Drizzle Cajun butter sauce over your favorite Louisiana seafood boil, lobster tails or crab. It's rich in flavor, velvety, and perfectly spiced. Have this delicious garlic butter sauce on the table in 5 minutes!
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🌟Why You'll Love this Recipe
- Easy to make. Making your own sauces and dressing can be daunting, time-consuming, and not worth the effort. But not this Cajun butter sauce. This recipe is as quick and easy as it gets. All you need is 6 simple ingredients, 5 minutes, and a microwave.
- Versatile. Serve this easy Cajun butter sauce with virtually any seafood. You can use it as a dip, seafood marinade or even use it as a crab boil sauce. Try it with my garlic butter mussels, panko cod recipe or lobster rolls with butter next!
- Customizable. Adjust the spices and garlic to make it as spicy or mild as you'd like. Scroll down to the variations section for more adjustments you can make to suit your taste.
🥘Ingredients
- Butter - I recommend using unsalted butter so you can adjust the salt to taste. If you only have salted butter on hand, it can be used in place of unsalted butter, but I'd recommend omitting the additional salt.
- Garlic - Similar to my Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs and Lemon Garlic Hummus, I recommend using fresh garlic cloves. Using dried garlic powder or garlic granules simply does not have the same sharp, fresh flavor as garlic cloves. Using garlic powder would cause the flavor in this garlic butter sauce to fall flat.
- Parsley - Using fresh parsley over dried parsley is recommended for the best flavor, but dried parsley can be substituted in a pinch.
- Spices - I prefer to make my own mix at home so I can easily adjust the flavor. If you have pre-made Cajun seasoning mix at home, you can substitute the spices with 1 ¾ teaspoon of the seasoning. Or, if you have Old Bay seasoning, you can use it for a milder seafood butter sauce.
See the recipe card below for the remaining ingredients and quantities.
📖Substitutions & Variations
- How to make spicy butter sauce: If you're looking for a seafood sauce recipe that's got a bit of a kick to it, increase the cayenne pepper to taste.
- For a smokier butter sauce: Substitute the paprika for smoked paprika.
- Low sodium option: If you are sensitive to sodium, make sure to use unsalted butter, then adjust the amount of added salt to taste. My recommendation would be to start with ⅛ teaspoon and add additional salt to taste.
- For more depth, add fresh lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and even hot sauce.
🔪Instructions
Step 1: Add the butter to a microwave-safe bowl and cook for about 1 minute, or until the butter is just melted.
Step 2: Once the butter is melted, add in the salt, minced garlic, fresh parsley, paprika, cayenne and onion powder. Whisk together until smooth. Serve while hot with your favorite seafood.
💭Recipe FAQs
If you want a thicker garlic butter sauce for seafood, simmer the sauce on the stovetop in a small saucepan for 5-10 minutes over low heat. This will help reduce the sauce, making it thicker without cornstarch. If you want to make your seafood butter sauce this way, I recommend doubling or tripling the recipe and making sure to keep the heat low. You do not want to burn the garlic.
Yes. I typically use this simple seafood butter sauce for dipping cooked seafood in, but you can marinade and sauté seafood like shrimp in the butter sauce.
For this recipe, we are using paprika, cayenne pepper and onion powder. Feel free to add smoked paprika for some smokiness, black pepper, dried oregano and dried thyme.
Cajun butter sauce is typically spicier than Creole butter sauce and uses more garlic. Creole butter sauce, like Creole seasoning, has a more complex flavor profile and is milder.
👩🏻🍳Top Tips
- Avoid over-melting the butter. If you microwave the butter longer than necessary, it can begin to brown the butter. The butter will still be usable, but it will have a darker color and a nuttier flavor and aroma.
- Use fresh garlic. This is important, so I wanted to reiterate it. Garlic powder and garlic granules should be saved for recipes like Air Fried Butternut Squash and Salmon Patties in the Air Fryer.
- Use high-quality butter for the best results and flavor. I recommend grass-fed and/or European butter.
- Adjust the amount of spices and salt to your taste.
🥗Serving
This melted butter sauce pairs well with air fryer shrimp, snow crab legs, and a variety of seafood boils like Louisiana Crawfish boil, shrimp boil, or crab and lobster seafood boil.
The flavorful sauce can also be drizzled over sweet corn and grilled or sautéed meats like chicken or steak. It can also be used as a dipping sauce for vegetables or as a sauce for pasta dishes or rice bowls.
🥣Storage & Reheating
If you have leftovers, let the sauce come to room temperature and store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Reheat in the microwave until melted.
More Homemade Sauces and Dips To Try
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Cajun Butter Sauce
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Ingredients
- ½ stick unsalted butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1-2 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a microwave-safe bowl until completely melted (about 1 minute).
- Mix in the remaining ingredients with a whisk or fork.
- Serve immediately with your favorite seafood.
Sarah's Tips
- Avoid over-melting the butter. If you microwave the butter longer than necessary, it can begin to brown the butter. The butter will still be usable, but it will have a darker color and a nuttier flavor and aroma.
- Use fresh garlic. This is important, so I wanted to reiterate it. Garlic powder and garlic granules should be saved for recipes like Air Fried Butternut Squash and Salmon Patties in the Air Fryer.
- Use high-quality butter for the best results and flavor. I recommend grass-fed and/or European butter.
- Adjust the amount of spices and salt to your taste.
- If you have leftovers, let the sauce come to room temperature and store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
- Reheat in the microwave until melted.
KITCHEN TOOLS NEEDED
- Small Bowl
- Whisk
Foothillspj says
You said to add lemon juice Worcestershire sauce and even hot sauce for more depth - how much of each would you recommend?
Sarah Hill says
Hi Pam, I would start small (1/2-1 teaspoon) then taste and add more if you want.
Theresa Nestor says
I tried this recipe and it's really good.
Sarah Holt says
Hi Theresa, very happy you enjoyed it! It's so great on any type of seafood 🙂