How to Make a Chilled Seafood Tower Appetizer
A chilled seafood tower is one of my favorite ways to make a celebration feel special. Pile chilled shrimp, crab, lobster and oysters onto a bed of ice, add a few homemade sauces, and you have a seafood lover’s dream that looks much fussier than it really is!
We’re not Italian, but we still LOVE celebrating with a Feast of Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve. This seafood tower brings that abundance to the table, whether you’re planning a holiday dinner, a birthday or just a really good night with friends.
You can cook and chill the seafood and mix the cold sauces the day before, then assemble everything just before serving. That leaves you more time to enjoy your guests instead of juggling a pile of last-minute cooking. Fancy presentation, manageable prep—that’s my kind of entertaining!
For shopping, plan around 4 ounces of edible seafood per person as an appetizer, or 8–12 ounces for a generous seafood-focused meal. Those amounts exclude shells and cover all the seafood combined. Ask your seafood seller about the yield from shell-on crab and lobster before ordering. My how much seafood per person guide includes a guest-count chart and a shopping example for eight to help you plan.
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What Seafood should you use?
Start with seafood you love from a reputable seller, and tell them you’re making a chilled tower. Ask what’s already cooked, what needs cooking and how much meat you’ll get from shell-on pieces. Wild-caught is a preference, not a guarantee that seafood is safe to eat raw.
A good supermarket seafood counter can be helpful, too; what matters is proper handling and a seller who can answer your questions. If you’re shopping online, Nordic Catch is one option to browse. Check the product details and delivery arrangements before planning your menu around it.
Not into raw oysters? No worries! Make your tower with cooked, chilled shrimp, lobster, crab, mussels and clams instead. Snow crab is another option, and you can swap varieties to suit your budget and the people coming over.
The Best Seafood for a Seafood Tower
- fresh oysters raw, in the half shell
- large shrimp, cooked & chilled
- mussels, cooked and chilled in the shell
- clams, cooked and chilled in the shell
- lobster claws, cooked & chilled
- lobster tails, cooked & chilled
- king crab legs, cooked & chilled
- smoked salmon
How To Make a Chilled Seafood Tower
I love using a glass stacking stand for this. The Libbey Selene three-tier glass serving stand is identical to my set. A large seafood platter works beautifully, too, especially if you’re making a smaller spread. Choose a stable stand designed to stack securely rather than balancing heavy trays on loose bowls.
The glass stacking three-tier tray needs enough depth to hold ice and contain meltwater. Chill the seafood thoroughly before arranging it, keep extra ice nearby, and check each tier during the party. Use a separate leakproof dish for raw oysters so their juices cannot drip onto cooked seafood.
We LOVE our original GE Profile Opal nugget ice maker—it’s how we became the people with the “good ice”! Our older model is no longer available at the linked listing, so I’ve linked the newer GE Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra for anyone shopping now. It’s a newer version of the machine we own, not a model I’ve personally tested.
Nugget ice nestles beautifully around seafood on my glass stacking three-tier tray. Crushed ice works, too; just keep extra on hand and check every tier as the ice melts.
It’s also a great idea to have an assortment of the right tools on hand like seafood picks, individual finger bowls, tiny forks, discard bowls and napkins. Just like you’d have at a fancy restaurant without the high price tag or reservations! But you’ll still need to bring your appetite!
And sauces, let’s not forget you gotta have some delicious sauces to dip that chilled seafood in! Left to Right; Classic Cocktail Sauce, Warm Cowboy Butter and Chipotle Remoulade! A Mignonette sauce is also a delicious addition as well.
The day before your celebration, cook and chill the seafood and make your cold sauces, then keep everything refrigerated separately. Assemble close to serving and reheat the cowboy butter at the last minute. You’ll have more time to enjoy the finished tower—and that chilled glass of champagne!
A Chilled Seafood Tower is always the most beautiful presentation, don’t you think?? And the dill is so perfect for the holidays, it gives you all the feels of fresh cut pine!
Garnish your Ultimate Chilled Seafood Tower with fresh dill and lemon wedges. Add the cocktail sauce and remoulade in cute cups on the tower, but serve the Cowboy butter warm!
Funny story: when I bought these butter warmers while shopping with my Mom, she said I’d NEVER use them. Mom was wrong—we use them all the time! We eat seafood frequently, and having the butter warm and ready makes the whole spread feel a little more special.
