Steamed Crab Legs

Steamed crab legs with a garlicky lemon butter is worth every knick, cut and swear word when cracking those darn shells. But that’s the appeal, right?

In general, I’m not a big fan of seafood. Growing up in the desert, I never had access to fresh seafood. It’s for this reason I never acquired a taste for it. My exposure was generally fried fish sticks or fried popcorn shrimp, not exactly the freshest seafood you can get.

Crab legs on the other hand were an interesting departure from fried fish. The process of cracking the shell in order to get to the meaty center was a fun endeavor for a small kid. This still holds true for this big kid as well (I especially like playing with the claws). While handling the spiky pointy shells can difficult at times, a pile of crab legs and warm butter is a meal worthy of the effort.

How to eat crab legs

• Remove each individual leg by removing it from the cluster
• Break each leg into parts at the joint of each leg
• With two hands, bend each section back and forth till they break. The meat should slide out without too much trouble. A small fork may help get tucked away meat
• For the claw, using a cracker helps break the hard shell, but a sturdy fork will also make quick work to get access to the meat.
• There’s also plenty of meat in the cluster, so you can fold it open for the meat in each little pocket. A small fork helps with this process.

I usually find crab legs at my local grocery story pre-cooked. This makes the prep easier since you just need to warm the crab. You can throw them on the grill, steam them or warm them in the oven. In this case, I put the crab legs in a shallow oven safe dish. I then poured about 1/2 an inch of water, tented them with foil, and baked for 20 minutes at 350°F.