish
  • 6 small new potatoes, halved
  • 3 ears of sweet corn, halved
  • 500g smoked andouille or kielbasa sausage, sliced 5cm
  • 2 lemons, halved
  • 1 head garlic, halved horizontally
  • 1 large onion, halved
  • 100g Old Bay seasoning
  • 2 tbsp cayenne
  • 2 tbsp salt
  • Optional: 2 bay leaves, 1 tbsp black peppercorns

Method

  1. Rinse the live crawfish in cold water several times until the water runs clear. Discard any dead crawfish.
  2. Fill a 30L pot with water, leaving 10cm headroom. Add Old Bay, cayenne, salt, bay leaves, peppercorns, garlic, onion and lemons. Bring to a rolling boil.
  3. Add potatoes and sausage. Boil 10 minutes.
  4. Add corn. Boil another 5 minutes.
  5. Add crawfish. Stir well. Cover and boil 5 minutes, then turn off the heat.
  6. Let the crawfish steep covered for 15 minutes. Drain the pot onto a newspaper-lined table and serve hot with cold beer.

Editor tip. The crawfish keep cooking off the heat. If they overcook the meat goes mealy. Test at minute 12 of the steep and pull them when the tails just curl.

Common allergens: Shellfish.