17 Crab Recipes to Add to Your Repertoire

"This is the best crab cake recipe you will ever find," says Andrew Zimmern. "If you don't overmix, and don't pack your mounds too tightly, you will experience pure, unadulterated crab cake heaven."

This gumbo from chef Donald Link owes its flavor to the roux, a mix of flour and oil that's cooked until it's coffee-colored.

José Andrés says: "I love America! Without a doubt, one of my favorite American ingredients is blue crabs, a true delicacy! And a great value, I think." This recipe is his twist on the traditional Basque txangurro (crab simmered with tomato), crossed with a savory Galician empanada. "Part of my efforts to build a bridge between America and Spain," he explains.

For this classic tapa, Jose Garces stuffs his delicious crab salad into individual piquillo peppers and roasts them until hot. Make it more easily by spreading the crab mixture in a baking dish, topping it with slices of the peppers, then cooking until warm and melty.

Tanya Holland's luscious crab bisque is studded with plenty of lump crabmeat. Thanks to a hit of cayenne and Tabasco, the soup has a sneaky heat.

2018 Best New Chef Diana Dávila's "Espaghetti" with Poblano Cream and Crab sums up the essence of her cooking. It's based on a dish her mom used to make, with broken and fried noodles. Dávila turns it up to 11 with sweet crabmeat, crunchy shaved cauliflower, and an oozy egg. The poblano cream sauce stays super-green thanks to the addition of fresh spinach and cilantro.

The secret to a seafood boil packed with perfectly cooked shrimp, king crab legs, and clams? Taking it one step at a time. A warm bowl of butter sauce spiked with more Cajun seasoning makes the perfect dipping partner for every delicious bite.

An abundance of seafood and three types of fennel (bulb, seed, and pollen) infuse chef Brandon Boudet's version of this San Francisco fish stew with remarkable flavor, while Calabrian chile paste and crushed red pepper add a subtle layer of heat. Because the West Coast is famous for their Dungeness crab—a large orange crab with meaty claws—it makes a dramatic showing in this seafood-packed dish. Dungeness crab are available fresh from November through June, but this dish can be made any time since many fish markets have cooked and frozen crabs available year round.

The late chef Patrick Clark's crab cakes at Tavern on the Green are legendary, taking on a pop of flavor from chopped fresh jalapeño and a crispy exterior from panko. Chopped whitefish provides the structure in these crab cakes, offering more flavor and a richer texture than traditional binders like breadcrumbs. Look for plastic tubs of jumbo lump crabmeat; it's fresh and unpasteurized with the cleanest taste and best texture. If whitefish is unavailable, substitute sea bass or cod.

The beignet batter thinly coats a creamy, warm crab filling with a crispy, light crust. The batter is loose and can be tricky to shape at first; keep frying and practicing, and they'll improve with each batch. These are ideally eaten while still very hot, so make them while enjoying aperitifs in the kitchen.

"A glorious amount of crabmeat baked with shell-shaped pasta in a three-cheese cream sauce—tangy white cheddar, nutty Gruyère, and sharp Parmigiano-Reggiano—is no-joke delicious, and trés riche," Andrea Slonecker writes. "That's where the Champagne comes in. The tingly bubbles give your palate an ultrasonic scrub between each creamy, cheesy, blissful bite."

2020 BNC Douglass Williams' method for carbonara allows you to hold the cooked pasta before adding it to the garlic–oil–pasta cooking liquid emulsion. It makes for a simple, creamy carbonara without the stress.

"My aunt Christine taught me how to make crab cakes over the phone," Melissa Martin writes. "And what I learned is that you can use leftover boiled shrimp as a binder instead of breadcrumbs. When you grind shrimp in a food processor, it becomes sticky, and just a small amount will hold crabmeat and smothered vegetables together well enough to form into patties."

Late summer in Louisiana is boggy hot but this refreshing dish from Chef Isaac Toups comes to the rescue with sweet-tart segments of juicy tangerine and uses just a teaspoon of Dijon to create a creamy, balanced sauce. Thai chile brings a touch of heat, while a flurry of mint, basil, and parsley highlight the natural sweetness of fresh crab.

At his dinner parties in Harlem, chef and cookbook author Alexander Smalls pairs creamy, slightly spicy, fresh deviled crab with tender corn muffins, barely sweetened with brown sugar and studded with corn kernels, for a quick one-bite appetizer. Choose fresh crab over pasteurized for the best flavor.

This étouffée is inspired by 2019 F&W Best New Chef Kwame Onwuachi's memories of his grandmother Cassie Phillips' definitive version of the dish. No flavor goes to waste in it—even shrimp shells are used to make the seafood stock. If using shelled shrimp, ask for 6 ounces of shells from the fish counter, or choose a high-quality fresh stock.

Perfect for a dinner party or any sort of special occasion, this stunning dish from 2017 BNC Angie Mar is a project that's well worth your time. The crab and scallops lend a delicate sweetness, and the sherry sauce brings nuttiness and brightness. Almond flour is essential, as it holds the filling together and gives it texture.