Learning how to cook Snow Crab is probably the easiest of all crab types. With our guide we’ll show you how to make the most of the crab meat flavors.

Snow crabs are the “Queen crab” of the Alaskan waters because of their stunted likeliness to the majesty King crab and the fact that they are all legs with a petite body. Their leg span is two feet from leg tip to leg tip. Far to big to fit on any dinner plate, unless you are King Kong or any other monstrous giant.

The delectable fleshy legs are a popular choice amongst consumers with just 73 calories per crab. They are one of the more affordable species of crab (next to Blue crab) easy to prepare and easy to crack open their shell.

The Discovery channel’s hit TV show ‘The Deadliest Catch’ has brought these crabs to the world stage, where Alaska fisherman risk their lives crab fishing for these crabs, called Opilio crab or Opies on the show.

You buy the legs already cooked and flash frozen so the preparations are just a matter of heating the meat. There are several methods how to cook Snow Crab legs, all of them are easy enough for an inexperienced chef to follow our instructions.

The best way to start cooking your crab legs is to let them fully defrost in the fridge overnight. This way your crab is able to preserve their sweet flavors. Once they are fully defrosted have a taste of a sample. If you find that the crab legs are too salty (this has happened to me only once) let them soak in milk for at least an hour in the fridge before you start cooking. Drain and discard the milk once you have let them soak.

Now it’s time to choose your weapon of cookery…

 

Steaming

 

This is the easiest and most common method to cook snow crabs. You can add lemon, herbs, vegetables and spices to the water at the bottom of the steamer to infuse the crab meat with flavors of your choosing.

Once your water is boiling, put the crab legs in the steamer and cook them for five to seven minutes. Remember that they are already cooked and you are just heating the meat throughout.

 

Boiling

 

Boiling is another method where you can add lemon, herbs, spices and vegetables to the water of your choosing to enhance the sweet meat flavor. I like to boil them in coconut milk and herbs.

Just add enough water to the pot to cover your legs and bring that water to a boil. Put your legs in and boil them for four to six minutes.

 

Baking

 

A simple way of cooking your crab legs is by putting your crab legs on a cookie sheet and pop them in the oven. Add what ever spices you wish and voila a super-delish meal with out any hassles.

Pre-heat the oven to 400* F and bake thawed snow crab legs for 8 minutes or frozen crab legs for 15 minutes.

 

Microwave

 

Microwave your crab legs to defrost them but not to cook them. Wrap your crab legs in wet paper towel and use the defrost mode set at 5 minutes.

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