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This crab salad is a flavorful take on seafood salad, made with imitation crab meat, celery, green onions, mayonnaise, and some Old Bay seasoning for tons of flavor. Delicious with crackers or stuffed into buns for an inexpensive but delicious play on lobster rolls!
What Makes This Recipe So Good
- It’s so easy to make, with absolutely no cooking required. Perfect for warm days when you don’t want to work in a hot kitchen!
- Serve it as a side or as its own meal! I love it on lettuce wraps, buttery crackers, or hot-dog-style buns for an easy crab roll. It’s filling but super light.
- Any leftovers make a great lunch or snack for the next day! Store the crab salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It’ll keep up to 3 days.
Key Ingredients
Imitation Crab Meat (Krab Meat) – Imitation crab is a cost-effective alternative to real crab that’s available year-round in most places. When I say “cost-effective”, I mean it – imitation crab is usually around $6/pound, compared to roughly $25/pound for real crab meat. Imitation crab doesn’t actually contain any crab meat. It’s typically made from a combination of white fish, egg whites, sugar, and starches to mimic the taste and texture of real crab.
Old Bay Seasoning – That classic blend of pepper, paprika, and celery salt. It’s good on just about everything but it’s extra good on seafood! Feel free to use more or less than 1 teaspoon in your crab salad to get your perfect flavor!
Chef’s Tips
- Finely chop the celery and green onion so you don’t get large chunks of them in a mouthful. Their flavors can be a little strong, so smaller pieces keep everything balanced.
- Serving your crab salad on a hot-dog-style bun? Lightly toast the bun first! You can even butter it slightly if you’d like. It adds a really great flavor and texture that compliments the chilled creamy crab salad nicely.
- If you’re taking this to an indoor shower or potluck, it can sit out for a maximum of 2 hours before it needs to be refrigerated. For an outdoor picnic or cookout where the temperature outside is above 90° Fahrenheit, it can only sit out for a maximum of one hour before needing to be refrigerated. Watch the clock!
More Delicious Salad Recipes
- Seafood Salad
- Chicken Salad with Grapes
- Kani Salad
- Perfect Pea Salad
- Broccoli Cauliflower Salad
- Deviled Egg Salad
Crab Salad
Equipment
- Large bowl
- Large spoon
Ingredients
- 1 pound imitation crabmeat flaked
- ⅓ cup finely chopped celery
- ¼ cup finely chopped green onions approximately 2 green onions
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning plus more to taste
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- squeeze of fresh lemon juice plus wedges for serving
- crackers or hot-dog-style buns for serving
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to large bowl. Gently stir until well mixed.
- Serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to eat. Stir again before serving. Serve with buns or crackers, and lemon wedges to garnish.
- Make it Keto: Use real crab meat instead of imitation crab. Serve on lettuce wraps, in avocados, or with slices of cucumber.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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I added a little bell pepper since I had some for my garden and use Tony’s chaseries instead of old bay
LOVE Tony’s! That’s a wonderful substitution, Beckie. So glad you enjoyed it!
Love it. Reduced the celery and added chopped red pepper and excluded the salt for low sodium diet. Everyone loved it.
So happy you all enjoyed it, Susan! Thank you so much for your review!
We loved this salad, I’ve served it twice and will do again for dinner guests tomorrow. Very easy to make and refreshing.
So glad you’ve enjoyed it!