Food and Recipes Cooking Tips and Techniques How To Eat Boiled Crawfish By Valerie Fraser Luesse Valerie Fraser Luesse Valerie Fraser Luesse has been affiliated with Southern Living and its parent company since 1988. She has written some 30 Southern Journal essays for the magazine and extensively covered the unique cultural pockets of the South, including Acadian Louisiana, the Mississippi Delta, South Florida, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She released her fourth Southern novel with Revell in 2021. 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