Crab Salad

Are you looking for an easy crab salad to make? This is a simple crab salad loaded with celery, dill weed, red onion, celery and a creamy mayonnaise based sauce. This light and refreshing seafood salad is a must try.

You can use fresh or imitation crab meat for this recipe. A simple and quick creamy dressing that is the seafood dish. Serve on a lettuce wrap, hoagie buns, or on crackers. No matter what this is one of our favorite seafood dishes.

If you are loving seafood try out our shrimp salad or our lobster rolls tons of flavor to be had in these. You can use real crab meat or make this an imitation crab salad, the choice is yours.

This Crab Salad Is…

• Can be made with fresh crab or imitation crab
• Tasty as a crab salad sandwiches or top on crackers or lettuce leaves
• Common ingredients used
• Creamy texture
• Simple crab meat salad
• Light and refreshing

Ingredients For Crab Seafood Salad

Mayonnaise – This is the sauce base for the seafood salad recipe. You can use lower fat mayo if you want to lighten up the salad.

Lemon Juice – Freshly squeeze lemon juice for the best flavor to the salad.

Seasonings – Salt, black pepper, fresh dill or dried, and paprika are all you need for this dish.

Crab – You can use fresh lump crab meat or imitation crab. Either works it is just a preference to what you want.

Red Onion – You can use green onions instead of red onion if you prefer. Make sure to finely chop the onion.

Celery – Dice up your celery finely. The crunchy celery is one of our favorite parts of this simple crab salad recipe. and fresh flavor.

How to Make Crab Salad

Full steps on how to make crab salad are in the printable recipe card. This is a quick walk through with images.

Step One: Start by grabbing a medium sized bowl and whisk up the mayonnaise, lemon juice, and the salt, pepper, paprika, and dill weed.

Step Two: Next you will chop up the crab and toss into the bowl. You can use larger pieces or smaller pieces depending on your preference. Stir to coat the crab meat.

Step Three: Then you will add in the onion and celery and mix one more time. Once it is incorporated, cover and refrigerate.

Ways to Serve Up Crab Seafood Salad

• Serve on Hoagie Rolls
• Use butter lettuce leaves or Romaine to make lettuce wraps
• Serve on crackers
• Serve over a bed of lettuce like a salad

Variations To Recipe

• Add a splash of hot sauce if you like spice to your salad.
• Red bell pepper is a great addition to the base.
• Use sour cream instead of mayonnaise, or half sour cream and half mayonnaise.
• Swap dill and paprika with old bay seasoning.
• Add in some Dijon mustard
• Fresh parsley instead of dill
• Consider lemon zest as well as the fresh lemon juice to elevate the citrus flavor more
• Add in a bit of horseradish sauce
• Make into a crab pasta salad. Cook up 2 cups of pasta and then stir in the salad base.

Keeping leftovers

You can store any leftover salad in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. Then right before you go to serve, give it a toss to incorporate the creamy dressing to the crab and veggies.

Due to the mayonnaise based sauce you will find you can not freeze this salad. It will not hold up in terms of texture once it thaws from being frozen.

Practical notes

What is crab salad made of?

This imitation crab salad recipe is so simple to make. Now you can use real crab as well. It is full of diced onion, celery, seasonings, and a nice creamy sauce. Simple ingredients with big flavor.

Is crab healthy to eat?

Crab is a great source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids. Now the mayo in the salad is going to affect the “healthy” component. So if you want use a lighter mayo or make a homemade mayonnaise or use Greek yogurt instead.

Have you tried the recipe? If so, please leave a star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the recipe card below or drop a comment. Also stay in touch with us through social media by following us on Facebook Pinterest or our Facebook Group

Ingredients

Makes 6 servings

• 1 pound Crab Meat or Imitation Crab
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon dill weed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup red onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced

Equipment

• 1 Medium Sized Bowl
• 1 Knife

Method

1. In a medium bowl you are going to add your mayonnaise, lemon juice, and salt, pepper, paprika, and dill. Mix well to combine.
2. Next you will chop up the crab meat and toss in the bowl.
3. Add in the finely diced red onion and celery and mix to incorporate.
4. Cover the dish tightly and store in the fridge until you are ready to serve. Serve plain, on hoagie rolls, or even lettuce leaves as wraps.

Kitchen notes

Crab Meat

– You are welcome to use any meat you want. Imitation crab meat works just as good. It is just what you have on hand. Onion – If you don’t want to use red onion you can use green onions in replace. Storing Leftovers – You can store your leftovers in an airtight container for 2-3 days. Stir well before serving to re-incorporate the dressing to the crab and vegetables.