Food/Drink|Food

The Best Kinds Of Crab To Eat

Carly Kiel
Updated July 26, 2024 376.6K views 8 items
Ranked By
12.1K votes
4.4K voters
Voting Rules
Vote up the best tasting crab species whose carcasses you want to pick clean.

For seafood enthusiasts, crabs promise a flavorful adventure that captivates the taste buds and enriches culinary experiences. When it comes to the best kinds of crabs to eat, a handful truly outshine the rest, offering unique textures, succulence, and a delightful briny taste. These types of crabs not only are revered for their delicious meat but also bring an array of health benefits. Throughout this discussion, a deeper look into varieties like King Crab, Dungeness Crab, and Snow Crab highlights what makes them the best crab choices to savor in gourmet dining and home kitchens alike.

Starting with King Crab, this majestic crustacean is hailed for its delectable meat that is both tender and sweet. Mostly harvested in the icy waters of Alaska, King Crab legs are a coveted delicacy, providing an unmatched juicy and rich flavor profile. Its large, meaty legs, combined with an impressive nutritional profile, make it a standout among the best kinds of crabs to eat. Dungeness Crab, found along the West Coast of North America, brings a different allure with its slightly sweet and flaky meat. Praised for its subtle nuances and deep umami flavors, Dungeness is perfect in salads, soups, or simply steamed. On the other hand, Snow Crab, with its vibrant white and red-tinted meat, offers a delicate, sweet taste and a fibrous texture that pulls apart effortlessly. Its versatility in recipes, plus the ease of cracking open those clusters, places Snow Crab high up on the list of the best crabs.

Crabs to eat are not just about taste; they're an experience, melding the joy of deliciousness with the charm of seafood’s freshness. Exploring the different types of crabs reveals a fascinating panorama of flavors and textures, each bringing something special to the table. From King Crab's hearty offerings to the delicate notes of Dungeness, and the sweet, flaky bliss of Snow Crab, it's clear why these varieties are held in such high regard. These best kinds of crabs are just an introduction to a world where each bite is a celebration of the sea's bounty. Indulging in these crabs means reveling in some of the finest culinary treasures available, making crab-lovers’ epicurean adventures truly satisfying.

  • King Crab
    1

    King Crab

    Delicious, bright white meat, but notoriously difficult to coax out of the hard, spiny shell.

    The largest crab species is fished from October to January in Norton Sound, AK, and the Bering Sea.

    Use a cracker on the tough, spiny leg clusters to access long, thick spears of meat inside.

    1,717 votes
    Delicious?
  • Dungeness Crab
    2

    Dungeness Crab

    Succulent, sweet, tender, and flaky.

    Marketed year-round, but harvested from late fall to late spring, from Alaska down the West Coast.

    One whole crab - heated and cracked, served simply with butter or dipping sauce - can feed 2 people.

    1,661 votes
    Delicious?
  • Snow Crab
    3

    Snow Crab

    A sweet, easy staple at all-you-can-eat seafood buffets.

    Fished from both North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans through the cold months of January through April.

    Four walking legs plus a claw arm are sold in clusters and easy to snap and eat without any tools.

    1,339 votes
    Delicious?
  • Blue Crab
    4

    Blue Crab

    Delicious salty sweetness, but only after considerable effort. Fished along the Atlantic coast, particularly the Chesapeake Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico from April through December.

    Blue crabs are usually steamed and served whole (and, in Maryland, with Old Bay seasoning).

    You must basically dissect the whole carcass yourself, removing claws, legs, gills, and other viscera before snapping the entire body in half to pick out the meat.

    1,255 votes
    Delicious?
  • Stone Crab
    5

    Stone Crab

    When in-season, a flaky white delicacy inside a fancy little black-tipped claw.

    Harvested in South Florida from mid-October through mid-May.

    Fisherman snap off a single claw and throw the rest of the crab back into the water, where it will regenerate a new one. 

    821 votes
    Delicious?
  • Soft-Shell Crab
    6

    Soft-Shell Crab

    Not a kind of crab, but a culinary term for crabs that have recently molted, so their new exoskeletons have not yet hardened.

    In North American, the species is typically the blue crab, captured within days of molting in spring and early summer.

    Aside from the gills, mouthparts, and abdomen, the entire body is edible; the salty, chewy remaining sections are usually served deep fried or sautéed.

    748 votes
    Delicious?