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Ginger and Scallion Crab - This delicious and easy Chinese recipe makes restaurant-worthy ginger and scallion Dungeness crab at home.
Remember that scene in Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts was trying to devour her escargot and it flew across the table?
I had that exact “Pretty Woman” moment–a disgraceful and embarrassing one I must say–at a Chinese restaurant recently. It was a plate of mouth-watering ginger and scallion crab, and the character in play was a succulent crab claw, the last one remaining.
The culprit was a crab cracker. Being my clumsy self, coupled with the sin of gluttony, my crab claw flew across the table and landed on the carpet at a sad and dark corner of the restaurant. And there was no waiter to catch it for me!
Throughout the dinner, I kept looking down at the poor crab claw that I almost had in my mouth. It was a huge and beautiful crab claw. The shell was perfectly cracked and revealed the juicy meat inside. Drool…mmmm….I was this close to eating that crab claw. Darn it.
Chinese Ginger And Scallion Crab
When I was grocery shopping today and saw that Dungeness crab was on sale for $3.99 per pound, I knew exactly what I was going to make–ginger and scallion crab.
If you’ve been to a real Chinese restaurants in the United States, I am sure you are familiar with ginger and scallion crab (姜葱蟹).
Crabs are mostly prepared two ways in these Chinese restaurants: ginger and scallion or salt and pepper crab. Personally, I love the wok-hei infused ginger and scallion crab.
In my opinion, ginger and scallion are perfect matches made for Chinese stir-fry dishes–be it seafood (such as ginger scallion fish), ginger and scallion chicken or ginger scallion beef.
Ingredients For Ginger And Scallion Crab Sauce
This easy recipe requires just a few simple ingredients to create the sauce:
- Oyster Sauce
- White Pepper Powder
- Sesame Oil
- Sugar
- Water
- Corn Starch
- Fish Sauce
That’s it!
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
Eating out, ginger and scallion crab is rather pricey but I spend less than $6 making it at home. If you think that ginger and scallion crab is one of those dishes that is better served at Chinese restaurants, think twice. The recipe is very easy and takes only a few basic ingredients.
As for me, not only did I have my fix of ginger and scallion crab, I had two crab claws all to myself. And no, they didn’t fly across the table this time. ;)
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is only 68 calories per serving.
What To Serve With This Recipe
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Other Crab Recipes You Might Like
Ginger and Scallion Crab
Ingredients
- 1 crab, about 1 1/2 – 2 pounds (0.6 kg-1 kg)
- 2 inches (5cm) ginger, peeled and sliced into 10-12 pieces
- 3 stalks scallion, cut into 2-inch length (5 cm)
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch , for frying
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- oil , for deep frying
Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 2 dashes white pepper powder
- 1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 6 tablespoons water
- 3/4 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/8 teaspoon fish sauce
Instructions
- Mix the Sauce ingredients and set them aside.
- Clean the crab and cut it into pieces. Pat dry with paper towels and place in a large bowl. Add the cornstarch to the bowl and lightly coat the crab pieces with it. Heat a wok and add cooking oil.
- When the oil is hot, add the crab pieces and deep-fry them. As soon as they turn red, remove them from the oil, strain off the excess oil, and set aside.
- Heat a wok and add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil. Add the ginger and stir-fry until aromatic. Then, add the crab pieces to the wok and stir briefly before adding the sauce.
- Add the chopped scallions and toss the crab in the wok a few times until well coated with the sauce. Dish out and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Thank you for this amazing recipe! I’ve used it multiple times with both lobster and Dungeness crab, and it tastes even better than at a restaurant! 😊
Hi Pierre, thanks for your sweet comment and 5 stars ratings. Lobster, yes, it works. I am so glad you think it’s better than restaurants! Do try more recipes on my site!
This looks super easy to make can’t wait to try!!
Hi Tiffany, thanks for your wonderful comment and 5 stars rating. I am so glad you enjoyed my recipe. Please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipes/
Followed this to the T and was so surprised it came out so bland. Tasted before plating and had to add soy sauce, oyster sauce and fish sauce.
Corn starch is mentioned in two different places for the ingredients and the sauce, yet corn flour is mentioned in Paragraph 2 of the recipe. Is it supposed to be both corn starch and corn flour, or just corn starch?
Corn starch.
Can you use steamed crabs?
Yes you can but won’t be as good. You should use raw crab.
Wondering if the recipe can be adapted to use frozen crab claws instead? Thank you!
Yes.
Really good. Changes I made were adding sherry 50/50 for sauce water. Plus 3 cloves sliced garlic cloves. No need for deep fryer. I used two woks.
Yummy!
Do you have to kill and cut up the crab 1st or can you used boiled crab?
You should use live crab, cut into pieces. Boiled crab can be used but won’t taste as good.
Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Would it work well instead of deep frying the raw crabs coated with flour, just pan fry them. After that, in a separate pan, fry finger, and garlic, and add the crabs, and the rest of the recipe should be the same as yours. Doing deep fry uses up too much oil, but pan fry minimizes amount of oil and it’s more healthy.
This recipe looks amazing! Can I use frozen crab for this recipe? Where can I find more of your recipes?
Frozen crab is not going to be nice. All my recipes are here: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/