How To Boil Crab

Please note some Crab Facts over on the right side, before we get started.

Now, may you know that boiling crab is basically for the processing of whole crab that hasn't been previously cooked. Some people like to clean crab first, which is fine, then go to cooking crab and eating them right away.

However, others like to freeze the whole crab and process it later, which is fine, too, but the crab needs to be boiled first. Some believe that boiling the crab and freezing it whole helps preserve the fresher taste of the crab, then, steamed at a later time than freezing just the crab legs. Either way works just fine, it's really a matter of personal choice.

So, now, you have your whole crab, just caught it and want to get it ready for eating or freezing, here we go about boiling crab...

Things You Will Need To Boil Crab

• A big pot, depending on how many crab you have to boil. A pot, like the picture above, can hold 2 good size whole crab. The picture below shows what I use when we catch a lot of crab. It's an old canning pot and works great for getting a lot of crab boiled fast.
• Salt or Sea Salt, which ever you prefer. Our preference is Sea Salt-course. You want boiled crab legs, but you want them to be healthy to eat, too, don't you?
• A Pair of Tongs come in handy for handling the crab in and out of a hot pan with boiling water.
• Seasonings (optional) you can really give your boiled crab legs some zest with crab boil or other seasonings, like, Mrs. Dash. If this is your first time boiling crab legs, I would suggest using just the salt, then experiment when you boil crab again.

You can find this some of these products in our Crab-O-Licious Store.

How to Boil Crab

• Fill your pot to about 2/3's full of water, add salt (about 1/2 cup/gallon of water) and seasonings (optional/your choice), then, bring to full boil.
• Carefully add the whole crab to the water. Make sure the crab are all covered in water. Boil the crab until the shells turn red, for approximately 20 minutes counting time after the water comes back to a full boil. They're done!

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