The Complete Guide to Eating Crab: How to Crack, Feast On and Savor Every Part

For seafood lovers, few things beat the sweet, briny taste and tender texture of fresh crab meat. While whole crab or crab legs may look intimidating at first, every part of the crab is edible and delicious if you know how to access it. This complete guide will walk you through identifying, cracking, and eating all the prime parts of blue crab, king crab, snow crab, Dungeness crab and other popular varieties.

Choosing Fresh Crab

Start with high-quality fresh crab for the best flavor and easiest cracking. Here’s what to look for:

Whole crab should have a clean shell, intact limbs and feel heavy for its size. Light crab will have less meat.
For whole cooked crab, ensure it smells pleasant, not overly fishy Look for crab that is chilled, not warm
Frozen legs and claws should show no signs of freezer burn or frost. Select packages with tightly sealed, intact limbs.
Live crab should be active and moving, not lethargic. Make sure all limbs are present.

Must-Have Tools for Cracking Crab

Having the right cracking tools makes getting to the meat much easier:

Crab mallet or hammer – Essential for breaking shells, A meat tenderizer works well
Cracking utensils – Crab crackers, pliers or nut crackers help break into legs and claws.
Seafood fork – The two-pronged fork helps pull meat out of tight spaces.
Small knife or kitchen shears – Useful for cutting crab shells or sections.
Crackers or bread – Have some on hand for dipping into crab juice or butter.

Cracking and Eating the Legs

A crab’s legs contain a good amount of delicious meat Follow these steps

Use a mallet or hammer to lightly crack the leg shell near the joints.
Twist and break open the cracked shell. Remove any thin membrane covering the meat.
Use a fork or your fingers to pull meat out of the segments in whole pieces when possible.
For narrow spaces, use a fork to pull out any remaining meat.
Dip the leg meat in butter or broth for added flavor.
Save the thigh joint, where the leg connects to the body, for last – it contains the most leg meat.

Freeing the Meat from the Claws

A crab’s claws contain the sweetest, largest chunks of meat. Here’s how to extract it:

Use a mallet or cracker to break the claw shell where it meets the body.
Twist and pull apart the cracked shell. Discard any membrane.
For large claws, cut through the shell with shears to fully expose the meat.
Use a fork or your hands to pull out the chunky claw meat in whole pieces if possible.
Use a narrow fork to retrieve any remaining meat from cracks and crevices.

Getting to the Prized Body Meat

Don’t miss out on the delicious meat inside the main body:

Flip the crab upside down and use a mallet to crack the body shell near the bottom. Knock off most of the top shell.
Pull back the remaining top shell and discard the feather-like gills underneath.
Rinse out any visceral matter from the cavity.
Use your fingers or a fork to pull out the large, succulent pieces of body meat.
Cut the body into sections if needed to access all the meat.

Tasty Ways to Prepare Crab Meat

Once extracted from the shell, crab meat is incredibly versatile in recipes:

Chilled crab pairs beautifully with lemon wedges or mango salsa for dipping.
For an elegant appetizer, place crab meat atop toasted baguette slices.
Mix lump crab meat with avocado chunks for a refreshing salad.
Sauté crab with garlic butter, white wine, parsley and lemon.
Bake crab-stuffed mushrooms or mini peppers for party fare.
Stuff crab meat into tomatoes or avocado halves for a starter.
Fold crab into hot pasta with olive oil, herbs, garlic and spices.

No matter how you choose to feast, crab is a sweet, succulent seafood treat. Now that you’re equipped with the ultimate guide to cracking and eating every part of the crab, get ready to dig in and savor the rich, briny flavor of this special delicacy from the sea.

what part of the crab do you eat

Eating the Crab

1. Twist the body to take off all the legs and claws. You can make it easier to remove by putting a dull knife into the joint. Sometimes a little meat will come out with the leg. Eat it. [4] .
2 Toss the legs (fins) and save the claws. (You will get to them in a minute. ) .
3 Turn the crab over on its back. Open the apron––the apron looks like a tab.
4. Hold the top and bottom halves together like you are making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Pull off the top shell. Take care and do this slowly. Toss the top shell. You will have cleaned the crab and taken out its gills to see its shell.
5 Take this bottom half and break it in half. Now, cut one of the halves in half with a knife or your hands. You can use your hands to break the chambers apart. Press down and then pull apart. Now you should have the meat exposed. Pull the meat out with your fingers and enjoy! To get the meat out of the smaller chambers, use a knife.
6. Take out all the pieces of meat inside the body. Start with the claws.
7 Hit the claws with the crab mallet, the hinged cracker, or your knife to break them. Put the sharp end of your knife on the middle of the red side of the claw. This is the best way to open a claw. Finally, hit the knife gently with the crab mallet until it’s half way through the claw. Finally, pivot the knife to the side. That will open the claw, which will help you eat it. Then crack the shell open and eat the meat, being careful not to eat the cartilage.

Things You’ll Need

Crab (steamed & seasoned)
Crab mallet (looks like a small wooden hammer)
Knife
Crab cracker or metal nutcracker (optional)

How to Eat Crabs

FAQ

What part of the crab are you not supposed to eat?

The crab’s lungs appear as feathery cones lining the side of the body. Remove them and throw them away. An old wives’ tale says crab lungs are toxic, but they’re actually just not digestible and taste terrible.

Which parts of the crab are edible?

The claws are edible and generally have the most meat. In most crabs, the body has plentiful meat and the liver is prized by some people. In their soft shell state, pretty much the entire body is edible other than the gills and the eyes.

Are you supposed to eat the entire crab?

In addition, some people like to get every morsel of meat and “mustard” from a crab; some prefer to skip removing the meat from all available (but hard to reach) nicks and crannies of the crustacean.

Is it okay to eat the yellow stuff in crabs?

Contrary to popular belief, the “mustard” is not fat, rather it’s the crab’s hepatopancreas, the organ responsible for filtering impurities from the crab’s blood. Although many find its flavor distinct and delicious, it is recommended that you do not eat this since many chemical contaminants concentrate in the organ.

How do you eat a crab?

Pull off the crab’s legs and claws with your hands; save the claws, but toss the legs. After removing the top shell from the crab’s body, break the bottom in half and pick as much meat from the body as possible with a fork. Use a cracker, mallet, or knife to break open the crab’s claws, and enjoy the meat inside. Prepare your table.

Are coconut crabs healthy to eat?

Crabs are rich in omega 3 fatty acids, protein, vitamins like riboflavin and minerals like selenium, copper, phosphorus. Coconut crabs are not known to be poisonous. The fat in the abdomen and the egg inside the female are the delicious edible parts. It is prepared by steaming or boiling them in coconut milk. Consuming coconut crab along with sea mango, cerbera manghas may make the coconut crab toxic due to the presence of cardiac cardenolides(cardiac active steroids). This causes electrolyte imbalance that affects the electrical conductivity of the heart.

Can you eat the meat from a crab?

You can eat the meat you pull out of the crab as you go, or you can save all the meat and feast after all your crabs have been dispatched. If you want to do the latter, I recommend having two bowls on hand: one for the shells and one for the meat. It’s also good to have a damp washcloth or paper towels on hand, as this can get messy!

What do you eat if you have a female crab?

If you have a female crab and you see bright orange stuff inside, that is edible. It’s the roe or eggs, also called “coral” in shellfish. Coral is delicious when it’s warmed and served on toast or used in crab cakes. You can also add it to crab soups; it’s the key ingredient in she-crab soup .