A Quick Look at Grilled Snow Crab Legs (Best Results)
- Ready In: 15 minutes!
- Serves: 4
- Main Ingredients: crab legs + any butter or dipping sauce!
- Dietary Info: Whole30, Paleo, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free
- Best For: any special occasion or date night-in or meal prep crab to use in another recipe.
- Why You’ll Love It: Skip the giant pot of boiling water and bring your cooking outside. In less than 15 minutes, you can impress everyone with the best grilled crab legs! Enjoy with any of your favorite dippings sauces or alongside some perfectly grilled steaks for a little surf and turf dinner!
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Key Ingredients + Substitutions
Be sure to see the recipe card below for a full listing of ingredients, instructions, and estimated nutritional information.
- Crab Legs – feel free to use snow crab, king crab, or dungeness crab! Just make sure they are fully thawed and see the grill time chart below for how long they need to be cooked.
- Butter – regular butter, ghee, plant-based butter, or even a compound butter with added flavors are great options for serving.
How To Grill Crab Legs
Step 1 – Make sure the crab legs are fully thawed.
Step 2 – Grill over direct heat on a preheated grill until warmed through, flip halfway.
How Long To Grill Crab Legs (Time Chart)
| Type of Crab Legs | Grill Time |
| Snow Crab Legs | 9-12 minutes |
| King Crab Legs | 14-20 minutes |
| Dungeness Crab Legs | 6-10 minutes |
Step 3 – Serve up the crab legs with melted butter, ghee, or any dipping sauces.
Flavor Variations for Serving
Break off the shells and dip the crab meat in any of the following:
- Melted Butter – this can be regular butter, ghee, or plant-based butter.
- Compound Butter – take the flavor up a notch serving with our garlic herb butter!
- Dipping Sauce – mix up some mayo and mustard for a creamy crab cake sauce that would also be delicious with grilled crab.
Grilled Crab Leg Recipes
Take that perfectly grilled crab meat and use it to make a buttery grilled crab roll, a real crab salad, or the best crab cakes recipe!
Grilled Crab Legs FAQs
If you are planning to serve crab legs as the main course of the meal, you will want to purchase about 1.5 – 2 pounds per person. If you are planning to serve the crab legs with another entreé, like a Standing Rib Roast or Perfectly Grilled Steaks, you could scale back the amount of crab to around 1 pound per person.
Submerge them in cold water for 20-30 minutes or set them on a large, rimmed baking sheet in the fridge overnight. If thawing in water, be sure to drain and pat dry before cooking.
They will be heated all the way through and a nice, bright red color. You can also look at the meat on the end – it should be firm & white, not rubbery at all.
This will depend on which type of crab legs you are grilling. For snow crab, you can use a regular metal fork to split the shell. Crab leg forks/picks are also helpful. But for larger king crab legs you will want some seafood scissors to cut their harder shell.
Other Seafood Recipes For Dinner You Might Like
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Ingredients
- 4 bunches snow crab legs, fresh or thawed
Serving Suggestion:
- butter or ghee, melted
Instructions
- Prep: Ensure grill grates are clean and preheat grill to medium-high heat.
- Grill Crab: Place 4 bunches snow crab legs over direct heat and close the lid. Let cook 5-7 minutes. Open grill and flip. Close lid and let cook another 4-5 minutes or until they are warmed through.
- Serve: Remove from grill and serve immediately with melted butter or ghee.
Notes
- King Crab Legs: the directions are the same for king crab legs, the cook time will just be a bit longer – about 7-10 minutes per side or until they are hot all the way through.
- Frozen Crab Legs: I would highly recommend thawing your crab legs before grilling. While you can grill frozen crab legs (the cook time will just be a bit longer) you risk that some of the crab meat may get dry (the thinner pieces) while other thicker parts may not be all the way done.
Vina says
I’ve been dying to grill crab legs, and I saw you recipe on Google. I checked you out first. It was all I needed. Thank you. