Please log in with your username how to reheat crab legs email to continue. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. How is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
How’s Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. There are 14 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 271,391 times. A pile of fresh steamed crabs or crab legs can make for a delicious meal. Crabs are not difficult to steam, and they are high in protein but low in saturated fat. It doesn’t take long or much equipment to steam crabs, and they are healthier to eat that way. However, if possible, live crabs taste better after steaming.
If you’re not immediately cooking the crabs, you will want to keep them cold, whether they are alive or frozen. You can use a cooler full of ice or you can use cold packs. Keep the crabs chilled right until the second you steam the crabs. If you’re cooking live crabs, you could put them in an ice chest.
You could also cover the live crabs with a salt-water soaked towel or burlap and put ice on top of the covering. You don’t want to store crabs in water because they could die from lack of oxygen. Clean the crabs before or after steaming them. This is the triangular shell piece positioned at the crab’s tail.
You can use your hands to break this off or use a knife tip to do so. Lift up firmly, and the shells should detach from the crab body with guts attached. Take off the leafy, spongy gills from both sides of the crabs, and throw them away. Rinse the crabs with water before you steam them. You can steam many kinds of crab, although the cooking times will vary.
Be careful to use separate plates for raw crabs and cooked crabs to avoid cross-contamination. You will want to rinse out the green-brown guts from the crabs. Break off the mouth parts on either side of the crabs, and throw them away. Then, turn the crabs upside down. Gripping the crabs on both sides, place your thumbs underneath along the back midpoint.
Crack the crabs along their centers by pulling down with the hands while pushing up with the thumbs. It’s also possible to do this process in reverse and cook the crabs and then clean them using the same process. You can either steam live crabs or you can steam frozen crab legs that you buy at the store. You will simply need to reheat frozen crab legs. To defrost frozen crab legs, put them in the refrigerator for about 8 hours.