Dungeness crab is a delicious crustacean found off the Pacific coast of North America. It’s a favorite for many seafood lovers. After cooking your Dungeness crab, whether boiled, steamed, or baked, you’ll need to clean it properly before eating. Here is a simple guide on how to clean dungeness crab after cooking.
Supplies You’ll Need
- Large bowl filled with cold water and ice
- Seafood crackers or claw cracker
- Small bowl
- Crab pick or fork
- Kitchen shears
- Moist towelettes (optional)
- Lemon wedges (optional)
Step 1: Rinse the Cooked Crab Under Cold Water
After cooking immediately transfer the hot crab to a large bowl filled with cold water and ice. This stops the cooking process. Rinsing also helps cool down the shell so you can handle it safely. It washes away any guts that may have oozed out during cooking.
Use your hands to swish the crab around in the cold water. Flip it a couple times to rinse both sides. The cooling bath firms up the meat as well
Step 2. Twist Off the Legs
Start by twisting off the legs where they meet the body, Place legs in a clean bowl and set aside,
Use a seafood cracker or kitchen shears to crack the shells, then pick out the meat. Don’t throw away the legs yet, as there is tasty meat inside to enjoy.
Step 3. Remove the Carapace
Lift off the top shell called the carapace. This exposes the body meat.
Discard the carapace along with all the attached innards. Give the body a quick rinse under cold water to clean out any remaining guts or debris.
Step 4. Scoop Out the Body Meat
Use your hands or a crab fork to scoop out lumps of sweet body meat. Transfer to a clean bowl.
Make sure to get all the body meat out, including around the sides and crevices. Double check for any stray bits.
Step 5. Crack the Claws
Use a crab cracker or kitchen shears to crack open the pincers and knuckles. Pick out all the claw meat in chunks.
You can also use the pointy end of crab leg to pick meat out of claws. Add claw meat to the body meat.
Step 6. Give the Crab a Final Rinse
Give the crab a final rinse under cold water. Use moist towelettes to wipe down the shell and remove any clinging particles.
Pat dry with paper towels. Your Dungeness crab is now ready to be served.
Serving Suggestions
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Serve the crab meat chilled with lemon wedges. The fresh lemon brightens up the sweetness.
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For warm crab, quickly sauté in butter with fresh herbs like parsley, tarragon or dill.
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Mix the crab meat with a creamy dressing or dip. Top crackers or make crab stuffed avocados.
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Fold crab meat gently into a salad, adding veggies like celery, red onion and cherry tomatoes.
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Stuff into lemon halves or scoop onto endive leaves for an elegant appetizer.
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Sprinkle with Old Bay seasoning or Cajun spices for a kick of flavor.
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For a decadent dish, spoon crab meat into puff pastry shells and bake until golden.
Storage Tips
Refrigerate crab meat in an airtight container up to 2-3 days after cleaning.
For longer storage, freeze crab meat for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before using.
With its sweet, succulent meat and versatile uses, Dungeness crab is a stellar catch from the Pacific Ocean. Follow these simple steps for how to clean dungeness crab after cooking. Rinsing, picking and cracking the shell takes a bit of effort, but it’s worth it to enjoy incredibly delicious crab.
Remove the Body Meat
Start with the body meat.
To get it out, start by squeezing the entire body cavity breaking up all that skeletal system.
Then, separate each leg making sure a piece of the body is still attached to each leg.
Each section will have some body meat.
Locate the joint of the leg, where the leg meets the body, and bang it against the rim of the bowl. The body meat should just fall right out.
Repeat the process with the remaining legs and claws, shaking all the meat out of the body.
Next, shake out all of the legs.
A crab leg is in four different sections. Each one is held together with a white tendon.
When shaking, its important that when each section of the leg is removed, the tendon is removed with it.
That will make it much easier for the meat to fall out. If the tendon is still in place the meat will be stuck.
To shake the crab legs, start at the very end with the smallest piece.
Take the end of the leg and remove it, leaving the rest of the leg intact.
Take the crackers and gently squeeze the next section.
You dont want to do it too hard and damage the meat.
Peel away a piece of the shell.
Take the closest joint of the section you are trying to shake out and hit it against the bowl.
