This family-friendly sheet pan shrimp boil is TikTok grandma-approved

TikTok’s favorite grandma wants to help you feed your family.

Barbara Costello — or Babs, as she’s known to her more than 4 million followers — is encouraging people to build connection through having more family dinners, and she’s got science to back her up. She cited research from Massachusetts General Hospital that shows the positive impact family meals can have on the well-being of everyone involved.

“If we can bring that back, wow, that would be awesome,” Costello said on a video call from her Connecticut home.

Helping people figure out how to feed their families delicious homemade food and enjoy those meals together is the focus of her latest cookbook, “Every Day With Babs.”

But Costello, 76, knows that is often easier said than done. “It isn’t easy to sit down and have a family meal. I don’t want to guilt anybody, that’s for sure. It’s a different culture than it was when I was growing up,” she said. “Shoot for one night a week, maybe. Make that one night a week special,” which can be achieved through the atmosphere, the conversation or the food.

Costello’s ideal family meal starts with putting down devices so the people sitting around the dinner table can focus on talking with one another. To jump-start the conversation, she suggests everyone share two truths and a fib (she doesn’t like using the word “lie”) focused on their activities of the day or creating a question jar to pull from that everyone has to answer. “You have to be kind of clever, but you have to make it fun.”

Costello’s daughter came up with the idea of restaurant night. “One night, a child is designated to put the candle on the table, a parent will light the candle and then the dinner’s not over until that child blows out the candle. Everybody has to stay at the restaurant till the candle’s out.”

But before anyone can sit down to eat, of course, cooking has to be done. “I think preparing food for the people you love most in the world is an expression of your love for them,” she said. But with adults and kids both busier than ever, finding the time to do so isn’t always easy. Her pro tip, which she learned from her own mother, is to use whatever free time you have at your disposal to meal prep.

“Even though [my mom] worked, she prepped in the morning when she had 15 minutes,” Costello said. “We were still getting up brushing our teeth, she was down [in the kitchen] starting her spaghetti sauce or chopping the onions that are going to be sautéed a few hours later or whatever. I think the whole thing is you sneak time here and there.” Then, once you have everything cut and measured, it’s simply a matter of combining things and cooking them off when it nears time to eat.

Costello also offers the important reminder to enlist others to help load the dishwasher and set the table. “Get people involved. Don’t have it all on you, either.”

Another tip? “Cleanup has to be easy as well.” The chapters of her book are organized by the day of the week — for example, “Get Your ‘Sheet’ (Pan) Together Monday” and “One and Only Wednesday” — with the recipes at the start of the week focused on one-pot or skillet recipes and sheet-pan meals. “You don’t want to be dreading, ‘Oh, my gosh, now I got to clean up this mess,’ right? So you want to keep it simple.”

Her Sheet Pan Shrimp Boil is a prime example. It’s inspired by family trips to the Outer Banks, where shrimp boils were the one meal Costello’s family went out for. “We wanted to somehow streamline a shrimp boil so it won’t be so intimidating.” It’s got all the same components — baby potatoes, freshly shucked corn, spicy andouille sausage, sweet shrimp and the requisite Old Bay seasoning — but instead of grabbing the largest pot you can find and filling it with water to boil everything, a sheet pan makes the dish less of a hassle. You can go straight from the oven to the table.

More than the cooking method, the thing that makes this recipe special is a compound butter filled with fresh herbs, garlic, smoked paprika and more Old Bay that adds an extra touch of flavor and pizzazz. “I like to say it takes it over the top and around the block,” Costello said.

You’ll find the recipe in the “Fri-Yay!” chapter of Costello’s book, which is filled with dishes that are a little bit more laid back to celebrate the end of the week. “There’s just a lightheartedness to that recipe,” she said; everyone can just gather around and dig in with their hands — no utensils required.

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Sheet Pan Shrimp Boil

For the shrimp boil

⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning, preferably reduced-sodium

¾ teaspoon fine salt

6 ears yellow or white corn, shucked and halved

1½ pounds baby red potatoes, halved

12 ounces andouille sausage, cut into 1½-inch pieces

1 lemon

1½ pounds colossal (10-12 count) shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails on

Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for serving

Chopped fresh chives, for serving

For the herbed butter

1 stick (8 tablespoons/4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

4 garlic cloves, minced or finely grated

¼ cup chopped fresh chives

¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning, preferably reduced-sodium

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Make the shrimp boil: Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 425°F. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, stir together the oil, Old Bay and salt until combined.

Add the corn, potatoes, sausage and half the oil mixture to the sheet pan, and toss until well combined. Spread in an even layer and roast for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.

Finely zest the lemon and cut it into wedges. In a medium bowl, gently toss the shrimp, lemon zest and the remaining oil mixture until combined. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Make the herbed butter: In a medium bowl, stir together the butter, garlic, chives, parsley, Old Bay and smoked paprika until well combined.

Finish the shrimp boil: When the potatoes are tender, remove the sheet pan from the oven and arrange the shrimp on top. Return the sheet pan to the oven and roast for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the shrimp are pink and opaque.

Remove the sheet pan from the oven, and dot with about half of the herbed butter across the top. Return the sheet pan to the oven and roast for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the butter is melted.

Sprinkle the chives and parsley on top and serve warm, with the lemon wedges and remaining herb butter.

Servings: 4-6

Storage: Refrigerate for up to 2 days. Refrigerate leftover herbed butter for up to 1 week.

Substitutions: For fresh corn, use frozen corn. For red potatoes, use yellow or fingerling potatoes. For andouille, use kielbasa. For colossal (10-12 count) shrimp, use smaller shrimp, with a reduction of the cooking time.

Nutritional Facts per serving, based on 6, using half of the herbed butter | Calories: 559; Fat: 31 g; Saturated Fat: 9 g; Carbohydrates: 37 g; Sodium: 1106 mg; Cholesterol: 224 mg; Protein: 38 g; Fiber: 5 g; Sugar: 8 g

— Adapted from “Every Day with Babs” by Barbara Costello (Clarkson Potter, 2025)