When people walk into a seafood restaurant, they often love the way the food smells. But let’s be honest: no matter how good those crab legs smell, not everyone knows how to cook them. So, we’ve put together a list of our best tips to show you how to eat crab legs like a pro.
Crab legs are a delicious and popular seafood item. Who doesn’t love diving into a pile of snow crab legs king crab legs or hearty dungeness crab legs? But for many people, cracking and eating crab legs can seem intimidating. With a few helpful tips, you’ll be a pro at getting to all that delicious crab meat inside the legs and claws!
In this article I’ll provide a complete step-by-step guide to preparing and eating crab legs. You’ll learn the proper tools to have on hand how to correctly steam or cook them, and simple techniques for cracking open legs and claws to access the sweet meat inside.
Gather Your Cracking Tools
Before cooking and eating crab legs, you’ll want to gather a few essential tools to make the process easier:
Crab cracker or mallet – A must-have for properly cracking the shell. Looks like pliers or a small hammer.
Small fork or pick – Helps pull meat out of narrow openings.
Kitchen shears – Makes cutting through shells simple.
Small bowl – Collects pieces of cracked shell.
Seafood knife – A sharp knife to cut through leg joints.
Nutcracker – Optional but can substitute for a crab cracker.
Bib – Cracking crab legs can get messy! Protect your clothing.
Moist towelettes – Nice for cleaning up buttery fingers during eating.
Along with your tools, have some melted butter or sauce on hand for dipping the crab meat. Now you’re ready to start cracking!
Cook Crab Legs Properly
For the tenderest meat, it’s important to cook crab legs correctly. The ideal preparation method is steaming:
Place crab legs in a single layer in a steamer basket in a large pot.
Add a couple inches of water to the pot below the steamer. Bring to a boil.
Steam crab for 4-8 minutes depending on thickness. Don’t overcook.
Test doneness by looking for opaque, white meat.
Boiling crab legs makes the meat tough. Grilling or broiling can also work well for a smokier flavor. Just watch closely to avoid overcooking.
Break Apart and Separate Legs
Once cooked, let crab legs cool briefly so you can handle them. Then use your hands to twist and break apart each leg at the natural joints. You’ll feel where they separate cleanly.
Bend them back and forth a few times to fully separate into sections. This makes them easier to manage for cracking rather than wrestling with whole legs.
If needed, use kitchen shears to cut through leg shells at joints for better separation. Try to keep joint sections about 5-6 inches long.
Split the Leg Shell Along the Edges
With a separated leg section, place it on a cutting board. Wedge a seafood knife into the top edge of the shell. Cut along one side to split the shell. Repeat on the other side.
You’re opening up the shell like a book to eventually remove the meat in one piece ideally. Take care not to cut deeply and risk the meat itself.
Crack Open the Leg Shell
Here’s where your crab cracker tool comes in handy! With the shell split open, place the leg section in the cracker with the inside of the shell facing up.
Squeeze or tap the cracker using moderate force to break the shell without shattering it. Just crack it enough to expose the meat inside.
You can also use a small hammer or mallet if you don’t have a crab cracker. A nutcracker works too.
Extract and Enjoy the Meat
Once the shell is cracked, use a fork or pick to pull the meat out of the leg, keeping it in one piece if possible.
It helps to have a small bowl handy for depositing small pieces of shell as you work to keep things tidy.
Dip the sweet crab meat in melted butter or sauce and enjoy! Discard shells and move on to the next leg section.
Tackle the Claws
Cracking crab claws takes a bit more finesse. Using your hands, twist off the small pincer tip off the claw.
For the larger part, place it in your cracker sideways with the curve of the claw against one jaw of the cracker.
Squeeze just until the shell cracks, then rotate and crack the other side. Carefully break off shell pieces to expose the meat.
Use your pick to pull out the chunky claw meat. Take your time and be thorough getting all the hidden bits of goodness!
Tips for Success
Follow these helpful tips for foolproof crab leg feasting:
Work over a table lined with newspaper for easy cleanup.
Don’t strike the shell with your cracker too forcefully or the meat can shatter.
Crab leg meat can be stringy. Use picks and forks to separate strands.
Watch for cartilage in the body cavity of legs. Remove any inedible parts.
Serve any broth from steaming over rice as a tasty side dish.
Refrigerate leftover crab meat up to 2 days and reuse for sandwiches or crab cakes.
7 Pro Tips For Eating Crab Legs
You have to be patient with crab legs because they are tasty and filling, especially when served with great sides like potato salad, sweet potato fries, and onion rings. If you want to crack those legs open right away and bite in, don’t start your crab-cracking marathon right away.
The more patience you exercise, the less of a mess you are likely to make. No matter how much you love seafood, you won’t want to leave the restaurant smelling like it. Good things take time; including the indulgence of a delicious crab meal.
Break the Crab
Now that you have found the patience, let’s get into the meat of the matter. If your crab legs come attached to the body, you must break the crabs in half. If the crabs are very big or if kids are going to be eating with you, you might want to cut them into quarters instead.
How To Get Meat Out of Snow Crab Legs – Easy and Fast
How do you eat crab legs?
1. Be Patient 2. Break the Crab 3. Separate the Legs 4. Crack the Claws 5. Split Open the Crab Legs 6. Eat the Crab Meat 7. Ask for Help 1. Be Patient While crab legs are delicious and filling, especially with amazing sides like potato salad, sweet potato fries, and onion rings, they require a certain level of patience.
How do you cook crab legs without overflowing?
Most large stockpots or Dutch ovens can fit about 2 pounds of crab legs without overflowing. Once you’ve found your pot, fill it with cold tap water and add the salt. Place the pot over high heat and bring the water to a boil.
How do you cook king crab legs?
Option 1: Boiled crab legs. Fill a large stockpot 3/4 of the way full with water, and add 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the crab legs, bending the king crab legs as needed to submerge as much of the leg as possible in the water. Depending on the size of your pot, you may need to cook the legs in 2 batches.
Can you cook frozen crab legs?
Crab legs generally come frozen. Defrosting them first will help them steam faster, cook evenly and preserve the tender texture of the meat. Thaw them in a bowl overnight in the refrigerator for the best results. Fill a large pot with an inch or two of water and place your steam basket on top. Add salt to your water.
