The King of Crustaceans
King crab legs are the ultimate showstopper for any meal. Whether you’re hosting a fancy dinner or indulging yourself, cooking king crab legs is easier than you think. There are three popular ways to cook them: steaming/boiling, and baking or grilling. Steaming keeps the meat moist and flavorful, boiling is quick and ideal for large batches, while baking infuses the crab with rich flavors from seasonings and butter. Grilling adds a smoky, charred finish that takes the flavor to the next level. In this blog post, I’ll dive into each method with step-by-step instructions, tips for the best results, and serving ideas to help you master cooking king crab legs no matter which method you choose.
Steaming or Boiling Crab Legs
The thing about King Crab Legs, or any crab legs for that matter, is that they are already cooked when you buy them. I know, Shocker, right? So all we need to do is reheat them and you just need to choose the method you’d like to prepare them. Steaming and Boiling is one in the same to me and it’s an easy way to cook the legs, if you have a big enough pot that can be covered with a lid.
A few inches of boiling water, in the bottom of your pot, will get those crab legs done in about 4 minutes. Just make sure that you get the water to a rolling boil before you actually add the Legs. Some times you can request they be steamed at the place of purchase when you are buying them. Of course this means you need to be picking them up at meal time but if you’re waiting on the oven for bake potatoes or another side dish, a quick trip to the grocery is perfect for that waiting time.
Be Careful Grilling King Crab Legs
Grilling King Crab Legs leaves people oohing and awing every time you flip open the lid, but you need to be very careful not to dry them out. Even though you tend to gain the Smokey flavor of the grill, you lose the natural flavors of the crab meat. Remember this is just a reheat anyway so you don’t want them on the grill for too long. 10 minutes on low with the lid down, tops!
Oven Baked Crab Legs
The oven will have a similar effect that grilling does if you don’t cover up the Crab Legs. It will dry them out, and you will lose flavor. The way I show you how to cook them in this tutorial is on a broiler pan covered with tin foil. The reason I do it this way is because you get the best of both worlds. By adding a half cup of water to the pan you get the steaming effect with convection as the heat rises from underneath the King Crab Legs, then the heat reflects off the foil, cooking the top. It’s win-win.
Technically, you can reheat them in the microwave, but I don’t recommend it. In fact I don’t recommend that any meat go in the microwave for a reheat, EVER! I’ll get into that at later time.
Santolla Red Legs
Now, the crab legs that I’m introducing in the video are not your traditional King Crab Legs. These are called Santolla Reds. The reason I’m using these instead of the other is they are practically the same thing. First off, they are almost exactly the same size; same look and everything that way. The only difference that I’ve noticed is they are a little bit saltier, so I just use unsalted butter. Second, it’s about the cost. I wouldn’t be living up to my reputation as the Poor Man’s Gourmet Kitchen showing you recipes at “A Low Budget Wonder”, if I was showing off recipes that aren’t affordable.
Santolla Reds, if you can find them, are usually at least half the price of regular King Crab. I can pick them up at Smith’s right now, for $6.99 a pound, and that’s year ‘round! Try getting more than a pound and a half of legs at any restaurant these days for under $26 bucks! It’s worth doing it at home, and worth knowing a few tricks to cooking crab and other gourmet meals at a low budget wonder.
Instructions
In the video tutorial, I show you how to cook King Crab Legs in the oven. I use a broiler pan, that can hold a small amount of water in the bottom to create steam, and I cover them with Aluminum foil to keep them from drying out. I cook them at 425° F for 15 minutes. If you’d like to know How to grill or steam your King Crab Legs, I’ve got another video tutorial and blog post that can be watched and read in the underlined link above.
