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Spicy crawfish balls are the bomb! Several years ago we had these delicious spicy crawfish balls at The Silver Coach Restaurant when we lived in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. I apologize for the extremely blurry picture of the crawfish balls! I will have to make more to take better pictures!

The restaurant was an old train car that had rooms added on to increase seating capacity. They served the spicy crawfish balls as an appetizer along with a three mustard sauce for dipping. Here is a picture I snagged off of the Internet.

Anyway, the spicy crawfish balls were so delicious that they left a lasting impact on us. I mean, we lived there 20 years ago, and we still remember how they tasted! Wow, time flies.

After years of leisurely trying to find a recipe, Todd finally found one that replicates the flavor perfectly. In addition, he found a wonderful chipotle ranch sauce that perfectly compliments the spicy crawfish balls.

Jump to Recipe

So, I typically have tons of pictures of the foods we make. Unfortunately, this is not the case. I have one picture of them…. just one….. so, needless to say, I will definitely take more pictures and add them when I make these again. Which will be very, very soon!

Here is the one picture:

 

They aren’t as crunchy looking there because we made them ahead of time to take to a party. Note to self: always make them and eat them right away!

Oh, and that absolutely gorgeous charcuterie tray? Sadly, I did not make it, but isn’t it stunning? Here is a picture of the whole tray:

And yes, everything on that board was delicious!

Moving Right Along

To make these you will need to fry them in peanut oil. We have learned it is the best oil to use. However, we did fry ours in vegetable oil and it worked out fine.

Make the Chipotle Sauce first. All of the ingredients will meld together in the refrigerator and make for a wonderful sauce. This can also be used as a dip or a dressing for tacos, salads, etc. or for dipping spicy crawfish balls!

Let’s Get Started on the Sauce

You will need a blender to make the sauce nice and smooth. Measure all of the ingredients needed for the sauce. Add them to the blender, and blend until it is completely smooth. One thing to note is that the sauce takes a little longer to blend because it doesn’t have a lot of liquid. Be patient!

Turn the blender off and use a silicone spatula to scrape the sides of the blender, moving the mixture down toward the blades. Turn it off….. These are Key Words folks! Turn the Blender Off before Sticking a Wooden Spoon in to stir the mixture. Don’t ask! It wasn’t me! Just saying…..

Once the sauce mixture is all blended and happy, stick it in the refrigerator. Start making the spicy crawfish balls.

As always, I get all my ingredients ready first. This is important because if I don’t do this, some ingredients will not end up in the final product. Once everything is ready, I start putting it all together.

Make the Spicy Crawfish Balls

Begin by heating up a sauce pan or skillet on medium high heat. Add the drained crawfish and seasoning mixture to the skillet and warm through. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Set this aside to cool.

Next, add the rough chopped vegetables to the food processor. You want the pieces to be somewhat small, since they are being formed into a ball. Remove the veggies from the food processor to a large bowl.

Strain the crawfish mixture well. We found it to be very watery, so make sure the mixture drains as much of the moisture off as possible. Add the crawfish mixture to the food processor and use the “pulse” feature to carefully chop the crawfish. The goal is to keep it a little on the chunky side.

Everyone in the Pool

Now comes the fun part! All the remaining ingredients; bread crumbs, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, and hand-chopped parsley go into the bowl with the crawfish and veggies.

Using your hands, mix all the ingredients together well. Think, meatloaf or meatballs: it’s the same process for mixing these ingredients together.

Start Heating the Oil

The oil needs to be at approximately 350 degrees. We used a candy measuring thermometer because it is what we had on hand. And, since we don’t typically fry foods, we were pretty much novices in this arena. If we can do this, you can too!

Make the mixture into balls the size of golf balls. Roll each ball in flour and set on a cookie sheet. As soon as the oil reaches 350 degrees, very carefully add 4 balls.

Alert – This is a Safety Tip!

Why only 4 balls you ask? Well, if you try to put in too many spicy crawfish balls at once, HOT oil will go all over the place. Again, it wasn’t me! And, luckily this was our second time frying the balls. Fortunately, it was outside and no one got hurt! Thank goodness! But, it is a very important Safety Tip!

Cook the spicy crawfish balls for 3-4 minutes until they are nicely browned. Carefully remove the balls from the oil with a slotted spoon and place them on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels.

Serve them warm with the dipping sauce as an appetizer or a meal. Let me know what you think of these recipes! The spicy crawfish balls were a big hit at the small gatherings we attended!

A special “Thank You” to the creators of these wonderful recipes:  Chipotle Ranch Dip: Kims Cravings and Spicy Crawfish Balls: Kim Seghers at This Ole Mom.

If you love spicy foods, check out some of my other recipes: Spicy Chili, Stuffed Jalapeños, Chipotle Salsa, and Hatch Chili Eggs Benedict.

Enjoy!