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Crab Legs
I love crab, especially King crab and snow crab. They are my favorite seafood!
Whenever I go to Las Vegas, they are the first thing I would grab from the buffet. They are so delicious with sweet and juicy crab meat.
How to Cook Crab Legs?
In the United States, crab legs we get from the market are mostly pre-cooked, heavily salted and frozen.
Here are the three basic cooking methods for home cooks:
- Boiling.
- Steaming.
- Oven baked.
At restaurants, they are boiled in hot water and served with melted butter. However, I don’t recommend boiling because it depletes the natural sweetness of the crab. It also overcooks them.
If you choose boiling method, I recommend boiling for 5 minutes, in rolling boil water.
Steaming is a better method and I recommend steaming in a steamer for 5 – 10 minutes.
The best method is oven baking. Season the crab legs with melted butter, garlic, lemon juice, parsley and bake them in the oven for 5 minutes.
This is one of the best crab leg recipes ever!
Cook’s Tips on How to Make Crab Legs
For the best results at home, please follow my tips below:
- If you choose boiling as the cooking method, do not use salted water.
- Do not overcook. Over cooking will make the texture tougher and taste.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do You Have to Thaw Frozen Crab Legs Before Cooking?
The answer is yes. Thaw them before cooking for moist, tender and juicy crab meat.
King Crab Legs VS. Snow Crab Legs
The former has bigger legs. The meat is firm and sweet. They taste more like lobster.
Snow crab has skinny and long legs, making them less meatier. However, there are no thorns or spikes on the the legs so they are easier to crack open and eat. They are also cheaper.
To learn all the differences between the two species, please click here.
Where Is the Best Place to Buy?
Crab legs are not cheap but you can get discounted price from stores whenever they are on sale.
The best place to buy is Costco. Costco has good quality King crab legs that taste sweet, fresh and not too salty.
During sales and promotion, you can get them for less than $20 per pound.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 398 calories per serving.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
This recipe is best served with a side of crusty skillet garlic bread, cheesy garlic Texas Toast or cheddar bay biscuits, as an appetizer. For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Crab Legs
Ingredients
- 1 lb. king crab legs
- 1/2 stick salted butter (melted)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tablespoon parsley (chopped )
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
- lemon slices
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Thaw the crab legs if they are frozen. Using a sharp knife or a pair of a scissors, slice or cut the crab legs into halves to expose the flesh. Arrange them evenly on a baking sheet or tray.
- Melt the butter in a microwave, for about 30 seconds. Add the garlic, parsley and lemon juice to the melted butter. Stir to mix well. Drizzle and spread the butter mixture on the crab. Save some for dipping.
- Bake the crab legs in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the crab legs are heated. Serve immediately with the remaining garlic lemon butter and lemon slices. Squeeze some lemon juice on the crab before eating.
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Wow. We love it! My husband is raving about it. This is definitely how we will cook them from now on.
Amazing
Looks very delicious, my daughter would love this recipe, thank you for sharing…
The sauce came out perfect. I made these on father’s day. The family absolutely loved the king crab prepared this way. Thanks for sharing.
I multiplied the recipe x5 because we were feeding a crowd for Mother’s Day Dinner. It was delicious! So simple and the butter served on the side was fantastic. Once we got the crab legs to thaw completely, cutting them in half was pretty easy. I will never even bother to try another King Crab Leg recipe, as I believe I’ve found ‘the one’. Thank you!
Hi Tina, awww, thanks so much for trying my king crab leg recipe. :)
are you baking these then with no shells?
Sandy, I baked these with shells, as you can see from the pictures. Please check the recipe card on the method.
I’ve never made crab legs. Is the 5 minute cooking time really correct?
Yes. They are already boiled and cooked. You just need the garlic lemon butter to get inside the crab legs and warm them up. :)
Would i be wrong to ask that, the legs are boiled and cooked before you bake them, or after cooking them for 5 mins?
Frozen crab legs are already cooked. I didn’t boil them.
I have always just put frozen king crab legs in a big steamer to heat them. But after buying a couple of pounds of them for a dinner with company, this looked so good I decided to shake things up a bit. I really thought the prep would be harder/more work than it was. But the crab legs thawed quicker than I thought they would and it was pretty quick work using kitchen shears and a sharp knife. The split legs are in the fridge, ready for buttery goodness. Doing the prep ahead of time will make dinner time easier and more pleasant, not to mention not as messy. Excited to see how they turn out! I am sure they will be delicious.
Hi Farrel, awesome, let me know how they go!
The crab legs turned out great! One of the great things about this recipe, you are not trying to cut open hot crab legs with scissors, the prep is done before they are heated. Dinner was so much easier and cleaner, no crab juices running off our elbows. Our guests loved them. I will never, ever steam crab legs again when this method is so much better. Thanks.
Yay Farrel I am so happy that you love my crab legs recipe. Please make sure you try out my other recipes: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
thawing the crab legs? Do you rinse them in water until thaw or put right into oven to thaw?
Thaw at room temperature. Do not put in the water.
I made these last night…they were fantastic. I followed pretty much exactly…cut thru the shells, etc. THANK YOU RASA!
Hi Kelly, thanks for trying these garlic lemon butter crab legs!! :)
bake at what temp?