How to Make a Leftover Shrimp Boil into an Omelet

What to do with leftover seafood boil yumminess?

We had a fabulous shrimp boil for Thanksgiving at Gumbo Cove, our little bay cabin in Mississippi.

The shrimp boil was everything we wanted, but we made a little too much. No worries, the leftovers are fabulous, too. They’re good cold, they’re good hot, they’re good in other things. Like this omelet I made for myself—twice—when I stayed at Gumbo Cove a couple of days longer than the rest of the family.

The solo leftover shrimp boil omelet I cooked up was super-easy and super-satisfying. Easy because everything was already made and all I had to do was assemble and encase it in a two-egg omelet. Satisfying because it tasted great and I was tapping into my Depression-era need to use up leftovers. I inherited that tendency from both my mom and paternal grandmother, and I think utilizing leftovers is the impetus for many wonderful inventions in the kitchen: how can I repurpose these ingredients from last night’s dinner in a new and interesting way?

Shrimp Boil Omelet for One

Not really a recipe, this post is more of a list of recommendations to help you make your own unique creation from your own unique seafood boil. You can use any leftover seafood in an omelet like this.

First, gather your ingredients from the boil. I used the mushrooms, shrimp and sausage for the omelet filling, and also chopped some of the potatoes to heat in the microwave as a side dish. Not showing here are the eggs (2), a bit of onion that I chopped, some additional seafood seasoning and some soft cheese spread.

Next, peel the shrimp and chop it all up!

Beat the eggs with a little more seafood seasoning (like Old Bay or my Zippy Cajun) and melt some butter.

Not shown is a small skillet in which, at this point, I quickly sauteéd the onions in a little more butter, then added the chopped seafood boil ingredients (sans potato) to warm them up before adding them to the omelet.

Add the two eggs, lightly beaten with a little water and some additional seafood seasoning, to the heated pan with butter.

Lift the egg up as it begins to set and let the runny part go underneath it, which helps it get more evenly set. Click here if you’ve never done this and want very simple instructions for getting this part right.

When it is still just a little runny, add bits of your soft spreadable cheese (could be Boursin, Alouetta or cream cheese, or even just shredded cheddar or jack).

Then add the warmed up filling ingredients, covering one side of the egg.

Carefully flip the other side onto the filling. It doesn’t have to cover the first side fully, because it looks great to have a bit of the omelet filling showing.

Plate it up, add your side(s) and garnish with a little more of your seafood and fresh fruit. Voila! A super-easy, super-tasty omelet.

It was All Good

I was very pleased with my solo leftover shrimp boil omelet brunch, which looked great with my DIY seashell napkin ring, don’t you think? I repeated the whole thing the very next day. It was so good that it makes me want to have another seafood boil. 😊

With some crusty bread on the side, this would be a perfect meal for a brunch for a crowd, if you can line up several omelet pans.