Easy Instant Pot Crab Legs
This Easy Instant Pot Crab Legs recipe will show you how to steam fresh or frozen snow crab or king crab in your pressure cooker. Season this seafood with lemon, Old Bay, or my favorite Cajun rub.
Servings 2 servings
Calories 320kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2-2 pounds crab legs
- 1/2 fresh lemon Any size will work.
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon Cajun Seasoning Optional
Optional Lemon Garlic Butter
- 2 tablespoons butter Melted
- 3 garlic cloves Minced
- 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
- 1/2 fresh lemon I use the lemon after it's pressure cooked with the crab.
Instructions
- Place the trivet (that comes with the Instant Pot) into the bottom of the pot.
- Pour in 1 cup of water along with the spices.
- Add in the crab legs and the lemon.
- Place the lid on the pot and seal. Cook for 1 minute on Manual> High Pressure Cooking.
- When the pot indicates it has finished, quick release the steam.
- Serve the crab legs immediately.
Optional Garlic Butter
- Combine the ingredients in a bowl and stir.
Video
Notes
- You can use snow crab legs or king crab legs. I use the same cook time for king crab legs. They take a little longer to come to pressure.
- Adjust the spices and seasoning to suit your taste. Omit the Cajun seasoning if you want.
- If your crab legs don’t have much flavor, you didn’t purchase quality crab or the crab is expired/has gone bad. Even without seasoning, the crab legs should have a sweet taste (if they haven’t gone bad).
- To crack a crab leg, I hold the leg horizontally, with the back of the leg facing me. Then press down on either the middle of the leg or about 1/4 of the way up from the bottom of the leg. I can always tell if the crab is fully cooked (reheated) and fresh because of how easily it cracks.
- If when I crack the leg, it doesn’t return a nice chunk of meat, and the meat is stuck on the inside, it’s usually because it wasn’t cracked soon enough after cooking. The longer they sit, the harder they are to crack and easily remove the meat.
- Nutrition facts exclude optional garlic butter. Calculate the nutrition using your nutrition calculator of choice.
- I tested these in the air fryer and in the oven. Making them in the Instant Pot is probably my favorite. The shells are the easiest crack likely due to the pressure cooking.
Nutrition
Serving: 1pound | Calories: 320kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 74g | Fat: 1g