This crab salad is a blend of imitation crab, vegetables and herbs, all tossed in a simple creamy dressing. A quick and easy salad that’s perfect served over lettuce, with crackers, or in a sandwich.

I’m always looking for new lunch options, some of my favorites include bagel dogs, a chicken club sandwich, rainbow veggie pinwheels and Greek pasta salad. This crab salad can be made in less than 10 minutes, is packed with protein and is totally delicious! You can never have too many salad recipes!

Creamy crab salad with fresh vegetables and dill in a mayonnaise dressing.

I’m always tempted to pick up those ready made salads at my local deli counter, but doing that on a regular basis can add up really quickly! This crab salad is a copy of the seafood salad my grocery store makes. It’s inexpensive to make and tastes even better than the store bought version.

Crab Salad Ingredients

To make this recipe, you will need imitation crab meat or real crab, celery, red onion, Old Bay seasoning, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, mayonnaise and fresh dill.

How Do You Make Crab Salad?

Place your crab, celery, red onion, Old Bay seasoning, lemon juice, salt, pepper, mayo and dill in a bowl. Stir everything gently until it well combined. Garnish with additional fresh dill. Serve immediately, or place the salad in the refrigerator for later use.

Imitation crab flakes in a bowl.

Tips For Crab Salad

  • I use imitation crab flakes because they’re already cut into bite sized pieces. You can also buy the stick-style imitation crab and slice it yourself. I make this recipe with imitation crab because it’s easy to find and inexpensive, but real crab meat is also great.
  • I highly recommend using fresh dill, the flavor is superior to dried dill. If you need to use dried dill, you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon of dried for fresh.
  • You can use low fat mayonnaise if desired to save a few calories.
  • This salad can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Quick Tip

I recommend making sure your red onion is finely chopped so that you don’t get large pieces in each bite. You can also use sliced green onions instead of red onion for a milder flavor.

Imitation crab, celery and red onion in a serving bowl.

Flavor Variations

This salad is delicious as-is, but you can add other ingredients to customize the flavors to your tastes.

  • Protein: You can use other types of seafood in this salad. Sometimes I use half crab, half shrimp for a seafood salad. Or go all out with lobster for a luxurious lobster salad.
  • Vegetables: You can absolutely add more finely diced veggies to the mix such as scallions, cucumber, bell peppers, jalapeno, or even some fresh corn kernels.
  • Seasonings: Feel free to add other seasonings to the salad. Some great options include swapping out the Old Bay for Cajun seasoning, or adding spices such as garlic powder, onion powder or smoked paprika. You can also add fresh parsley, Dijon mustard, hot sauce, cayenne pepper or sriracha.
Imitation crab, seasoning, dill, celery and mayonnaise in a bowl.

Recipe FAQs

What is imitation crab?

Crab salad is often made with imitation crab, because it’s inexpensive, available year round, and can be found in almost every grocery store. Imitation crab is made of mild white fish, typically Alaskan Pollock, which is blended with other ingredients to form a product that looks and tastes similar to real crab. You can use real crab in your crab salad if you prefer, but it’s definitely easier to go with imitation crab.

What is crab salad made of?

Crab salad is made with fresh crab or imitation crab, finely diced veggies and herbs in a mayonnaise and lemon based dressing.

FOLLOW ME

Ways To Serve Crab Salad

You can eat this salad as-is, or serve it in a variety of different presentations.

  • Lettuce Wraps: Spoon your crab into a butter lettuce cup.
  • Crackers: Serve your salad with a side of buttery crackers.
  • Crab Salad Sandwiches: Add your crab to a toasted roll along with some green leaf lettuce.
  • Avocado: Spoon your crab into an avocado half.
  • Crab Pasta Salad: Add 8 ounces of cooked short pasta to make a pasta salad.
  • Cucumber: Spoon onto cucumber slices for an easy party snack.
  • Puff Pastry: Fill up cooked puff pastry shells with the salad.
Crab salad served on a bed of lettuce with a side of crackers.

