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Crab Salad Recipe

4.67 from 3 votes
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Chilling time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Yield 4 servings (3 cups)
Category Lunch/Dinner
Cuisine American

Description

A fresh and flavorful recipe for crab salad. It's creamy yet light and features layers of flavor!

Ingredients

  • 1 pound fresh jumbo lump crab meat
  • ½ cup mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon ketchup
  • 1 lemon, zested and juiced
  • ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • ½ teaspoon Tabasco
  • ½ teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
  • ½ cup finely chopped celery
  • ¼ cup thinly sliced scallions
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
  • 1 small piece horseradish root, peeled
  • Serving: celery stalks and leaves, Bibb lettuce leaves, toasted bread, rolls, and/or crackers

Instructions

  • Carefully and gently pick over 1 pound crab meat, discarding any bits of shell. Transfer crab meat to a medium mixing bowl.
  • For the dressing, in a separate mixing bowl whisk together ½ cup mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon ketchup, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, ½ teaspoon Worcestershire, ½ teaspoon Tabasco, ½ teaspoon Old Bay seasoning, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and a few turns of cracked black pepper.
  • Add dressing to crab meat and gently fold together with a rubber spatula. Fold in chopped celery and scallions. Season to taste with additional salt, pepper and lemon.
  • Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to meld (or up to 4 hours).
  • To serve as a dip, pile crab salad into a serving bowl. Sprinkle with additional Old Bay seasoning. Using a microplane, grate fresh horseradish generously over the top of the crab. Garnish with celery leaves. Serve with celery stalks and buttery crackers.
  • Or, to serve as a salad, spoon crab salad onto Bibb lettuce leaves and garnish as above. You can also serve open-faced on toasted bread or stuffed into toasted hoagie rolls.

Notes

This salad really depends on good quality fresh crab meat, so it’s not the time to skimp!! Best if you can find fresh, domestic lump crab meat over the imported, pasteurized kind, but the only way to know if it’s great is to taste it. It should taste clean and sweet and lightly salted. Make sure you pick over the meat carefully for shells, there’s always a few hiding in there! 
Fresh horseradish root looks a bit like a large parsnip. It has a lovely peppery flavor that is a perfect match for sweet crab meat. Horseradish roots can be large but a little bit goes a long way. Peel the bottom end of the root and grate it using a microplane over the top of the crab salad. It will look a bit like grated parmesan cheese but with a peppery zing! 
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Nutrition

Serving: 3/4 cupCalories: 205kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 17gFat: 19gSaturated Fat: 1.5gCholesterol: 72mgSodium: 1080mgFiber: 0.5gSugar: 3g
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