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Fish & seafood

Crayfish

Also called crawfish and crawdads

Crayfish is a crustacean whose muscle is eaten. It is sold frozen and can be boiled or simmered.

  • Shellfish
  • Gluten-free
  • Allergen: crustaceans

About the plain ingredient, not packaged products; general information, not medical advice. Details

Part used
Muscle
Cooked most in
Africa, The Americas
Top country
Nigeria
Crayfish, cooked

Photo: JIP · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use crayfish

Typical ways to cook or use it

  • Boil simmer

Preparing it

For more humane preparation, freeze crayfish until unconscious before cooking. Cut the crayfish lengthwise to destroy its central nervous system before cooking.

Shopping

Choosing and storing crayfish

Sold as
Frozen

Nutrition

What 100 g of crayfish holds

Per 100 g, raw. Averages from USDA; real values vary by variety, season and growing conditions.

Protein 94%Fat 6%Carbohydrate 0%of the macronutrients by weight

Nutrition per 100 g of crayfish, raw
Energy77 kcal · 322 kJ
Protein16 g
Fat0.95 g
of which saturated0.16 g
Carbohydrate0 g
of which sugars0 g
Fibre0 g
Sodium58 mg
Cholesterol114 mg
Nutrition per 100 g of crayfish, raw: minerals and vitamins
Potassium302 mg
Calcium27 mg
Iron0.84 mg
Magnesium27 mg
Zinc1.3 mg
Vitamin C1.2 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)16 µg
Folate37 µg
Vitamin B122 µg

Source: USDA FoodData Central (food 174206), public domain. Minerals and vitamins are listed only where USDA measured a non-zero amount.

Around the world

Where crayfish is cooked

20 dishes in the catalogue use crayfish. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

Countries whose dishes use it most

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list crayfish among their ingredients.

On the table

Dishes made with crayfish

20 dishes in the catalogue use it.

  • Crawfish Monica

    United States

  • Banga rice

    Nigeria

  • Ekpang Nkwukwo

    Cameroon, Nigeria

  • Draw soup

    Nigeria

  • Crawfish bread

    United States

  • Edikang Ikong

    Nigeria

  • Crawfish étouffée

    United States

  • Spicy cow foot

    Nigeria

  • Afang

    Nigeria

  • African salad

    Nigeria

  • Otong soup

    Nigeria

  • Peeled Beans Porridge

    Nigeria

  • Abak Soup

    Nigeria

  • Goat meat pepper soup

    Nigeria

  • Kekefia

    Nigeria

  • Nsala soup

    Nigeria

  • Rivers state native soup

    Nigeria

  • Palm nut soup

    Nigeria

  • Gbegiri

    Nigeria

  • Crayfish soup

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include crayfish.

Good to know

Diet and allergens: crayfish in detail

These notes describe the plain ingredient. Packaged and prepared products vary, so read the label; for allergies and medical diets ask a doctor or dietitian.
Allergens
Contains: crustaceansChecked and not found: soy, eggs, fish, milk, lupin, wheat, celery, sesame, mustard, peanuts, molluscs, sulphites, tree nuts, gluten cereals.
Animal origin
From: shellfishChecked and not found: egg, fish, meat, dairy, honey, insect, gelatin, poultry, bone char, other animal, animal fining, animal rennet.
Gluten
None
Alcohol
None
Caffeine
None
Pork
None

Cooked together

Ingredients that go into the same catalogued dishes.
Photo credits for this page (9)

Around the world

What crayfish is called

Names in 54 languages, from Wikidata.

  • Spanish

    cangrejo de río · Parastacoidea · Astacoidea · cangrejo de rio

  • French

    écrevisse

  • Italian

    gambero d'acqua dolce · gambero di acqua dolce · gambero di fiume

  • Portuguese

    lagostim · Langostino

  • German

    Krebs · Flusskrebs

  • Dutch

    rivierkreeft · rivierkreeftjes · Rivierkreeften · Ibai-karramarro

  • Greek

    Καραβίδα

  • Turkish

    kerevit

  • Russian

    речные раки · речной рак · пресноводные раки

  • Polish

    rak · Rak

  • Arabic

    جراد المياه العذبة · الاستاكوزا · إستاكوزا · استاكوزا

  • Persian

    خارچنگ

Show all 54 languages

  • Armenian

    Գետային խեցգետիններ

  • Basque

    Ibai-karramarroa

  • Burmese

    ကျောက်ပုစွန် · ကျောက်ပုစွန်တုပ်

  • Cantonese

    龍蝦仔

  • Catalan

    crancs de riu · cranc de riu · Astacoidèids · Astacoidea

  • Chinese

    淡水龙虾 · 螯蝦

  • Chuvash

    Юханшыв ракĕ

  • Czech

    rak · raci

  • Esperanto

    kankro

  • Finnish

    ravut

  • Galician

    Cangrexo de río

  • Haitian Creole

    Ekrevis

  • Hebrew

    סרטני נהרות

  • hyw

    Գետային Խեցգետինը

  • Icelandic

    Vatnakrabbar

  • Ido

    Kankro

  • Inari Sami

    rapuh

  • Indonesian

    Lobster air tawar

  • Irish

    gliomach fionnuisce

  • Japanese

    ザリガニ · 躄蟹 · エビガニ

  • Kazakh

    Өзен шаяны

  • Korean

    가재 · 가재상과

  • Latin

    Astacologia

  • Malagasy

    Orana (biby)

  • Malay

    Udang krai · Astacoidea

  • Navajo

    Tooh chʼoshtsoh bíláshgaantsohí

  • Northern Sami

    reappát

  • Norwegian Bokmål

    ferskvannskreps

  • Occitan

    Escaravissa

  • Picard

    Ékérciche

  • Quechua

    Apanqura

  • Samogitian

    Viežīs

  • Scottish Gaelic

    Giomach uisge

  • Sicilian

    Gàmmaru

  • Simplified Chinese

    淡水龙虾

  • Skolt Sami

    rääkk

  • Slovak

    rak · raky

  • Slovenian

    sladkovodni rak · rečni rak

  • Swedish

    kräftor

  • Thai

    เครย์ฟิช · Astacoidea · Crawfish · กุ้งเครฟิช

  • Traditional Chinese

    淡水龍蝦

  • Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong SAR China)

    淡水龍蝦

  • Ukrainian

    річкові раки · раки річкові

  • Vietnamese

    Tôm hùm đất

  • Walloon

    Grevesse

Sources and credits

Data

Wikidata item: Q1211742

Photos

Photo: JIP · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons