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!
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.
Table of Contents
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.
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.
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.
Recipe FAQs
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.
Crab salad is made with fresh crab or imitation crab, finely diced veggies and herbs in a mayonnaise and lemon based dressing.
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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.
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!
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Creamy Cucumber Salad
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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.
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.
Notes
- 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!
- 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 made exact recipe but doubled (2lbs. Crabmeat). Tasted really good as making but after chilling the dill was overwhelming. Why do think that was? And I am a dill fan.
My only thought is maybe you packed the herbs into the measuring cup and ended up with more than intended by accident? The dill should not be overwhelming!
My grandkids absolutely love this !
This was really tasty. I ended up using a few extra tablespoons of mayo. The old bay give it a nice boost of flavor!
I’ve made this three times now. And I absolutely love, love, love it. My neurologist told me I’m not allowed to have any grains whatsoever so I’m looking for stuff that I can eat and this worked out fantastic I’m eating it on a salad like 3 days a week
Could you substitute the mayonnaise for ranch
Yes!! I added sriracha to the recipe and it’s delicious
Your neurologist told you to avoid grains?
Fantastic, congratulations!
I used this recipe to make a seafood coleslaw. I used a 1 pound package of coleslaw mix and then added the ingredients per the recipe. I did have to double the dressing portion of the recipe, though, in order to properly coat the slaw. (Same recipe proportion for the imitation crab, celery and onion. Doubled the rest – the dressing. I didn’t have fresh dill, so added 1 teaspoon dill weed which worked well. Without the slaw I would have backed it up to 1/2 teaspoon). This is similar to, but much better than, the imitation crab seafood coleslaw at our local Chinese buffet restaurant.
Can I leave the lemon juice out?
I am not a fan of lemon and seafood.
Yes that’s fine!
I just made this and I am enjoying every bite!
Is there a substitute for Mayo?
I have only tested this recipe with mayonnaise, you could try something like sour cream or Greek yogurt but I’m not sure that the flavor would be quite right.
try it with a spoon full before adding it to the mix, and see for yourself.
Really great! Especially for being one of the easiest, simplest recipes I have found!
Added a small dollop of miracle whip to mine
I made this exactly to your recipe…omg, it is the best crab salad I have ever tried! I didn’t add any salt or pepper because the seasoning was spot on. It’s a keeper! Thanks for sharing!
I just made this and I taste as I add ingredients. This is delicious so far. It’s at the end of our growing season but we have baby dill popping up throughout the garden. Omg it sure adds some pizzazz to the salad!! Thanks for the recipe!!
Great recipe! I like to add diced jalapeños to kick it up a notch!
Absolutely love this recipe. The only change I make is to add fresh thyme instead of the dill, for which I am not a fan of. Thanx so much!
I eat this almost everyday for lunch my recipe crab salad with low-fat mayo, reduced fat low cal tortilla wrap and baby spinach leaves. Sometimes I add cucumbers or radishes, along with watching my cats and sugars, I have lost 60 pounds in 8 months.
Thanks for the tips!!! 🥰
I put it in a flour tortilla with some chopped lettuce and tomato. It made a fantastic soft taco!
That was fats, not cats!!!
I just finished making this recipe and it is delicious!! I seriously doubted putting dill in there, and honestly, the dill was what took it over the top!! This is my go to recipe from now on!, love it❣️
What does the lemon juice do to this recipe? Thank you.
It adds a fresh bright flavor to counteract the creamy dressing!
How many calories per serving? I see the 309 calories, but how big is a serving and how many calories each? Thanks.
It’s 1 1/2 cups per serving!
What can I use instead of celery?
A different raw veggie such as diced green bell peppers!
I used chopped cabbage instead of celery and frankly it was great.