Crab Salad

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More seafood in your diet is always a good thing, so why not try and make some crab salad? This versatile Crab Salad is creamy smooth, with a slight crab flavor, perfect for that light lunch!

If you love crab why not try these Crab Stuffed Mushrooms? Or try this simple Shrimp Salad instead?

Crab Salad

When most people think of salads, they think healthy and delicate, maybe even vegetarian. Well, this crab salad is anything but.

While it is certainly light and refreshing, it is primarily made up of delicious crab meat and flavored mayo – it will leave you feeling satisfied and full, much more so than any other kind of dainty salad.

Feel free to use whatever crab meat you can get a hold of for this recipe, either fresh or canned, or even imitation if that is your preference. It should taste pretty amazing regardless.                 

Crab Salad Ingredients

Make sure you look at the recipe card at the very bottom for the exact amounts so that you know exactly what to buy for this recipe.

• Imitation crab meat or real crab meat, if desired

• Celery

• Salt & pepper

• Mayonnaise

• Lemon juice

• Fresh dill

• Old bay seasoning

How To Make Crab Salad

• Coarsely chop or break apart the imitation crab into really small pieces

• Finely chop the celery

• Toss the celery, crab, salt, and pepper together in a medium-sized bowl

• Stir the mayonnaise, lemon juice, and dill together in a cup

• Pour the mayo mix over the crab and toss gently to coat

• Garnish with green on top and serve 

Could You Use Imitation Crab Meat For This Recipe?

This recipe uses imitation crab meat as the principal ingredient, but you actually have a lot of versatility when it comes to what kind of crab meat you want to use.

If you happen to have plenty of fresh crab meat on hand, or you live near a decently priced fishmonger’s, then fresh meat is obviously a great choice.

For those that don’t happen to live near the ocean and aren’t lucky enough to have fresh crab on hand, canned crab meat works just fine as well.

Just make sure to drain a good amount of the crab liquid that tends to come in the crab meat cans. While flavorful, all of this extra liquid will massively impact the flavor and texture of your crab salad if you keep it in.

You can also use imitation crab meat if that is your preference. There are a lot of surprisingly delicious fake crab meat brands out there that offer some really good tasting imitation crab for actually pretty good prices.

Can You Make Your Crab Salad Spicy?

Just like with tuna salad or any kind of salad that isn’t just leaves and a dressing, a little bit of spicy heat is always welcome.

The best way to introduce some heat to your crab salad is to add your favorite hot sauce.

This can be anything from a Louisiana-style hot sauce to something a bit wackier and more intensely spiced.

You can also go the old school route and add some chilies directly.

Fresh chilies work great here, though they might be a bit raw and strong if you don’t dice them up really fine.

Probably the easiest way to add pure chili flavor to your crab salad is to rehydrate some good-quality dried chilis. Simply soak them in some boiling water for about 10 minutes before draining them and chopping them finely and adding to your mayo mixture.

If you do this, make sure to really dice it up finely, as well as ensure you leave your crab salad in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving once it is all put together.

The extra time in the fridge will help the mayo pick up all of the intense flavors from the chili, flavoring every bite with some spicy heat.

Looking for more delicious Salad recipes? Try these out:

• Classic Bacon Broccoli Salad Recipe

• Salmon Salad

• Green Goddess Kale Salad

Happy Cooking

Love,

Karlynn

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