And even though you’re serving delicious sauces, don’t forget to keep a bottle of TABASCO® handy!
While I love most seafood dipped in sauces, I sincerely LOVE my oysters with a splash of hot sauce and a squeeze from fresh lemon wedges right before shooting them down, you too??
What to serve with a Chilled Seafood Tower?
While a chilled seafood tower can certainly be a meal in itself… you might want to serve other foods along with it. You can’t go wrong with crackers or crusty French bread. For more of a meal, I always suggest a surf-n-turf vibe and having steak for dinner after your seafood tower!
If you love seafood (like me!) try these recipes next:
- Ninja Foodi Grilled Salmon w/Sriracha Honey Glaze
- The Best Spicy Crab Kani Salad
- Spicy Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl
- Shrimp Caesar Pasta Salad
Keeping your seafood tower cold
Keep seafood at 40°F or colder, replenishing the ice and draining meltwater as needed. Without reliable chilling, discard it after two hours, or one hour above 90°F. Follow the FDA’s seafood safety guidance, and keep raw and cooked seafood separate.
Raw oysters aren’t risk-free just because they’re fresh, and hot sauce or lemon doesn’t make them safe. Offer thoroughly cooked seafood for guests avoiding raw shellfish, and keep shellfish allergies in mind when planning both the seafood and the sauces.
Chilled Seafood Tower
Ingredients
- 12 fresh oysters raw, in the shell
- 1 pound cooked shrimp
- 1 pound fresh mussels raw, in the shell
- 12 small fresh clams raw, in the shell
- 6 medium lobster claws
- 3 medium lobster tails
- 6 medium king crab legs
- 6 ounces smoked salmon
- 1 cup dry white wine
- ice
- lemon wedges
- Fresh Dill, chopped
Classic Cocktail Sauce
- 3/4 cup Ketchup
- 1/4 cup prepared horseradish
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste
- 1 teaspoon TABASCO® or to taste
Cowboy Butter Sauce
- 1 cup Ghee or clarified butter
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsely, chopped
- 1 tablespoon Fresh Chives, chopped
- 1 teaspoon Fresh Dill, chopped
- 1/8 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
- 1 teaspoon TABASCO® Green Pepper or to taste
Chipotle Remoulade Sauce
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sour gerkin pickles
- 1 teaspoon capers
- 1 tablespoon Fresh Chives, chopped
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons anchovy paste
- 1 clove Garlic
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsely, chopped
- 1 teaspoon TABASCO® Chipotle or to taste
Instructions
- Allow all frozen seafood to thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
- Make sauces the night before to allow the flavors to combine.
- Combine all Cocktail Sauce ingredients together and mix well. Store in a jar or covered container in the refrigerator.
- In a small food processor, combine Remoulade ingredients. Pulse to combine. You want it to have a texture like a tartar sauce, do not process until smooth. Store in a jar or covered container in the refrigerator.
- In a small skillet, heat all ingredients for the Cowboy Butter for 2-3 minutes over medium to allow the garlic to cook and flavors to infuse. Store in a jar or covered container in the refrigerator, reheat just prior to serving.
- Oysters, Cooked Shrimp and Smoked Salmon will be prepared just before serving, keep them in the fridge.
- Scrub the clams and mussels and remove the mussel beards. Discard cracked shells and live shellfish that do not close when tapped. Cut crab legs at the joints, and check whether your crab and lobster are raw or already cooked before choosing a cooking method.
- Cook different seafood types in separate batches. For clams and mussels, bring the wine to a boil in a covered pot with a steamer basket; add water as needed to maintain steam without boiling dry. Add the shellfish once the pot is steaming, cover, and steam for 4–9 minutes, following CDC guidance. Discard any shells that do not open fully.
- Cook raw lobster and raw crab until the thickest meat reaches 145°F; timing depends on the size and cut. Already-cooked crab or lobster does not need the same cooking time—follow the package directions. Do not rely on one eight-minute timer for a mixed pot of seafood.
- Cool cooked seafood promptly using a clean ice bath, drain well, and refrigerate in covered shallow containers. Prepare it up to 24 hours ahead and keep chilled until assembly.
- Fill your 3 tier tower with ice. Arrange chilled (cooked seafood) and sauces.
- If serving raw oysters, shuck them close to serving and arrange on their own leakproof dish over ice. Add lemon wedges and fresh dill. Keep the raw shellfish separate from cooked seafood and serve the cowboy butter warm.
