How to Eat Dungeness Crab

Place the crabs on a cutting board belly side up. Cleaning the crab properly is important to get out all the guts and things you and your guests will probably not want to eat. You’ll be taking it apart piece by piece, so make sure they’re cool enough to handle!

• Have a kitchen towel handy and wear an apron, because this is about to get messy!

Pull off the triangular-shaped belly flap. The belly flap, or “apron” sits right in the middle of the belly and connects at the base of the crab between its hind legs.^[8] Find the tip of the flap near the middle of the belly and wedge your finger under it, then pull the flap up toward you and tear it off at the base.^[9] Rinse away any debris with running water.

Flip it over and remove the shell. Turn the crab shell-side up and use your thumb and fingers to pry open the shell from the rear end.^[10] Boiling will have loosened the connective tissues, so the shell should come off pretty easily.^[11] Discard any liquid in the shell.

• If you like, scoop the fleshy golden crab butter from the shell into a small bowl (it looks like yellow mush and is considered a delicacy).^[12] You can stir it into the dipping butter later on or smear it straight on top of the crab meat.^[13] If you’re not serving the crab right away, cover the small bowl of crab butter with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator.

Pull away the membrane and scrape the guts from the center body. The reddish colored membrane usually comes off with the shell, but if it hasn’t, use your fingers to pull it away as well as any leftover loose pieces.^[14] Scoop away the guts with your fingers or a spoon and discard those as well.^[15] Then give the cavity a good rinse under a strong stream of running water.

• Rinsing after each step of the cleaning process helps wash away debris and will keep your station as clean as possible.

Scrape away the gills with a spoon and rinse. Use a spoon or your thumb to scrape away the long, spongy, leafy-looking gills that run along the sides of the body.^[16] They should come off pretty easily. There might be some more crab butter in the center of the body, so if you see any and want to use it, scoop it into that small serving bowl before rinsing the whole crab with running water again.

• Be careful not to rinse away any meat! ^[17]

Pull the crab in half with your hands. With the belly side still facing down, grasp each side of the crab with the legs facing your palms and pull it apart.^[18] It should apart without much force, but wriggle it up and down if you need to.

• If you have a towel handy, this is a good time to wipe down your work station and cutting board.

Twist off the claws and legs with your fingers. Hold one leg of the crab in your right hand (with the leg toward your palm and your thumb on the joint between two legs) and grab the body and other legs with your left hand, then twist and pull the leg away from the rest. Part of the body meat should come off with each leg.^[19] Repeat this twisting maneuver for all the legs and claws.

• If you’re not serving them right away, place each leg and claw in a sealed bag or container to be refrigerated and enjoyed within 2 days.^[20]
• Freezing them in a vacuum-sealed bag will keep them tasting fresh for months!

Smash the shells with a mallet around each joint for easier eating. Slightly pre-cracking the shells with a small hammer or the flat side of a meat tenderizer will make it easier to take out and eat the meat at the table.^[21] Aim for the areas just above and below the joints, since that’s where you’ll be cracking the shells later on for the easiest meat access. You’ll still need crab crackers but you won’t have to apply as much force if the shells are already a little pre-cracked.

• If you plan to eat them a few hours later, cover and refrigerate them until the time comes to dig in!

Prepare the melted garlic butter dipping sauce. Melted butter is the classic accompaniment to dungeness crab and will complement its naturally sweet, salty flavor.^[22] Place 1 cup (16 US tbsp) of salted butter into a small saucepan with 2 peeled cloves of garlic and heat on low until it’s fully melted.^[23] Once it’s melted, pour it through a small sieve into a medium-sized bowl to strain out the milk solids.^[24] Pour the dipping butter into individual dipping saucers, one for each person eating.

• Squeeze a slice of lemon and add a pinch of ground thyme to the butter while its melting for an extra zing of decadent flavor.^[25]
• If you saved the crab butter during the cleaning process, stir some (or all of it) into the prepared dipping butter for an extra-decadent bite.

Use a seafood cracker to get to the leg and claw meat. Seafood crackers are essential for cracking open the tough shells of dungeness crab. They look a bit like nut crackers and you can probably find them at your local grocery store.^[26] Place the cracking grips around the legs just above or below the joints and firmly squeeze the two handles together. Rotate the leg around so the cracker’s grips get a firm hold on the shell. You may have to do a few cracks on different sides of the shell to fully break it open.

• You might have to use two hands to squeeze the handles together, especially on tougher parts of the legs and claws.

Scoop out the meat with a seafood pick. A seafood pick has a small spoon at one end and tiny 2-pronged fork at the other, perfect for reaching down deep into the legs to pull out that juicy meat!^[27] Insert the small fork end into the shell and move it around the perimeter of the inside of the shell to loosen up the meat before scooping it out.

• If you don’t have a seafood pick, a long, small object like a knife or toothpick will also work (but you might not get all the meat).