Best Way How to Cook Frozen Crab Legs Recipe (Easy)

Sweet tender and perfectly cooked! You need to know how to cook frozen crab legs for the perfect dinner! Cooking crab legs is an easy way to have a fancy meal in a matter of minutes. This step-by-step guide is our favorite way and cooking method and you'll be holding your special occasion in no time at all!

How to Steam Frozen Crab Legs

Contents show

If you look around the seafood section of the local grocery stores for any length of time, you’ll find that many of the crab legs are frozen or have been frozen before being placed on ice at the seafood counter.

That’s no problem and it won’t affect the flavor if you follow the full instructions. I’ll show you the cooking process for perfect crab legs for sweet crab meat every single time, even if you have been asking, “How do I steam crab legs without a steamer?”.

The first step is to thaw the crab legs. The best news is that it only takes a few minutes.

How Many Crab Legs Per Person?

When serving crab legs, you can plan on about 1 lb of crab legs per person unless you are also serving another main course like steak (surf and turf) or crab cakes.

What Goes With Crab Legs?

At our house, crab legs go down FAST! My family always enjoys ANY kind of potato, corn on the cob, coleslaw and cornbread.

Types of Crabs You Might Enjoy and Can Cook This Way

• Snow Crab Legs
• Other Fresh Crab Legs
• Stone Crabs
• Alaskan King Crab Legs
• Whole Crabs
• Dungeness crab legs
• Lobster Tails can be cooked this way

First, Thaw the Crab Legs (15-20 Minutes)

There are different methods of thawing, but the good news is that all of them only take a minute! This is the preferred method for the best crab legs and works especially well for first time crab cooks. This method provides a quick release of the sweet meat with juicy crab meat that you love! 

Place crab legs in a large bowl or stock pot and cover with cool tap water or simply run under cool water for about 15 minutes.

If you prefer, you can move the crab legs from the freezer to the refrigerator the day before you plan to use them and they should be sufficiently thawed by the time you plan to use them.

If you do not thaw the crab legs first, they will cook unevenly and give you strange textures and flavors when eating.

How Do I Know When the Crab Legs are Thawed?

You’ll know the legs are thawed when the joints operate freely. This doesn’t take long and you’ll want to remove the legs as soon as you note that they are moving freely.

Here’s The Equipment You’ll Need

• A stockpot or large pot – a big enough pot to provide steam for the crab legs you want to cook.
• Steamer or Colander that you can set on top of the stockpot – check this before starting to make sure that it fits and won’t fall into the water.
• Tongs – to remove the crab legs and to move them around during cooking so you don’t burn yourself.
• Lid for the steamer/colander – This helps to capture the steam and keep it circulating around the crab legs.
• Rimmed Baking Sheet - to place the legs when the come from the steamer
• Aluminum foil - to cover the legs and keep them warm.
• Large Platter - to serve the crab legs on.
• Kitchen Shears or Crab Cracker s

Here’s the Ingredients You’ll Need

For the Crab Legs

• Crab Legs – Allow 1 lb per person if this is the only “main dish”. You can cut that in half if you are offering some other main dish like crab cakes, salmon or steak.
• Old Bay Seasoning – At least 2 oz (the entire smaller canister)
• Lemon Wedges – or Lemon Juice to squeeze over the crab legs at the table!
• Lots of Boiling Water
• Garlic Butter Sauce
• Additional melted butter

For the Butter Dipping Sauce

• Butter – Unsalted whole butter (go ahead, splurge on the real thing)
• Olive Oil - seasoned with spices for those who prefer to avoid butter
• Garlic Clove – Use fresh garlic cloves and not garlic powder
• Salt and Seasonings – to add flavor to the butter. We prefer fresh thyme, but parsley works too.

Here’s How You Do It

This is what people typically call a crab boil

1. Thaw the legs until joints move freely.
2. Steam over a large stock pot of water seasoned with Old Bay and beer for 9 minutes. We aren't really going to boil the crab legs. We are simply steaming them in above the liquid in the cooking pot.
3. Remove from steam and serve immediately.

Tips and Tricks

Purchasing Crab Legs

• Buy the freshest crab legs you can. Often you’ll find that the freshest ones in your area (especially if you aren’t near an ocean) are frozen.
• You’ll sometimes see ice clinging to the crab legs in the frozen bag. Look at the color of the crab legs and as long as they don’t look pale, you should be fine.
• Keep the crab legs frozen until you are within 24 hours of wanting to cook them and then thaw them by one of the methods described above.

Cooking the Crab Legs

• Season the water generously (and more than seems reasonable) with the old bay. Remember that the flavor is leaving via steam and it will require more than feels prudent.
• It probably goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway, the crab legs will be HOT. The lid is HOT. The Stock pot is HOT. Everything is VERY HOT by the time the legs are done cooking. So, use pot holders and tongs. Don’t try to remove the crab legs with your bare hands.
• You’ll only need enough water in the bottom of the stock pot to steam the crab legs. You don’t need an entire pot full of water. A few inches should do it.
• Make sure that the water level in the stock pot does not touch your steamer basket (or colander), we aren’t boiling the crab legs, we are steaming them.
• Set a timer and you’ll want to steam them for 8 minutes or until thoroughly heated through. It’s a given that it will take you a bit to get them all collected from the basket and that steam will still be raising while you are removing them.

PRO TIP: Make a delicious dipping butter to go with the crab legs while you are steaming them. Add minced garlic and a bit of salt to a few tablespoons of butter and melt in a small saucepan on the stovetop

PRO TIP #2: Give the crab legs a small shake of Old Bay Seasoning as they lay on the platter, this helps the flavor get into the meat at the succulent meat is cracked from the crab leg.

Watch How to Steam Frozen Crab Legs

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This article originally appeared on the pages of Loaves and Dishes on May 11, 2021 and has been updated with new information, an updated recipe card and more tips and tricks.

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