Simple yet elegant, this Crab Spaghetti is pure comfort food with a high brow touch—because who doesn’t find comfort in twirling pasta around the big old clumps of sweetly lush lump crab.
If there’s one thing you want to eat in it’s lumpiest form, it’s crab. Take my word for it.
Crab can sometimes feel a little intimidating to make. How do you cook it? How do you crack it? And doesn’t it take forever to get that meat out of those prickly sharp shells?
But in reality, whether it’s steamed in it’s long, lanky king crabby legs dripping with butter (this recipe is hands down the easiest way to fix it) or rolled into bite size appetizer bites like this, it’s incredibly easy to prepare.
Fear not, this Crab Spaghetti with Lemon Gremolata jumps from pan to plate in about a half an hour. And I have just the tip to make it as painless as possible to make cure your crabby cravings.
Butter, wine and lemon all combine to create a lush and flavorful spaghetti noodle coating that has just a touch of heat with a sprinkling of red pepper flakes.
Now those flavors aren’t hard to find in many a shellfish / pasta dish, but what makes this recipe especially indulgent is the addition of crunchy, garlicky bread crumbs with lemon and parsley that gives a deceptively luxe crunch to this pretty simple meal.
It certainly raises the bar when you talk about shellfish.
So how exactly do you go about getting that lumpity lump crab?
Well, you could cook yourself some legs like I did here, but what I like to do for the quickest and easiest dinner creating is to buy it already cooked, cleaned and ready to go. I don’t go for the aluminum tin can kind, instead I get this brand from Costco (it’s in the refrigerated foods section and is sold fresh) and it’s my hands down favorite.
Whether you cook it yourself or buy it ready to go, just make sure it’s jumbo for the best crabby flavor.
Get my Crab Spaghetti with Lemon Gremolata recipe and see the rest of my Go Bold with Butter recipes here.
Crab Spaghetti with Lemon Gremolata
Ingredients
For crab spaghetti
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3/4 cup white wine Chardonnay
- 1 lemon juiced
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 pound jumbo lump crab meat
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- kosher salt
For lemon and garlic gremolata
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 cups fresh sourdough bread crumbs
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons parsley chopped
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest from 1 medium lemon
Instructions
For crab spaghetti
-
Cook spaghetti noodles according to package directions. Drain and reserve 1 cup cooking water.
-
In large pan over medium high heat melt butter in olive oil. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly, until fragrant. Add white wine, lemon juice and red pepper flakes. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer and cook for 8 minutes. Add lump crab meat and hot spaghetti and stir to mix well. Add 1/2 cup of Parmesan and kosher salt; toss. Add 1/4 cup of reserved cooking liquid at a time if the pasta needs more liquid. Top with Lemon and Garlic Gremolata and more Parmesan cheese and serve.
For lemon and garlic gremolata
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In medium fry pan, melt butter over medium high heat. Add bread crumbs and kosher salt. Stir to combine in butter. Toast bread crumbs for about 3-5 minutes, stirring occassionally. Be careful so crumbs don’t burn. Remove hot bread crumbs from heat and add in garlic, parsley and lemon zest. Stir to combine and add to top of Crab Spaghetti.
Because I can’t ever say no to just one round of crab, here are a few more renditions to savor.
Creamy Tomato and Crab Fettucinne
Creamy, dreamy and totally lump crabbalini, this pasta rendition makes me weak in the kneesey. Recipe here.
Crab Seafood Macaroni and Cheese
High fives all around the table, with the husb declaring this recipe as on ready to go head to head with any seafood faring food stop in Boston. Recipe here.
Spicy Garlic Lump Crab Butternut Squash Pasta
Royal is as royal does. This one is the queen of the crop thanks to it’s low carb ‘noodles’. Recipe here.
Go ahead. Dig in.
This recipe was created in partnership with Go Bold With Butter where I am a paid contributor to their website. As always, all opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting companies I partner with, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you.
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Nazia @ This Baker Girl Blogs says
Mmmm this just screams comfort! Love the flavours and it looks delicious :)
ibiza spotlight villas says
Amazing! This blog looks exactly like my old one! It’s on a
entirely different subject but it has pretty
much the same page layout and design. Wonderful choice of colors!
heidi says
Glad you like it, and thanks for coming by.
Averie @ Averie Cooks says
Such a gorgeous meal! Your noodles are just perfectly coiled and the images are just stunning! pinned
Taylor @ Food Faith Fitness says
How you made ugly, lumpy crab so pretty is beyond me, but I love how this dish just screams comfort.
If you say carbs, I say YES.
