What does gator taste like? These TikTok chefs have recipes for alligator hunting season
Florida’s alligator hunting season is upon us and we’re here to hunt down the best ways for you to cook up your catch.
Known by some as “swamp chicken,” gator is most commonly eaten fried. If you live in Florida and haven’t tried or at least heard of fried gator tail, are you a Floridian?
Eating alligator is a southern staple that can be traced all the way back as a favorite food of Florida’s Seminole tribe.
There are many ways to eat gator meat. Although fried gator tail or gator bites are probably the most popular ways to eat swamp chicken, many enjoy some less-common dishes like gator sushi, gator burgers, gator gumbo and even gator meatloaf.
Here’s a roundup of some of TikTok’s best recipes for your fresh-caught swamp chicken – fried gator tail recipe included.
When is Alligator hunting season? 10 things to know
What does alligator meat taste like?
Most people say the taste of gator meat most closely resembles chicken, with a slightly fishy taste and a firm texture that resembles pork.
Blackened alligator with cheesy pasta recipe
In this recipe, Cajun chef Ralph the Baker (@ralphthebaker) blackens cubed alligator meat in pools of garlic butter and mixes it with noodles and a cheesy heavy cream sauce, garnished with lemon zest and parsley.
The recipe calls for 2 pounds of pasta, but you can easily scale it back to make less servings.
If you like Nashville hot chicken, try this Nashville hot gator sandwich
Chef Levi Biddlecomb (@cheflevi) has a hot take on Nashville’s classic hot chicken sandwich: what if it were a gator sandwich? In this recipe, Biddlecomb marinates gator meat in hot sauce and batters it up in a mix of spices, with a generous amount of cayenne pepper.
To top his spicy fried gator sandwich, he makes a slightly spicy coleslaw recipe with sriracha, honey and pink lady apples. The sandwich is finished with a little mayo and sliced bread and butter pickles on a pan-toasted bun.
How to cook a full alligator – Cajun style
In this recipe, Cajun chef @SouthernVibin does a step-by-step breakdown on how he likes to cook a full alligator.
Although this is a Cajun recipe, it might as well be a Florida man recipe because of the marinade: a cooler full of orange juice and citrus. When was the last time you saw a full alligator marinating in an orange juice ice bath?
In the video, he breaks down how to prep and clean the gator and then explains every seasoning and sauce he rubs it down with – one of the sauces being his signature “W sauce.” The last step before the gator hits the grill is to stick a pineapple in the gator’s mouth and stuff the tail with crawfish boudin, a cajun specialty that’s made with freshly chopped crawfish meat and sautéed vegetables.
When the gator is done cooking, the TikTok chef pulls some tender tail meat and crawfish boudin to stuff into a roll and top with barbecue sauce.
How to make alligator sauce piquante
@LouisianaCrawfishCo on TikTok is another account where you can find homemade cajun recipes, from crawfish to gator meat. Louisiana Crawfish Company mostly sells and ships live crawfish, but you can also buy gator meat with them.
In this recipe, the owner of Louisiana Crawfish Co. browns cubes of gator meat and slices of andouille sausage before mixing them into a beef broth and tomato-based sauce to simmer. He tops the bowl with a cup of rice and some green onion. A blind taste test from his daughter, passing through the kitchen with a virtual reality set strapped to her head, yields an emphatic “that slaps” seal of approval.
How to fry gator meat
For this recipe, the man who taught us how to cook a whole gator is back with instructions on how to make fried gator bites.
TikTok chef @SouthernVibin marinates his gator meat, caught by one of the cast members of ‘Swamp People,’ in mustard, hot sauce and his “W sauce.” He rolls each marinated piece around in Louisiana Chicken Fry mix and drops it into sizzling oil, finishing the recipe with his signature “You betta try it!”
Lianna Norman covers trending news in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at lnorman@pbpost.com. You can follow her reporting on social media @LiannaNorman on X.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: TikTok recipes for gator meat that would make a Florida man proud
