Crab Legs with Garlic Lemon Butter
Published Jan 06, 2020
Updated Oct 01, 2024
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Garlic lemon butter crab legs are one of the best king crab leg recipes. Season the crab with garlic herb and lemon butter sauce, this recipe is so good!
I love crab, especially King crab and snow crab. They are my favorite seafood, especially during summertime when I host a seafood fest of crawfish boil, shrimp boil (or seafood boil).
These crab legs are deliciously seasoned and cooked to perfection, offering a succulent sweetness in every bite. Absolutely divine.
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!
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
Cooking 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
The answer is yes. Thaw them before cooking for moist, tender and juicy crab meat.
King Crab Legs: These come from king crabs, which are larger and have thicker legs. King crab legs are known for their large size, meaty texture, and sweet flavor. They are typically more expensive than snow crab legs.
Snow Crab Legs: Snow crab legs come from snow crabs, which are smaller in size compared to king crabs. Snow crab legs are thinner and have a more delicate texture. While they are still flavorful, they are usually less sweet than king crab legs.
Both types of crab legs are delicious and can be prepared in various ways, such as steaming, boiling, or grilling, and served with butter or dipping sauces. The choice between king crab legs and snow crab legs often comes down to personal preference, budget, and availability.
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.
This recipe is only 401 calories per serving.
What To Serve With Crab Legs With Garlic Lemon Butter
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.
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do. If you try my recipe, please leave a comment and consider giving it a 5-star rating. For more easy and delicious recipes, explore my Recipe Index, and stay updated by subscribing to my newsletter and following me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for new updates.
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Crab Legs
Ingredients
- 1 lb (500g) 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I just made this for my daughter and I, it came out so so good! It was my first time making crab, and I will only make it this way from now on, absolute perfection!
We had these on Christmas Eve! Easy and just made the house smell wonderful! Thank-you for the recipe…will definitely make these again! I did add Old Bay seasoning…for us it’s not crab without it!
Hi Bee, if the frozen crab leg comes heavily salted, would adding in salted butter makes the dish even saltier? Or can I do with unsalted butter if my family members do not take too salty food?
Yes you can!
Can these be refrigerated and heated the next day
Yes.
This recipe is perfection! I used it on snow crab legs. I loved the idea of cutting the legs in half first; that made it soo easy to open later. The flavor was perfection! I will never cook crab legs any other way! I used disposable aluminum pans, and was able to reheat the dish as it cooled off, about half-way through eating them. So simple, but so delicious. Thank you, Bee!
Hi Joyce, thanks so much for your raving review. I am so happy. Yes, this recipe is so good and these crab legs are perfect 10. I also have another baked king crab recipe you might like: https://rasamalaysia.com/baked-king-crab/
Hi Rasa this recipe looks AWESOME! This will be my first time attempting crab legs so I had a few more detailed questions about the cutting/splitting process. In step two you instruct that we “slice or cut the crab legs into halves to expose the flesh”. My question is: when you slice the leg in half, do you leave the shell attached during the baking process? This is what it looks like when I review the pictures posted with this recipe. If that is the case, when placing the legs on the baking sheet is the exposed flesh faced up, down, or does it not matter?
Hi Kendra, yes leave the shell on when baking. Flesh face up.
Wow, this was very delicious crab recipes RASA!! My family has been involved the the Crab and Seafood industry for many years in the San Francisco area. Thanks for sharing this. If you have anything to send our way, we are looking for different ideas for serving Dungeness Crab to our customers.
We have a new business called Crab On The Run, we deliver the most Fresh Crab in Northern California, DOCK to DOOR in about an hour!! There’s a huge amount of logistics but it is all working out well!!! We attempted to start the business 4 years ago, but with the Demoic Acid and crabs being sick, it has been difficult, but everything looks good for this year! But we are still saying our prayers!!
Would love to talk with you more, maybe sometime over skype or Facebook.
Thanks
Anthony
(Tried to Rate you 5 STARS but the stars wouldn’t stick, let me know if there is a trick to it)
Best crab legs recipe ever! Nothing compares.
Ken, thanks so much for trying these crab legs, I love them, too!
Easy to make and so delicious!
That’s great that you tried this recipe. Yes very yummy!
Please explain how to cut the legs so that the meat is in 2 pieces
I used a pair of scissors to cut open and removed the shells.