Once you try this crab salad, you’ll be hooked. It’s so much fresher tasting than the deli version and the recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to serve a crowd!

More Great Salad Recipes

Crab Salad Video

Love This Recipe?

Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.

5 from 128 votes

Crab Salad

AuthorSara Welch
Creamy crab salad with fresh vegetables and dill in a mayonnaise dressing.
This crab salad is a blend of imitation crab, vegetables and herbs, all tossed in a simple creamy dressing. A quick and easy salad that’s perfect served over lettuce, with crackers, or in a sandwich.
Time
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time1 minute
Total Time11 minutes
Course Salad
Cuisine American
Serves 4

Ingredients 

  • 1 pound imitation crab meat flaked style, or sticks cut into slices
  • 1/2 cup celery finely chopped
  • 3 tablespoons red onion finely chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh dill chopped, plus more for garnish

Instructions 

  • Add all of the ingredients to a large bowl. Stir gently to combine.
  • Serve immediately, or cover and chill for up to 2 days.
  • Sprinkle with additional chopped dill for garnish if desired.

Notes

  1. I use imitation crab flakes because they’re already cut into bite sized pieces. You can also buy the stick-style imitation crab and slice it yourself. Of course you can substitute in fresh crab if you have access to it!
  2. I highly recommend using fresh dill, the flavor is superior to dried dill. If you need to use dried dill, you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon of dried for fresh.
  3. You can use low fat mayonnaise if desired.

Nutrition

Calories: 309kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 625mg | Potassium: 43mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 75IU | Vitamin C: 1.9mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.1mg

Hello! I’m Sara!

Learn more about Sara

Related Posts

Free Bonus

5 Secrets to Meal Planning + Free Toolkit!

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Comments

  1. Just made this for dinner for three adults. Was afraid I would leave everyone a little hungry so I added 8oz of mini farfalle pasta. Was absolutely delicious and no one was hungry! Perfect summer dinner!

  2. Forgot to say, we don’t eat much pasta but if I am serving a larger group, this is a great recipe to add small pasta of some sort if you want to stretch it. Just usually takes a bit more mayo and sometimes salt.

  3. Great recipe! We humans are so funny. You say soda-I say pop! I have made a recipe really close to this with imitation crab for years.It is super good. Every one almost always wants the recipe & it is required I bring to family function. I do add a couple hard boiled eggs and a touch of hot sauce. Sometimes a bit of sour cream, just depends if it has too much mayo taste. When I first found this I did use “real” crab but found it to be just too expensive as we have this often for lunches, especially in the summer. Tried Imitation and never looked back.

  4. 5 stars
    I had decided last night I was making crab something for dinner tonight. This morning I decided I did not want to be cooking for dinner so I decided crab salad was it. This one came up first when I searched so I decided to try it. Just 2 of us. I used 4 ounces of crab and approximated the seasonings. I loaded it with celery, probably at least a 1/2 cup or more and extra Vidalia onion as well. I stuffed it into a special long large banana type pepper that I halved. Any that did not fit, I put on the plate with some extra crackers. It was more than enough for dinner since we plan to have strawberry/blackberry/blueberry shortcake a little later as dessert.

  5. 5 stars
    This is so easy and so good! I got the flaky kind and shredded it some I don’t like just big chunks other then that made it as directed. Will make again!

  6. This looks absolutely delicious and it makes me want to go crabbing lol. I might have to go crabbing this weekend

  7. 5 stars
    Now this is one to save for summer! With all of the bbq’s and picnics we’ll be attending, I’m sure it is going to be a hit with the crowd!

  8. This sounds amazing! I would switch out the crab for maybe potatoes, since I’m vegetarian, but the dressing and all other ingredients sound absolutely to die for!!

  9. I don’t like sea food but my family does I’ll be sure to def pass this recipe along to them to enjoy 🙂

  10. This recipe for crab salad looks delish! I am going to pin it and save it to make this summer.

  11. Crabs are not frequently available in our place. But next time I buy, we will try this salad.

  12. Wow. Less than 10mins to make? I am going to keep this crab salad recipe for future use. Thanks for sharing.