King Crab Legs Baked, Grilled or Steamed

2 lbs of cooked Alaskan King Crab Legs on a sheet pan with butter.

Delicious King Crab Legs

Out of all seafood, I’ve got to admit that King Crab Legs are my all time favorite thing to eat. I love Snow Crab and Dungeoness Crab too but nothing, to me, is so satisfying as rewarding your self with a hefty sized piece of crab meat dipped in garlic butter. The flavor is so rich and sweet and it literally does melt in your mouth. The only problem is that they’re usually horribly expensive. I believe, however, that there is a time and place for everything, special occasions like birthdays and holidays have always warranted a place in my heart to splurge a little, even on a budget.

2 pound package of frozen Red King Crab legs labels $24.98/lb, total price $50.83!

King Crab Legs Market Price

The market price of seafood changes like anything else judging by the supply and demand. The only problem is is that it’s a little bit more unpredictable than, let’s say, beef or cattle because no one really knows how much is actually available. All we can do is judge the market by the previous and current catch recorded by quality control and government observers that keep track of the numbers.

I worked in Alaska, for a time, on a fishing factory trawler so, I know a little bit about how it works. I lived on a 220 ft fishing boat, out at sea, for 3 to 4 months at a time, depending on the fishing season. The difference with crabbing is how much further north they have to go and how much colder it gets. Crabbing is considered to be one of the most dangerous and deadly professions in the world. If you’ve ever caught an episode of Deadliest Catch, you know what I’m talking about.

All things considered, there are many other factors that go into pricing King Crab Legs when they hit the market. I can tell you that the price jumped 3 dollars more per pound, when I decided to film this video, from the previous week. If you want to know how I’ve gotten them cheaper, and I mean 1/3 this cost, check this out.

Frozen King Crab Legs

It’s no secret that when we buy King Crab Legs we’re usually buying them frozen but did you realize that they’ve already even been pre-cooked. So, cooking these up at home really isn’t going to be that difficult because all we need to do is reheat them. They can easily be over cooked, though, so that’s something you should avoid at all costs. Following these simple methods should help you cook your crab perfectly and without complications.

Fully Cooked King Crab Legs and one thigh meat portion removed from the shell.

King Crab Legs Baked, Grilled or Steamed by PoorMansGourmet.

Baked, Grilled or Steamed King Crab Legs

The 3 most common ways to cook and/or reheat King Crab Legs is baked in the oven, barbecued on a grill or, the most popular, steamed in a large pot on a stove top. In this video tutorial, I demonstrate how to do all three with ease and I’ve listed the cooking time and temps, for each process, down below.

King Crab Legs Time and Temperature

Baked: 425° F 15 minutes

Grilled: 400° f 20 minutes

Steamed: 2″ Boiling water 8-10 minutes

Cooking King Crab Legs

The Best King 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 is an easy way if you have a big enough pot that can be covered with a lid. A few inches of boiling water in the bottom will get them done in about 4 minutes. Just make sure that you get the water to a rolling boil before you actually add the King Crab Legs. Most people don’t realize that you can actually cheat and take it a step further; you can usually have them 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, a quick trip to the grocery is perfect for that waiting time; just a suggestion.

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!

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.

You can do a reheat 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.

King Crab Legs and Santolla Reds

Now, the crab legs that I’m introducing 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 Legs. 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 king crab 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 King Crab Legs and other gourmet meals at a low budget wonder.

Tag: King Crab legs