Is Snow Crab Salad Actually Healthy For You?

Snow crab salad is a popular seafood dish made with snow crab meat mixed with mayonnaise or salad dressing and various vegetables. With its deliciously sweet crab meat and creamy dressing snow crab salad seems like the perfect light and nutritious meal. But is this tasty salad really as healthy as it appears? Let’s take a closer look at the nutrition facts.

An Overview of Snow Crab

Snow crab, whose scientific name is Chionoecetes opilio, is a species of crab that lives in the cold waters of the northern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Its name comes from the fact that it dwells in snowy, icy habitats. Snow crab is prized for its sweet, delicate meat, which is usually extracted from the crab’s legs and claws.

Compared to other types of crab, snow crab is relatively low in fat. A 3-ounce serving contains less than 1 gram of fat, most of which comes from beneficial omega-3 fatty acids. Snow crab is also a good source of protein, providing about 20 grams per serving, and makes a useful contribution to your daily mineral intake.

However, snow crab lacks some nutrients found in other crab varieties. King crab, for example contains significantly more zinc and copper. Snow crab also provides only trace amounts of vitamins.

So while not exactly a nutritional powerhouse in its own right, snow crab can be a healthy addition to your diet when eaten in moderation. The problem arises when it’s doused in creamy dressings to make snow crab salad.

Breaking Down a Typical Snow Crab Salad

A typical snow crab salad includes the following basic ingredients

• Snow crab meat
• Mayonnaise or salad dressing
• Lettuce
• Celery
• Onion
• Lemon juice
• Salt and pepper

Let’s analyze the nutrition information in a standard 1 cup serving of snow crab salad made with real mayonnaise:

Calories: 343
Total fat: 32g

• Saturated fat: 4g
• Trans fat: 0g
  Cholesterol: 105mg
  Sodium: 729mg
  Total carbs: 6g
• Dietary fiber: 1g
• Sugars: 3g
  Protein: 12g

As you can see, while snow crab meat is low in calories and fat on its own, mixing it with thick, creamy mayo instantly transforms this salad into a high-fat, high-calorie dish.

A single cup provides nearly a whole day’s worth of fat and a third of the recommended maximum saturated fat intake. It also contains a substantial amount of cholesterol.

Furthermore, the high sodium content from the mayo, crab, and seasoning makes this salad a rather salty choice. The American Heart Association recommends limiting sodium to under 2,300mg per day.

Clearly, the mayonnaise is doing most of the damage here nutritionally. So what if you try to make a healthier version with low-fat mayo or Greek yogurt instead of regular mayo?

Trying To Make Snow Crab Salad Healthier

Substituting regular mayo for a lower-fat version or a yogurt-based dressing seems like an easy way to lighten up snow crab salad. Unfortunately, these swap outs don’t help as much as you might assume.

Let’s compare the nutrition facts of snow crab salad made with regular mayo to versions made with low-fat mayo and Greek yogurt dressing:

Regular mayo snow crab salad (1 cup):

Calories: 343
Total fat: 32g
Sodium: 729mg

Low-fat mayo snow crab salad (1 cup):

Calories: 208
Total fat: 16g
Sodium: 591mg

Greek yogurt snow crab salad (1 cup):

Calories: 231
Total fat: 8g
Sodium: 498mg

While using low-fat mayo or Greek yogurt slashes the fat content considerably, these salads still supply over 10% of your daily fat intake in just one cup. The calorie and sodium content remains fairly high as well.

Additionally, low-fat and light mayos tend to pack in extra sugar and preservatives to make up for that missing fat. So you may just be trading one set of unhealthy ingredients for others. Fat-free salad dressings have similar issues.

Greek yogurt makes a fresher, less processed alternative to mayo. But it still contains a good amount of saturated fat plus sodium from the yogurt and crab. Furthermore, many Greek yogurt brands add sugar to offset the tartness.

Healthier Ways To Eat Snow Crab

The takeaway is that smothering snow crab meat in any creamy, fatty dressing negates the health benefits of the crab itself. So what are some healthier ways to enjoy snow crab’s sweet flavor?

• Eat it plain: Skip the mayo entirely and enjoy a simple salad of crab meat with lemon juice, herbs, celery, and just a drizzle of olive oil.

• Use sparingly: Use just enough light mayo, Greek yogurt, or avocado to coat the crab meat, rather than drowning it in dressing.

• Make crab cakes: Combine crab meat with breadcrumbs, egg, and spices, then pan-fry. Much less oil and calories than salad.

• Stir fry: Sauté crab with minced veggies like onions, peppers, and snap peas for a light stir fry.

• Put it on toast: Top slices of whole-grain toast with crab meat, tomatoes, and dill for an open-faced crab toast.

• Blend into omelets: Add crab meat to egg whites along with vegetables for a protein-packed, low-carb omelet.

The key is to let the great flavor of the crab shine through rather than masking it with creamy dressings. Used in moderation as part of a diet focused on whole foods, snow crab can be a tasty and nutritious choice. But snow crab salad loaded with mayo transforms an otherwise healthy food into an unhealthy dish. Go light on the dressing to unlock the real benefits!

Frequency of Entities:

snow crab: 21
crab meat: 10
mayo: 9
fat: 8
calories: 6
sodium: 5
salad: 5
healthy: 4
Greek yogurt: 3
dressing: 3
total fat: 3
saturated fat: 2
cholesterol: 1
carbs: 1
protein: 1
omega-3: 1
minerals: 1
zinc: 1
copper: 1
vitamins: 1
lettuce: 1
celery: 1
onion: 1
lemon juice: 1
salt: 1
pepper: 1
low-fat mayo: 2
regular mayo: 1
light mayo: 1
crab cakes: 1
stir fry: 1
toast: 1
omelets: 1