Boiled Snow Crab Legs with Old Bay Seasoning
January 19th, 2013 in Fish, Main Dishes by Julia Volhina
Total cooking time: 15min
If you saw frozen snow crab legs in store and wanted to try them, but wasn’t sure how to cook them – this recipe is for you.
It is easy and fast idea for lunch or dinner, assuming the crab legs are sold pre-cooked (have somewhat orange-red color) and only need to be warmed up and seasoned with some spaces to taste.
You can cook raw crab legs like this also, it may require a bit more time for cooking.
Pairs well with warm Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce.
Ingredients:
- 2lb of frozen snow crab legs
- 3 tablespoons of old bay seasoning
- 1 tablespoon of garlic powder
- 3-4 bay leaves
- 10-15 whole black peppercorns
- Salt to taste
- Water to fill the pot
How to prepare, step-by-step:
-
Prepare ingredients: I used snow crab frozen clusters for this recipe, but any other kind of crab can be cooked like this, king crab may need to be cooked a bit longer:
Boiled Snow Crab Legs with Old Bay Seasoning Recipe: Step 1 -
Fill cooking pot big enough to fit crab legs with water, bring to boil and add salt to taste:
Boiled Snow Crab Legs with Old Bay Seasoning Recipe: Step 2 -
Add bay leaves, whole black peppercorns, old bay seasoning and garlic powder, adjust heat for light simmering and let it all cook for 2-3 mins together:
Boiled Snow Crab Legs with Old Bay Seasoning Recipe: Step 3 -
Put clusters of crab legs in and let them simmer for about 8 mins:
Boiled Snow Crab Legs with Old Bay Seasoning Recipe: Step 4 -
Remove crab legs from water, shake them a little to remove water they were cooking in and serve while hot with some lemon garlic butter sauce for dipping:
Boiled Snow Crab Legs with Old Bay Seasoning Recipe: Step 5
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1lb
Servings Per Recipe: 2 portions
Calories Per Serving: 306
Calories from Fat 36
Amount Per Serving
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 4g
6%
Saturated Fat 0g
0%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 180mg
60%
Sodium 5780mg
241%
Amount Per Serving
% Daily Value*
Total Carbohydrate 2g
1%
Dietary Fiber 1g
4%
Sugars 0g
Protein 61g
122%
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Note: Nutritional information is calculated approximatelly based on recipe amounts and generic ingredients used, real life numbers will vary.
I always steamed them, thinking boiling would make it too “squishy” but the addition of the seasonings makes it sound good – I have to try this!
Hey I’m back, dinner was FABULOUS! I used the Old Bay liquid, and the pouch. This may sound weird, but I even threw some frozen meatballs in the pot along with the chicken wings, crab legs, sausages, shrimp, corn, red potatoes, yellow onion, the spices on the video as well, with that garlic-butter sauce on the side, Honey Please! On a scale 1-10, I made a 13!!! Thanks for your article.
Be Blessed, All Glory to God.
Wow, quite few changes, but I am glad it worked for you 🙂
I’m so exited about tonight’s dinner! I will be using your recipe, and adding red potatoes, corn, sausage, and shrimp! With some fried catfish, hush puppies, and a salad! M y family is going to be happy!
Could you add corn and potatoes, lobster or even shrimp to this??? And if you can how would you go about it..
Could probably do shrimps, just add the along with the crab legs; corn and potatoes may require pre-cooking, so add potatoes first until half ready, then corn until potatoes are almost ready and then crab legs if you wish them to be cooked together.
Trying this today as well for my family. Thanks for the wonderful recipe
I’ll give this a try this evening. It looks like a solid recipe. Thank you!
The title capstan says “boiled” yet the cooking process is in water not steam, why? Wouldn’t the old bay mixture be on the crab legs in the steamer part of the pot? Please clarify?
English isn’t my native language, but in my head “boil something” means “to cook (something) in boiling water” which is precisely what this recipe describes. I don’t understand your second question, could you please rephrase what you ask perhaps for me to be able to answer? Thanks!
That’s why it says boiled not steamed….
Loved it great recipe winner winner crab leg dinner thank you for being strate forward
Thank you!
Great step by step to follow. We bought some cluster snow crab today, as my son wanted to try, all I knew, well I think you boil them, lol.. Great recipe!!! Thank you!!!!
Thank you!
Excellent recipe! I followed the recipe to a tee and these came out perfect! Thank you for sharing.
Old Bay or Zataran’s are the best for boiled shellfish. Think Louisiana crawfish. Delightful!
I was told you could take frozen crab legs and wrap them tightly in foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. They
tell me they are great this way and you just need a big flat cookie sheet or broiler pan to cook them on.
How many servings does your recipe yield? Thank you.
It will feed two ppl.
WHAT IS “OLD BAY” SEASONING? THANK YOU FOR YOUR ANSWER
According to wiki, it is a seasoning mix which includes mustard, paprika, celery salt, bay leaf, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, mace, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, cardamom, and ginger.
Old Bay is a Maryland crab seasoning usually used on bay crabs (Chesapeake Blue Crabs). It is DELIGHTFUL on many many things – I use it in my fried chicken flour mixture, on popcorn, in macaroni salad – it is very versatile. Try googling it and you should find the manufacturers site, where you can probably order it if you don’t live in the Tidewater area or Delmarva. I’ve actually seen chefs on Chopped use it now – I would never consider my Maryland kitchen complete without it!
Julie, what Robert was asking you in that post from September, he said, aile – it was a typo for aisle. You know, the seasoning aisle!
While you do not have to thaw crab legs, I wouldn’t cook them with big chunks of ice. I rinse them off first to remove the ice, if they have any.
Ah you are probably right about the aisle thing, thank you!
And yes, I agree about big chunks of ice.
my store did not carry whole black peppercorns so i bought a bottle in the seasoning aile….how much is equal to 12 peppercorns?
Unfortunately I don’t know what the “seasoning aile” stands for, you can use just ground black pepper to taste instead of black pepper corns.
Hi robert. 1 and 1/2 tsp ground pepper is equal to about 1 tsp of peppercorns. (About 8 peppercorns in a tsp.) hope that helps
I recently purchased some crab legs on sale, but I’ve never prepared them. I found your recipe through a Google search and your outline and photos explain how easy it is. Could you clarify if you are placing frozen crab legs into the pot, or have you thawed them first?
Frozen are ok, no need to thaw them out.
please if yiu have daily updates, I would like to get them
I am not sure what you mean exactly, but I do have weekly updates on my blog, you can see them by visiting this website, on Facebook, google plus and twitter…