Food and Recipes Cooking Tips and Techniques How To Eat Boiled Crawfish By Valerie Fraser Luesse Valerie Fraser Luesse Senior Travel Editor Valerie Fraser Luesse has been associated with Southern Living and its affiliates since 1988 or, as she puts it, "I predate voicemail." After a decade in corporate communications, she moved to Southern Living Editorial as creative development director in 2001 and was later a senior writer in the travel department. Valerie left the magazine to freelance for a while (Valerie hated freelancing) and returned in 2016. Since then, she has had many adventures in storytelling, online and on the road.The Alabama native lives in Birmingham and writes novels on the side, including Under the Bayou Moon, The Key to Everything, Almost Home, and Missing Isaac. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on March 14, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas Here's how to make quick work of the shell and get to those tasty morsels. 01 of 05 Grasp Illustration: Ryan Kelly Hold crawfish on both sides of the tail joint, your thumbs on one side of the shell and your index fingers on the other. 02 of 05 Twist and Snap Illustration: Ryan Kelly With a twisting motion, snap the head away from the tail. (Optional step for diehards: Suck the juice from the crawfish head.) 03 of 05 Peel Illustration: Ryan Kelly Use your thumbs to peel away the shell from the widest part of the tail, pulling back from the center, just as you would peel a shrimp. 04 of 05 Tug Illustration: Ryan Kelly Hold the tip of the tail and gently tug out the tender meat. Enjoy! (Don’t live on the bayou? Order online at lacrawfish.com.) 05 of 05 Recipes Beth Dreiling Hontzas Recipe: Crawfish Boil Recipe: Crawfish Risotto Recipe: Crawfish Étouffée Recipe: Crawfish Jambalaya Try out some of our favorite crawfish recipes. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit