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Made of tender flaked imitation crab with crunchy, fresh celery, fragrant onion, and sliced black olives in a light, herbed mayonnaise dressing, deli classic crab salad is hard to resist. Whether you serve it on rolls, lettuce wraps, or on crackers, it’s so very good!
Crab Salad
When we were newlyweds, Sean and I would often splurge and pick up a carton of crab salad from the deli and then snack on it with crackers while watching a movie or chatting after work. We loved crab salad and enjoyed it this way for many years.
It wasn’t until I met my friend Debbie while teaching her daughter Amanda that I learned just how incredibly easy it is to make a batch of this deli staple. After that, salad from the deli lost all of its appeal.
Freshly made with just the right amount of everything? That’s pure crab happiness.
Easy Crab Salad
To make this light and refreshing crab salad, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- imitation crab meat
- celery
- black olives
- red or green onion
- mayonnaise
- lemon
- dill
- paprika
- kosher salt
- black pepper
While you can certainly make this with real crab meat, imitation crab meat is likely what you’ve had before if you’ve ever eaten deli crab salad. The cost difference is roughly 8-10x more for real crab versus imitation.
Imitation crab -also known as surimi- is made from minced white fish, typically Alaskan pollack. While it’s not actually crab, it is tasty and very economical.
How to Make Crab Salad
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, dill, paprika, salt, and pepper.
Add the crab meat, celery, olives, and onion to the bowl. Stir well to coat thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Serve in lettuce wraps or with crackers of your choice. This will keep nicely in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
Whether you serve this with a Mai Tai Cocktail or Strawberry Lemonade grab a fork and dig in, friends. This is old-school, classic crab salad flavors, and it is still irresistible for both of us. For more easy seafood salads, try this Italian Shrimp Salad or this awesome chopped salad with shrimp, bacon, and bleu cheese.
Looking for more easy dip recipes? I could write an ode to Smoked Salmon Dip at this point. My whole family has fallen in love with this snack. We dip vegetables into it, crackers, and even chips. I’ve smeared it on a bagel and eaten it off a spoon straight from the fridge. You can not go wrong with this one, my friends.
Crab Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pound imitation crab meat flaked or roughly chopped into ½-inch pieces
- ½ cup celery very thinly sliced
- 2.25 ounces sliced black olives drained
- ¼ cup red or green onion finely chopped or thinly sliced
Dressing Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt adjust to taste
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper adjust to taste
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, dill, paprika, salt, and pepper.
- Add the crab meat, celery, olives, and onion to the bowl. Stir well to coat thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Serve in lettuce wraps or with crackers of your choice. This will keep nicely in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This sounds so good. I would like to make this for a baby shower and I was wondering what the brand of crackers is that are shown in the picture. They look good, too!
Those are everything bagel crackers from Trader Joes. I hope you love the salad as much as we do!
excellent recipe i used real crab meat and it was delicious
I’m thrilled it was a hit!
Wonderful!
I’m so glad you like the salad!