Roasted Chili Butter Crab Legs
These Roasted Chili Butter Crab Legs will blow your mind!
Snow crab legs bathed in chili/garlic butter then roasted to perfection are so savory and delicious you’ll want to make this every week. They’re a little spicy but you can control the heat by the amount of Sriracha (or red pepper flakes) you add. Why roast crab legs? Roast crab legs to concentrate the sweet crabby flavors. Boiling or steaming crab legs can dilute the delicate crab flavor.
First, thaw the crab legs
Snow crab legs are cooked and frozen at sea to preserve their freshness. Once you get them home keep them frozen until you are ready to begin this recipe. Thaw the frozen crab legs overnight in the fridge (instead of boiling them) for concentrated crab flavor. You don’t want any extra water to dilute the flavor of the crab or the buttery sauce. Place a sheet pan or other pan underneath the crab legs to catch any drips as they thaw.
NEXT, mix the sriracha, butter and other ingredients
Mix the softened butter with the salt, garlic, Sriracha, lemon juice, parsley, and scallions. You can use your favorite spicy chili sauce in this recipe. I chose sriracha because it is delicious and easy to find in local grocery stores.
THEN, cut the crab legs and rub them with chili flavored butter
Cut a slit in the crab legs so the butter can get into the shells. Rub the corn and crab legs with the chili butter to get them well coated. Push some butter into the cut part of the shell. Cover the roasting pan with aluminum foil to keep the crabs from drying out. Roast the crab for 10 minutes, turn them over and roast for another 10 minutes basting with chili butter.
SERVE the crab legs with chili butter
Serve the finished Roasted Chili and Butter Crab Legs with a baguette to soak up all that flavorful butter. Lots of napkins and maybe a bib would be nice, this could (absolutely will) get messy.
Crab Legs with chili butter is truly a special treat. The sweet corn and sweet crab meat balance the spicy sriracha really well. I think cauliflower would be a tasty addition to this recipe. I’m definitely going to try that the next time I make this!
Read more about the best snow crabs to buy check the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch
Roasted Chili Butter Crab Legs
Ingredients
- 2 pounds snow crab legs
- 2 sticks 8 ounces of unsalted butter-softened
- 2 garlic cloves -chopped
- 1-3 tablespoons of Sriracha OR red pepper flakes OR red chili paste
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
- 3 chopped scallions
Instructions
- Thaw the crab legs in the refrigerator over night OR thaw the crab legs under cool running water for about 15 minutes
- Pat the crab legs dry
- Cut a slit in the crab legs. See the picture in the post above.
- Heat the oven to 400 degrees
- Mix the chopped garlic, sriracha (or red pepper flakes), salt, lemon juice, parsley and scallions with the soft butter.
- Rub the snow crab legs with the butter mixture and turn to coat and place them in a roasting pan
- Cover the roasting pan with foil and bake for 10 minutes
- Turn the crab legs over, cover with foil again and bake for another 10 minutes
- Serve with bread and a LOT of napkins
