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My guide on How to Make Crab Legs will show you how easy it is to prepare an amazing crab leg dinner! I've included instructions for steaming, boiling, baking, and grilling crab legs, along with plenty of extras and expert tips from years of cooking crab legs.
Jump to:
- Cooking Crab Legs
- Tools for Crab Legs
- Ingredients for Making Crab Legs
- Expert Tips for Cooking Crab Legs
- How to Make Crab Legs from Frozen
- How to Boil Crab Legs
- How to Steam Crab Legs
- How to Grill Crab Legs
- Grilled Seafood Recipes
- How to Make Crab Legs in the Oven
- Butter for Crab Legs
- Sauces for Crab Legs
- Leftover Crab Storage and Reheating
- FAQ
- Reviews
Cooking Crab Legs
When I think about my favorite foods, crab legs are near the top of the list. They're so decadent, especially with an amazing butter sauce on the side. When I first tried making crab legs years and years ago, I thought it would be difficult... but it's not! Once you know how to make crab legs, you'll be surprised by how simple it is.
Tools for Crab Legs
- Crab Leg Cracker: A must! Crab legs have a tough exoskeleton that needs to be cracked or cut to reach the soft meat within.
- Kitchen Shears: If you're making smaller crab legs or have nice strong kitchen scissors, you can use them to cut open crab legs.
- Small Crab Forks or Tweezers: You can use small serving forks or kitchen tweezers for pulling the meat out of the cracked legs.
- Tongs: Tongs are necessary for all cooking methods, as the crab legs will get very hot and shouldn't be handled with anything but tongs.
- Large Stockpot: If you're boiling or steaming the legs, you'll want a very large pot that can fit them.
Ingredients for Making Crab Legs
- Raw Crab Legs: You can use pretty much any type of crab legs, but I recommend snow crab legs, Alaskan king crab legs, and dungeness crab legs! Snow crabs are the most commonly found in stores and are typically budget friendly. You can use frozen crab legs straight from frozen, so don't bother thawing them!
- Old Bay Seasoning (optional): If you're boiling or steaming the legs, I highly recommend using Old Bay seasoning to season the water. This will flavor the crab legs as they cook, adding that classic seafood flavor we all know and love!
- Melted Butter: An absolute must! I prefer to use salted butter, but even better, use a compound butter like any of the ones I've listed below. Butter adds fat to the very lean crab meat, bringing in tons of flavor and a silky, decadent texture!
- Lemon Wedges: No matter what kind of butter sauce you're serving, crab simply must be served with fresh lemon wedges. The acidity of the lemon pairs with the rich butter to perfectly season the crab, bringing out the very best of the flavor.
Expert Tips for Cooking Crab Legs
- Always melt butter and make any dipping sauces before you start cooking the crab to avoid overcooking. Crab cooks so quickly that it's easy to lose track of time.
- Make sure to break open the knuckles (the joints between each leg piece) - they contain precious nuggets of meat!
- If you don't have leg crackers or kitchen shears, you can sometimes crack the legs open by gripping them firmly in both hands and twisting. Alternatively, you can break them with a meat mallet or other heavy implement.
- A good butter sauce recipe makes all the difference! It adds so much flavor.
- Make sure to serve crab legs right away. You want to capture all that trapped steam.
Save the shells!
Remember to save all those cracked shells! Toss them into a pot with veggies and aromatics for decadent, delicious homemade Seafood Stock.
How to Make Crab Legs from Frozen
If you have frozen crab legs, don't worry. Cooking crab legs from frozen works almost exactly the same as thawed or fresh crab. If you want, you can choose to thaw the frozen legs overnight. Alternatively, cook them directly from frozen using the boiling or steaming methods, which work great with frozen legs. If you're cooking fresh crab legs, remove them from the water 2 minutes earlier than frozen.
How to Boil Crab Legs
Boiling crab legs is quick and easy, and makes it super easy to infuse the legs with seasonings! You will need a nice big wide pot to fit the legs in, so this recipe works the best with smaller crab legs.
1: Boil Water
Fill a large stock pot or Dutch oven halfway with water. Add in 1 Tablespoon of salt and 2 Tablespoons of Old Bay seasoning, and bring it to a boil.
2: Boil Crab Legs
Add the crab legs, ensuring that they're entirely covered in water. Cook 3 minutes for thawed legs, or 5 minutes for frozen. Remove with songs, serve, and enjoy!
