Fried Crawfish Tails Recipe

Crispy fried crawfish tails with cajun spices. A great leftover crawfish recipe that's easy to make!

Course Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine American, Cajun

Keyword crawfish, crawfish tails, fried

Cook Time 5

Marinate time 1

Servings servings

Calories 423kcal

THAW: If your crawfish are frozen, soak the frozen package in cold water for about 15 minutes or place under cold running water. They should defrost quickly. Do not thaw ahead of time.
1 pound crawfish tails
SOAK: Combine buttermilk and hot sauce in a container and stir, then add the thawed crawfish. Stir well to coat all the crawfish. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
¾ cup buttermilk, 1 tablespoon hot sauce
MIX: While the crawfish are soaking, add all the dry ingredients in a large zip top bag, seal, and shake well to combine.
½ cup all purpose flour, ½ cup yellow cornmeal, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 2 teaspoons diamond crystal kosher salt, 1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon black pepper
HEAT: When the crawfish are almost ready, add about 1 - 1½ inches of oil into a sturdy pot or deep skillet. Heat oil to 350°F (175°C).
SHAKE: Drain the buttermilk from the crawfish and gently squeeze out the excess liquid. Transfer the crawfish to the dry ingredients and shake well so all crawfish are coated. Use a spider strainer to lift the crawfish out and shake off excess flour mixture.
FRY: Working in batches, transfer battered crawfish to the oil and fry for 1-2 minutes, or until golden brown. Gently stir so they all fry evenly. Transfer fried crawfish to a paper towel lined plate or baking rack and promptly sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Continue until all crawfish are fried.

Frozen crawfish tails or leftover crawfish tails from a crawfish boil are both totally fine for this recipe.
Buttermilk substitute: mix ¾ cups whole milk with 1 teaspoon lemon juice together.
Some of the cornmeal may fall to the bottom of the pot when frying, which is normal.
Storage: Fried crawfish tails are best served fresh. If needed, store in the refrigerator for 1-2 days in an airtight container.
Do not freeze fried crawfish.
Reheat in the oven on a baking sheet at 350°F (175°C) until warmed through.
Make ahead: I don’t recommend making this recipe ahead of time. Do not thaw frozen crawfish ahead of time. You can mix together the dry ingredients for batter a few days ahead of time if needed.