--- title: Can You Eat Cicadas? description: Here’s how to catch, clean, and cook cicadas. canonical: https://time.com/6968973/cicadas-food-how-to-catch-clean-cook-eat/ author: Koh Ewe article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-04-19T09:15:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T17:29:19.017Z article:section: Health og:title: Can You Eat Cicadas? og:description: Here’s how to catch, clean, and cook cicadas. og:url: https://time.com/6968973/cicadas-food-how-to-catch-clean-cook-eat/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt202b76218dbcdac0/698a55c3e6e84a9d2e2b2d32/Cooking-Cicadas.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Brood X Cicadas Cooked og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Can You Eat Cicadas? twitter:description: Here’s how to catch, clean, and cook cicadas. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt202b76218dbcdac0/698a55c3e6e84a9d2e2b2d32/Cooking-Cicadas.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Can You Eat Cicadas? Yes, and Here’s How to Catch, Clean, and Cook Them > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. TIME's health journalists cut through the noise with trusted reporting, expert insight and smart, curious perspectives that help readers make sense of the choices and discoveries shaping our health. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Koh Ewe](https://time.com/author/koh-ewe/) ## Koh Ewe Koh Ewe (Koyu) was a reporter for TIME based in Singapore. Apr 19, 2024 9:15 AM UTC  Pan-fried cicadas coated in hot sauce in Hyattsville, Md., in 2021. Pan-fried cicadas coated in hot sauce in Hyattsville, Md., in 2021.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Koh Ewe](https://time.com/author/koh-ewe/) ## Koh Ewe Koh Ewe (Koyu) was a reporter for TIME based in Singapore. Apr 19, 2024 9:15 AM UTC Get ready to see cicadas everywhere. [More than a trillion](https://time.com/6564594/cicadas-us-trillions-2024/) of the critters are expected to surface in parts of the United States this year in a [rare co-emergence event](https://time.com/6968210/cicada-brood-emergence-animation-2024/) the likes of which hasn’t been seen in over two centuries. Known for their deafening mating calls, which can be as loud as lawnmowers, cicadas emerge after more than a decade underground, offering a tasty meal to birds—and even the occasional human. That’s right, cicadas, like many insects, have been [hailed](https://time.com/5942290/eat-insects-save-planet/) as an eco-friendly and high-protein alternative to poultry and cattle. They’re low in cholesterol, crunchy, and carry what has been described as a nutty flavor and shrimp-like quality. Restaurants have [featured](https://apnews.com/article/eating-bugs-cicadas-insects-new-orleans-menu-37a91e0edbaa25965fe2d4d75ad7e0f8) the bugs in experimental menus, while several cookbooks have even been published dedicated to recipes involving cicadas. So if you’re interested in seeing cicadas on your plate this year, here’s what to know about how to get started. ## **Step one: catch them** Cicadas can typically be found in woody places, such as near trees and shrubs—though for hygiene reasons, experts [warn](https://www.popsci.com/diy/cicada-cooking-guide/) against collecting cicadas for food in locations that may have pesticide or litter. You can even start looking in your own backyard. However, you should try to be selective. Freshly emerged cicadas from the ground may not make for the tastiest snack. It’s best to wait for them to molt, shedding their former shells to be clean and soft, chef Joseph Yoon told [Popular Science](https://www.popsci.com/diy/cicada-cooking-guide/) in 2022\. But once they’ve molted, you might want to hurry up with the collection—the older that cicadas get, the less muscle mass they’re likely to have, making them less tender and juicy. Yoon also warned against eating dead cicadas, which could have already begun decomposing. And don’t worry about getting hurt: while cicadas’ legs and claws may be prickly to the touch, they do not bite or sting. You can gently pick them up, pinning their wings to their body with your thumb and forefingers, then collect them in a bag or container. ## **Step two: clean them** Janna Jadin, author of _Cicada-Licious: Cooking and Enjoying Periodical Cicadas_, [recommends](https://www.washingtonian.com/2021/05/03/the-author-of-a-popular-cicada-cookbook-on-how-to-cook-eat-cicadas/) freezing cicadas after catching them, as a convenient way to kill and store the insects. After removing them from the freezer, Jadin also [recommends](https://www.washingtonian.com/2021/05/03/the-author-of-a-popular-cicada-cookbook-on-how-to-cook-eat-cicadas/), you can boil the cicadas to get rid of any microbes before cooking. (Washing your hands regularly would also be advisable. “It is important to handle them as if you would a piece of raw chicken or shelled eggs,” Toby Amidor, a nutrition consultant, told [Food Network](https://www.foodnetwork.com/healthyeats/news/what-to-know-before-eating-cicadas) in 2021.) Alternatively, you can boil cicadas immediately after catching them. ## **Step three: cook them** Cicadas have been utilized in cuisines across the world, eaten in ancient Greece and Rome and long enjoyed as a traditional delicacy in Thailand and Congo. There are all sorts of creative ways to incorporate cicadas into a meal. They work on their own—some say [best air-fried](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/05/cicadas-taste-like-gushers/619059/)—or as additions to dishes like curry and pasta. Some people grind the bugs up and [mix the powder into bread](https://www.familycookbookproject.com/recipe/2937468/cicada-banana-bread.html) or use it to [garnish the rim of a drink glass](https://www.indystar.com/story/entertainment/dining/2021/06/07/cicadas-2021-brood-x-eat-cicada-recipes-crispy-cicada-salad/7068148002/), like salt on a margarita. Social media has become a treasure trove of recipes, and you can even take inspiration from your [zodiac sign](https://bugible.com/2021/06/13/how-to-cook-cicadas-which-recipe-to-try-based-on-your-zodiac-sign/). But before sinking your teeth into cicadas, experts warn that people with shellfish allergies—or who should typically avoid shellfish, such as pregnant women or young children, or those at risk for gout—should [steer clear](https://health.clevelandclinic.org/are-cicadas-safe-to-eat) of eating cicadas, which are actually a [derivative](https://www.britannica.com/animal/arthropod) of shellfish. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6968973/cicadas-food-how-to-catch-clean-cook-eat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6968973/cicadas-food-how-to-catch-clean-cook-eat/"},"headline":"Can You Eat Cicadas? 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