Pinned!
heidi says
I say carbs, often and without reserve. :)
Jeanette | Jeanette's Healthy Living says
My boys love crab and I get mine at Costco’s too – they’d dig right into this Heidi!
ashley - Baker by Nature says
Now THIS is what I’m talking about! All that crab and lemon! Yes, please :)
Liz @ The Lemon Bowl says
You had me at lemon! And crab! And “lumpiest form”! :) LOVE.
Sandy @ RE says
LOVE! and pinned. Looks fantastic, Heidi and I love the crab/lemon combo!
Meagan @ A Zesty Bite says
This crab spaghetti is calling my name. I might just not share the plate.
Kristen says
Oh I love love love this recipe. And I think Costco wins for seafood, at least when you don’t live near the sea. Thanks for the crab tips!
Brian @ A Thought For Food says
Until last summer, I hadn’t really eaten much crab (this is lobster country up here). But I’ve found that it’s really delightful. Love how sweet the meat is. Ok. I just realized how dirty that sounds. Time for me to stop talking.
heidi says
I could listen to talk like that all day. I mean…you know what I mean.
Betty Ann @Mango_Queen says
What a great new way to use crab in recipes. I love these ideas. These will be perfect when we want to go for less red meat in dishes. Thanks for sharing!
marla says
LOVE this pasta Heidi!
Kelli @ The Corner Kitchen says
Such an amazing weeknight dinner!
cheri says
Oh this looks sooo good, making this!
Sylvia Ellie says
I remember going crabbing when I was young. We’d tie a chicken wing or neck to a string, drop it into the water, then slowly pull it up to see if crabs were eating on it. If they were, someone would grab the net and scoop them up. Missing those old days. Needless to say, I LOVE crab and your recipe sounds wonderful.
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
This is pasta perfect, love the crab + lemon gremolata!
Tieghan says
Pasta perfection! This is a gorgeous meal, Heidi!
meg says
Woah! This looks amazing. Can’t wait to try it
bev @ bevcooks says
Ohhhhh my word. Yes. (and thank you!)
Kathy @ Olives and Garlic says
I can’t wait to make this dish! This is right up my alley Heidi.
Stefanie @ Sarcastic Cooking says
I have never heard of gremolata before and I am sad because I could have been adding it to EVERYTHING!!! This looks like a dish that speaks to my soul. I cannot wait to try this!
Laura @ Laura's Culinary Adventures says
What a beautiful and elegant dish!
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Staci says
Picked up a few pounds of snow crab and thought we’d give this a try. OMG….. It was so good! The Lemon Gremolata is addictive. Thanks for sharing this lil gem. It has become a family favorite!
heidi says
Hi Staci, I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Genelia Santanelli says
Hello! I just wanted to stop in and thank you for this delicious recipe! I prepared it for my family and our two out of town family guests and we all LOVED IT! It was filling and deliciously comforting!
For those who care to know, these are the only changes I made:
1) I scaled back on the lemon zest in the gremolata – only because I’m not a fan of too much lemon in my pasta dishes
2) I used French Baguette for my bread crumbs in the gremolata, because I am not a fan of sour dough bread
This recipe was simple and just delicious!!! I served it with a side dish of a nice size stuffed, oven – roasted branzino that we all cut into. Delicioso!
So happy I found this food blog. Namaste!
Borkai says
Made this tonight and wasn’t going to do the Gremolata. Decided to go for it. Boy am I glad I did! The whole thing was extremely yummy! One thing I would add is more crab! Thanks!!
Jessyca says
Delicious and easy recipe! Thank you for sharing.
heidi says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. It’s so easy but elegant, one of my favorite kinds of recipe. :)
Court says
Made this a few times since I found the recipe over the past year and it’s amazing every time! We use the gremolata on our salad now too, it’s very tasty! Gonna try it tonight with some lobster tails I got on sale at WF, I’m sure it’ll be delicious again but can’t wait for dungenuss crab season to fully arrive for the holidays!
Loren says
I made this dish for my wife and I this weekend and I just wanted to thank you. It was so delicious! I had bought a pound of jumbo king crab legs at Costco (funny) before seeing your recipe. I had tried someone else’s recipe months ago for a dish like this and remembered how lovely it was. When I searched and found yours, I knew I Was on to something better and Glad to say my intuition payed off!
Others put pancetta in the dish which can be nice but here I feel it would be a distraction. Nevertheless, this dish rocks!!
Thank you so much.
Loren
wendy says
did this w/asparagus, light serrano peppers, and orange cherry tomatoes. It came out lovely.
Ashley @ Foodie Crush says
Sounds incredible! Thank you Wendy!
kutiekat3 says
Just made this for lunch with fresh Jonah crabs meat that I deshelled. Wow, this recipe totally make the crabmeat rock! Love how quick and easy this was. You were right, the crunchy breadcrumbs made this dish — so it’s not just mushy crab and pasta texture.