How to Steam Crab Legs
You can steam crab legs with a steamer basket or by simply propping them up in the pot! Propping them up is easier with long legs or legs in a cluster, as you can safely prop the meat safely outside of the water. If working with a steamer basket, carefully layer the crab legs so that there's plenty of space between them to ensure even cooking.
Check out my linked recipe below for detailed instructions, including amounts and optional seasonings!
1: Boil Water
Fill a large stock pot about a quarter full of water, so there's at least an inch of water or more at the bottom of the pot. Add seasoning, salt, and other optional flavorings like oil and beer. Bring to a boil.
2: Add Crab Legs
Add the crab legs, propped up so that most of the meat is outside of the water. Steam for 5 minutes if frozen or 3 minutes if fresh, covered with a lid. Remove once the time is up, and serve with butter!
How to Grill Crab Legs
Grilling crab legs is a delicious treat perfect for seafood BBQ! Grilled crab legs are infused with smoky flavor that you just can't get any other way. Plus, this method is perfect for very large crab legs like Alaskan king crabs. Pop some extra sides on the grill as they cook, like mushroom burgers or foil pack potatoes, for a full meal your guests and family will devour!
Please note that when grilling crab, you will want to let frozen legs thaw first. It's okay if they're still a little frozen, though!
1: Split the Legs
Preheat the grill to medium heat. As it's heating, use kitchen shears to cut down the length of the legs, cutting through the softer whitish part of the shell.
2: Season Legs
Melt butter alongside seasonings of choice (check out my recipe below for an easy garlic butter recipe!) and pour it over the split side of the legs.
3: Grill Crab Legs
Place the crab legs on the grill, split-side-up. Close the grill and let cook for about 8 minutes, or until the meat is pale pink and opaque.
4: Serve and Enjoy!
Remove from the grill and serve immediately with butter and lemon wedges. Enjoy!
Grilled Seafood Recipes
How to Make Crab Legs in the Oven
If you're looking to make a super big batch of crab legs all at once, then the oven is the way to go. It's easy to make these crab legs quickly from frozen, and baked crab legs can be cooked in multiple pans to make tons at a time! Its easy for oven baked crab legs to turn out dry, so make sure to cook them from frozen, where they'll retain the most moisture.
1: Preheat the Oven
Preheat the oven to 425°F. While it's heating, lay out the crab legs on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. You can make multiple sheets at once if needed.
2: Season Crab Legs
Stir together equal parts oil and Old Bay in a small bowl (I recommend a half tablespoon per pound of legs) and brush it over the legs.
3: Bake Crab Legs and Serve
Bake for about 12 minutes, until hot throughout. Serve with melted butter and a squeeze of lemon!
Butter for Crab Legs
Making the right butter sauce is an essential part of serving crab legs or hosting a crab boil! There are so many great options for butter sauces for crab legs, so take your pick based on the flavor profile you're looking for. You can use salted butter, unsalted butter, or even clarified butter. Just make sure to taste the sauce and adjust it to taste!
Sauces for Crab Legs
If not a butter sauce, try the following sauces for crab legs. They are amazing!
Leftover Crab Storage and Reheating
- Refrigerator: Leftover crab legs can be stored either in-shell or after having the meat removed for up to 3 days. I recommend leaving them in the shell so you can preserve as much moisture as possible.
- Freezer: If you got your crab legs frozen, I don't recommend freezing the leftovers. However, if you used fresh crab legs, you can freeze the cooked meat for up to 3 months in an airtight container. If you do so, I recommend using the meat in a crab dip or crab salad after thawing it, as the texture may be impacted by freezing.
- Thawing: Let crab meat thaw in the fridge overnight, before or after cooking! I don't recommend quick-defrosting in the microwave as that can partially cook the crab.
- Reheating: Crab is best very gently reheated in indirect heat, such as steamed or very gently microwaved with extra butter. Be very careful not to overheat the crab as that can turn it tough.
Of course, the best way to use up leftovers is to repurpose them into new dishes and recipes using crab meat! Try out my shrimp and crab bisque - it's the perfect way to use up leftover crab!
FAQ
Plan for roughly one pound of crab legs per person. This includes the weight of the shell, making for hearty but reasonable servings for each guest!
Cooked crab will have a reddish-orange tint to the shell, and the meat will be opaque and white. Be careful to remove the meat quickly if it starts turning pink, as that is a sign of overcooked meat!
If you're in a pinch and need to thaw legs quickly, you can place them in a bowl of very cold water, making sure to change out the water every 30 minutes.
If my guide helped you learn how to make crab legs, leave a comment below! I would love to hear about it and will answer any questions about cooking crab legs.
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