How to Dress a Crab

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: November 4, 2021

The beauty of a dressed crab is its simplicity. The sweetness of the white crab meat contrasted with the rich and flavorful dark meat makes it a delicious and refreshing seafood dish. Dressing a crab is actually much easier than you may think. Start with cooked crabs, put in a little bit of effort with a few tools, and you'll be serving and enjoying your own dressed crab in no time at all!

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:
Opening the Crab

1
Lay down newspapers or a plastic tarp to work over. Crabs can be a messy business so before you start opening them up, you need to prepare your work area by laying down some newspapers or heavy-duty wax paper so you don't get crab juices everywhere.^{[1]
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- It also makes clean-up easier when you're finished.
2
Remove the legs and claws by twisting them off of the body. Start by twisting the smaller legs off of the crab's body where the joints connect with the shell, then twist off the 2 large claws. Discard the smaller legs as they don't contain much usable meat and set the claws aside.^{[2]
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Tip: If you have really large crabs, some of the smaller legs may have enough meat to be removed. Crack one of them open to see if there's any meat you can use before you toss them.

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3
Pull back the apron on the underside of the crab. The apron looks like a tab on the belly of the crab. Use your hands or a knife to pry the apron back. Lift it up and break it off so you can more easily separate the body of the crab.^{[3]
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- Discard the apron when you break it off.
- A female crab has a wide and round apron and a male crab has a thinner apron.
4
Place the crab on its back and separate the shell from the body. With the underside of the crab facing up towards you, put your thumbs against the hard shell close to the crab's tail, where you removed the apron. Push and separate the body, or the bottom half where the legs were attached, from the shell of the crab and set the shell aside to use later.^{[4]
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- You can use a butter knife to help pry the crab apart.
5
Remove the 10 gills from the body. When you've removed the shell from the body, you'll see 10 greyish, spongy gills that are called “dead men's fingers.” They are not edible, so you can pull them off and discard them.^{[5]
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6
Pull out the membranes and internal organs. Inside the body of the crab, you'll see a greyish looking stomach sac and other membranes. Pull them all out of the crab and discard them. Depending on the species of crab that you're dressing, there may be different arrangements and colors of internal organs that need to be pulled out.^{[6]
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- Anything that isn't crab meat should be removed from the body.
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Part 2

Part 2 of 3:
Removing the Meat

1
Keep 2 medium-sized bowls nearby. The claw and white meat from the shell should be kept from the darker meat in the body of the crab. When you serve the dressed crab, you'll have the 2 types of meat served in separate sides of the crab. While you're working to remove the meat, keep the bowls close at hand so you can deposit the meat you pull into the appropriate bowl.^{[7]
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2
Scoop out the dark meat in the center of the body with a spoon. In the center of the body of the crab is a large collection of darker meat that can be easily removed with a spoon. Scoop it all out and place it into the bowl you plan to use for the dark meat.^{[8]
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- Use a lobster pick to scrape and pull out any meat that stays attached to the shell.
3
Break the crab's body in half. Pick up the body of the crab and place your thumbs in the center of the body. Apply pressure until the shell cracks and twist to separate the two halves of the crab's body.^{[9]
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- Apply firm and even pressure with your thumbs to crack the shell in half.
- Try not to jam your fingers into the shell of the crab or you could push small pieces of shell in the meat that can be difficult to remove.
4
Use a lobster pick to pull out the white crab meat in the two sections. Once you've broken the crab in half, you can see a large collection of white crab meat in the two halves. Use a lobster pick to scrape and pull out the white meat and place it in the appropriate bowl.^{[10]
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Tip: The crab's body is full of nooks and crevices that contain meat, take your time with your lobster pick to pull out as much meat as you can.
5
Crack open the claws and remove the meat with a lobster pick. Use a crab claw cracker or a heavy knife to crack the large claws and break them open. Use your lobster pick to pull out all of the claw meat and set it in the bowl of white meat.^{[11]
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- Claw meat is white so it goes with the rest of the white meat you pull out of the body of the crab.
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Part 3

Part 3 of 3:
Stuffing the Crab Shells

1
Break off the sharp rim from around the edge of the crab shells. Take the crab shells that you set aside earlier and snap off any jagged edges. Use your thumbs to break off anything sharp that could potentially cut or scrape someone when they eat the dressed crab.^{[12]
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- You can use a heavy butter knife to knock off any stubborn jagged edges.
2
Rinse and dry the crab shells. Once you've got the rims of the crab shells ready to be used as a serving dish, rinse the shells with clean water and pat them dry with paper towels.^{[13]
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- You can rub a little olive oil on the inside of the shell if you want to add a little bit of flavor and help keep the crab meat from sticking to the shell.
3
Season the crab meat in the bowls. Before you stuff the crab shells, you need to season the crab meat to your liking. Use salt and black pepper as a basic seasoning. You could also use a little spice like cayenne pepper and lemon juice, or add some chopped parsley and fresh mayonnaise. There are a variety of seasoning options you can choose from.^{[14]
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- Use your hands to mix the seasonings thoroughly into the meat.
- Look online or consult a seafood cookbook for suggestions on how to season the crab meat.
4
Place the crab meat in the shells. After you've seasoned the crab meat, scoop the crab meat out of the bowls and fill one half of the crab shell with dark meat and the other half with white meat. You can then serve the dressed crab in the shell!^{[15]
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Tip: Place a strip of parsley in the center to separate the white and dark crab meat.

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