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 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!
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.
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.
How do you make crab salad?
This crab salad is a mixture of imitation crab flakes, celery, red onion, fresh dill, lemon juice, Old Bay seasoning and mayonnaise. Everything gets mixed together in a big bowl, then you can either chill your salad, or serve it immediately.
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 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.
- 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.
- This crab salad can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 days.
- You can add other ingredients to this salad, such as diced cucumber, or even other seafood such as shrimp.
Ways to serve crab salad
You can eat this crab salad as-is, or serve it in a variety of different presentations.
- Lettuce: Spoon your crab into a butter lettuce cup.
- Crackers: Serve your salad with a side of buttery crackers.
- Sandwich: Add your crab to a toasted roll along with some green leaf lettuce.
- Avocado: Spoon your crab into an avocado half.
- Pasta: 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.
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 salad recipes
- Pesto Pasta Salad
- Cucumber Tomato Salad
- Avocado Chickpea Salad
- Black Bean and Corn Salad
- Creamy Cucumber Salad
Crab Salad Video
Crab Salad
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.
David says
Great, simple recipe! Tweaked it a teeny bit. Added a little sour cream and some Cajun seasoning. Used half crab and half krab. Went well with the Polish/Russian black bread I made yesterday.
Definitely a keeper!
Leanne says
What is Russian black bread? 🤔
Melissa says
This was really great and easy to make! I added a little more mayonnaise because I was using dehydrated celery flakes. Will definitely be making this again.
Bill says
So good! I bought the 2 lb package of the faux crab at
Sam’s . Used the recipe as read except for 1/8 cup sweet relish. Also used my food processor slicer blade to shred the fish makes it more “crablike”. Perfect so thanks!!!
Leanne says
Thanks for the tip about shredding. I did 3/4 that way then left in chunks. I also roughly chopped up 1 cup med. cooked shrimp. I bunch thinly sliced scallions. Low sod. Old Bay to taste.
What a wonderful base this recipe is used to work with.
Those were just my tweaks.
I made the original first,
very good! 😋❤️
Mindy says
I put this salad on sour dough bread, topped and with cheese and the toaster. Viola crab melt! Delicious!
Sophie says
This was delicious. Perfect as a summery side dish. I did not add the celery because I didn’t have any on hand, but it was great nonetheless. Thank you for the recipe!
Julie Mueller says
Hi
I made this with the help of my mother
Shes 79
It was a great bonding time for one another
It was amazing
I say you definitely need to try it
Amy Jean Marsalis says
Yum I just made this but added a bit of myself in here subbed celery for cucumber added a bit of sour cream used lime juice instead of lemon juice and no onions its amazing
Lynnlie says
I’m trying to understand how this recipes has 21 g of carbs…I’m only counting about 6? Any help is appreciated 🙂
Sara says
Imitation crab has about 13 grams of carbs per serving, if you used fresh crab it would likely be less.
Susan says
YES, Real crab has no carbs
Matt says
A really good recipe; I’ve made it a few times with both real crab and fake crab. Both are excellent. My recommendations:
– Go WAY heavier on the Old Bay seasoning. At minimum a full teaspoon, maybe 2.
– I serve this on toasted potato hot dog rolls. The toasting really bumps this up a notch and the potato rolls are better than regular hot dog rolls.
– Don’t skimp on the fresh dill or use dried. It really makes a difference if you use the fresh stuff. And you can use the leftover to make pickles!
– Sprinkle your sandwich or however you eat it with Old Bay and fresh lemon juice.
Toya says
We added dried cranberries for a tart , sweet lil surprise . It’s a game changer
Kelia says
Do you think I could use Greek yogurt instead of mayo?
Sara says
I might do a blend of greek yogurt and mayo, the yogurt on its own may be too tart!
Renee says
Currently making this. Just want to thank you for the recipes
Treena says
Thanks for the inspiration!
I had one pkg of the ‘faux’ crab meat (8 Oz) already, then bought a 12 Oz. Pkg of small, cooked (peeled and deveined) frozen shrimp. Defrosted & drained it, then added it to the shredded ‘crab.’
Mixed it into a half cup of mayo + couple of Tblsps of cocktail sauce and a Tblsp of chili sauce. Added a dash each of garlic powder, dried minced onion and dried dill weed (what I had.) Chopped a stalk of celery and a half of a small green pepper and mixed it all together. Easy peasy, TY!
Next time, I’ll probably grate and add a carrot, and maybe cook, cool and add a few cups of rice or shell pasta.
Mark says
This is a fantastic recipe! I added a little sugar to taste, otherwise as written. This is as good or better than any store-bought crab salad I’ve ever had.
Ellen says
Filled a tortilla with the salad and made a wrap. It was excellent, great recipe!!
Callie says
I don’t have any old Bay seasoning, what can I use instead?
Sara says
You can make it yourself by combining 2 teaspoons celery salt, 1/4 teaspoon paprika, and 1/8 teaspoon each of black pepper and ground red pepper.
Diane Barnes says
I didn’t have any bay seasoning either as I live in Switzerland but it was still delish without it, used it instead of tuna salad in tuna melt, absolutely
fabulous!
Jennifer Simms says
Paprika will be fine
Lex says
Very tasty! We skipped the dill and added fresh garlic and used green onion.
Terry says
Delish!!
Tamara A Green says
I have been making crab salad for years. This is by far the best recipe, yet!!! I added jalapeno to add a bit of a kick. Thank you for sharing. I will be using this recipe from now on
Rickell Eastland says
Absolutely DELICIOUS! Quick and easy to make . I added green onions for an extra kick.
Edith says
I added sour cream bell peppers macaroni and the other ingredients and it is delicious. Thanks
Sheri says
This was delish! I did not have fresh dill so I used dry.
Yum!
Callie says
I don’t have any old Bay seasoning, what can I use insted?
Caroline Betancourt says
Try this:
2 tablespoons celery salt.
1/4 teaspoon paprika.
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper.
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper.
1 pinch dry mustard.
1 pinch ground nutmeg.
Good luck. 🙂
Bonnie J Olson says
Making this right now!!!