What Does King Crab Taste Like?

King crab certainly has an association with a delicacy. You might also know king crab as difficult and dangerous to catch per shows like Deadliest Catch. 

To say that the taste of king crab makes it worth the difficult catch and the price we will take about later might be an understatement to some.

King crab has a sweet, mild flavor that is quite popular at home and at restaurants. Fresh king crab is especially good with an enhanced mineral flavor.

King crab leg has that rare mixture of sweet and mild that people often look for in a meat. While some meats like beef or chicken tend to taste fairly bland, king crab naturally has rich flavoring.

Part of the flavoring comes from the king crab generally being boiled in shell, within it’s own juices. Since king crabs come directly from a farm or the ocean and sea, the king crab leg can also taste briny, though not necessarily in the same sense as fish. 

The minerals within the water the crabs live in help accentuate the sweetness a bit compared to other meats and animals, including other fish. 

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King crab is said to taste more like lobster than other crabs.

What is the texture of king crab like?

King crab’s texture is another reason why king crab has become popular with fine diners. King crab has a delicate texture and practically melts in your mouth.

The texture of king crab is also a big difference maker from snow crab. King crab breaks off in large, thick chunks that remain sweet, tender and delicious. Snow crab remains delicious in its own right, but is a bit more firm and more likely to come shredded instead of whole.

What does king crab look like?

King crab has a bit of an unusual appearance compared to some meats. While ground beef looks coarse and often red or brown and chicken typically looks off-white, king crab has a snow-white appearance with red streaks. 

The king crab itself is a reddish burgundy in color. You’ll also note that unless the king crab comes broken for you, you can’t see the meat right away.

How do you get to the meat in king crab?

King crab can be fun to eat for some – but annoying to others. Getting to the sweet, delicate meat requires using a nut cracker like tool to break the hard exterior shell. While this may require a little work, we promise you the meat on the inside is worth the effort.

How do you eat king crab?

King crab legs are often eaten by themselves. The overall presentation involves crab legs on a plate or platter, often with condiment and accompaniments.

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The condiments served most often with king crab are butter and lemon. Butter enhances the sweetness and adds some depth of flavor. The butter itself generally comes in a cup for dipping though it can certainly be poured onto the crab meat.

Lemon adds a fresh citrus flavor to your crab, and can help offset the mineral taste. While the mineral taste is not unpleasant by any means, some also just like the taste of lemon.

Some chefs combine the two and make a lemon butter sauce, which can also include garlic to add a bit of a kick to your crab. 

While king crab meat can be shredded and added to dishes, it’s not traditionally served like that. Lobster is more often added to linguini or ravioli as a stuffing, but king crab is less often eaten the same way.

Where does king crab smell like?

King crab smells like the ocean. While some people generally don’t like the smell of fish, king crab really does not have a “fishy” smell like you would get from eating walleye or fish sticks.

The smell of crab will be more briney and a bit salty.

How do I find king crab?

King crab is fairly easy to find. You’ll find it in some grocery stores, meat markets, and butcher shops. Most places do relatively little to process king crab as people tend to eat the crab within the shell and add their own butter, flavoring, and spices.

Why is king crab expensive?

With a delicate, rich taste tends to come at a higher price.

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King crab, at the moment, costs up to $50 per pound. This is double the price of snow crab.

The price comes from a combination of a relatively dangerous animal to catch with consideration for the weather on the seas where it is caught. The harvesting season is also only a month or so long.

Since king crab is a dangerous, difficult catch, the supply of crabs is not very high. Add to actually good taste to the mix, and you have a fairly expensive meat to eat.

Is king crab good for you?

King crab meat provides more than delicious taste. The meat of the king crab will load you up with minerals like zinc, selenium, and copper which help with the production and health of bones.

You’ll also get the omega-3 fatty acids commonly found in seafood. These are the good fats that fight inflammation and are helpful to heart health.

Protein also shows in king crab meat, with a significant portion of protein even in a small bite, all while not offering much of the bad fat that can be present in other foods, especially processed ones.

Conclusion

King crab tastes like a sweeter version of lobster. Added to the soft, delicate texture, king crab is a very popular seafood. Given the relatively low supply of king crab, it’s not eaten too often by most Americans because of the price. 

We also suggest adding a butter, lemon, or garlic sauce because they just make crab even more delicious.