Eating crab at home has a reputation for being fancy, fussy, or a ‘big boil or bust’ affair.
Not in this house.
We love a good crab boil, but that tends to keep people thinking that crab is just a summer food (absolutely not) or that you need to have a party of 10+ and a backyard to justify it. Throw that thinking out; we hereby give you permission to make crab an anytime thing.
Reality is BC Dungeness Crab is one of the most flexible, forgiving, and fun proteins you can cook with, add to other dishes, and generally muck about creatively with.
Once you’ve shucked your crab, you’re basically sitting on a gold mine of meal possibilities. Crab meat can be hot, cold, baked, stuffed, rolled, and dipped, there’s no wrong answer here. And with one simple base recipe (our Crab Everything Mix) you can spin out snacks, appetizers, mains, and full-on feasts faster than you can say “pass the butter.” Although we do respect and honour the straight up crab and butter, because classic.
To bring our point home, we turned the cooked crab meat into rolls, dip, sushi cones, pastries, peppers, mushrooms, jalapeños, and crab cakes with zero fuss and maximum fun. Enough to feed the whole family (or two crab goblins, if you’re us).
Want receipts? Check out our reel for a chaotic follow along.
Here for the recipes? We’ve dropped them all for you here.
Start with: The BC Crab Everything Mix
Ingredients
• 1 lb thawed BC Dungeness crab meat
• 1/4 cup panko (or crushed Rice Krispies for GF)
• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1/4 cup diced yellow pepper
• 1–2 diced green onions
• 1 tbsp Old Bay seasoning
Combine everything in a bowl until well mixed and the mixture holds together when formed into a ball. Refrigerate unused portions in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Easy Crab Creations
Crab Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms: Fill mushroom caps with crab mix and bake until golden.
Crab-Stuffed Mini Bell Peppers: Halve peppers, fill with crab mix, top with mozzarella, bake until bubbly.
Crab Jalapeño Poppers: Stuff crab mix into halved jalapeños, wrap in bacon or prosciutto, bake until crispy.
Crab-Filled Pastry Puffs: Cut puff pastry into squares, fill, fold, bake.
Crab Temaki (Sushi Cones): Roll crab mix, cucumber, and avocado in nori for a quick sushi-ish treat.
Cheesy Baked Crab Dip: Combine 1 cup crab mix, 4oz cream cheese (half a block), 1 tbsp dill, 1 cup shredded cheese, mixing until blended. Transfer to an oven safe dish. Top with more shredded cheese until your feral heart is satisfied. Bake until golden and bubbling.
Mini Crab Cakes: Form crab mix into golf ball sized balls. Add 1 tbsp oil to a pan. Once oil is hot, drop in your balls and press into patties gently with a fork. Pan-fry 2-3 min per side until golden.
Now you’ve bought it, cooked it, shucked it, and eaten it. Turns out, the only hard part was believing you could!
If this series did anything, we hope it proved one thing: BC Crab isn’t complicated, it’s for everyone. Beginners, home cooks, goblins and gourmets, however you do it, you’re doing it right.
This project is supported by the BC Government’s Buy BC Partnership Program; delivered by MNP LLP with funding from the Government of British Columbia.