The meat should just fall out into the bowl.
Repeat the process with each section of the leg. Make sure the tendon is removed each time.
As you get down to the smaller back legs, some of the end sections may not have a lot of meat and could be harder to crack. That is when the crab pick or oyster shucker comes in handy.
Similar to the legs, each section of the crab claw also has the tendon.
Start by removing the moveable part of the pincher.
Again, a tendon should come out with it.
Gently crack the claw, remove a piece of the shell and hit the joint against the bowl.
Then, crack the knuckle and repeat.
The claw will have the toughest shell and will be a little bit harder to shake.
Now that your crab is completely shaken, you can use all that delicious Dungeness crab meat in your next recipe like hot crab dip! Or, just eat it with some melted butter and enjoy!
Do you clean the crab before cooking?
We have tested cleaning the crab before cooking and after cooking.
We have found that cooking the crab first and cleaning afterwards to be a lot easier. The body is much easier to clean after it has been cooked.
You can absolutely clean them first and then boil. It is up to you and your preference.
Follow the same cleaning instructions below.
Before cooking, place your crab on ice in a dark location like a bucket or cooler so it slows them down. This will make cooking much easier as they wont be able to move their claws and legs as fast.
Take a large burner with a large pot filled with water about halfway.
We prefer to cook ours outside on a portable burner. That way if it boils over its not in the house.
Bring the pot to a rolling boil. You dont want the water to stop boiling when the crab is added. Make sure you have a good boil before placing the crab in.
If you have a smaller pot, cook one crab at a time. If you have a large stock pot or canning pot a few can be cooked at the same time together. Do not over crowd the pot.
Add in a few tablespoons of Kosher or sea salt and place crab in the large pot. Make sure they are fully submerged.
Cook for 7-8 minutes per pound. We cook around 15 minutes for a 6-7 inch crab.
Once done, the crab will become a bright orange color.
Carefully remove from the boiling water and place in an ice bath. This will stop the cooking process and cool it down to clean.
Once cool to the touch you can now clean your Dungeness crab.
You can also stop here and freeze the crab as is. See freezing instructions below.
If cleaning your crab inside, make sure you have a filter in your sink drain to catch all the pieces that get removed and washed out.
Take your chilled crab and start by taking off the top shell.
Hold down one side of the legs and gently peel away the top shell and toss.
Next, youre going to use your thumb and remove both ends of the body.
Removing both these pieces will make it easier to crack in half.
Take the mandible, which consists of its jaw, and peel it away.
Next, take the apron (or bottom) of the crab and break it off.
This is where the marking is that shows if the crab is a male or female.
Scrape out the lungs on both sides.
Break the body in half and gently clean out all the lung butter/mustard (the yellowish orange stuff) with running water.
You can gently tap the body against a sink or other hard surface to help break it off.
You should be left with two halves with legs and the body cavity filled with meat.
What I am about to share has absolutely changed processing crab for me! I used to painstakingly pick out every piece of crab. Not anymore.
I learned about this process from a local seafood market in Westport Washington, Merinos Seafood. This is how they prepare all their fresh crab, and now its the only way I now prepare it.
What you will need:
- A thick-rimmed bowl. This is a bowl with a thicker outer edge. If its too thin, the bowl can possibly crack.
- Crab crackers
- Crab pick or oyster shucker
How To Clean A Cooked Dungeness Crab by Waterfront Fish Market
FAQ
Do I need to clean cooked Dungeness crab?
Remove your crab from the pot, and rinse under cool water in the sink. This will stop the cooking process, cool down the shell enough for you to handle, and rinse off any icky crab guts that may have oozed out during cooking. Flip him over a couple of times to get both sides with the spray.
What are the parasites in Dungeness crabs?
Carcinonemertes errans. Carcinonemertes errans is a ribbon worm in the family Carcinonemertidae. It lives in symbiosis with the Dungeness crab (Metacarcinus magister), consuming the crab’s developing eggs.
Do you clean crabs before or after boiling?
Do you clean the crab before cooking? We have tested cleaning the crab before cooking and after cooking. We have found that cooking the crab first and cleaning afterwards to be a lot easier. The body is much easier to clean after it has been cooked. You can absolutely clean them first and then boil.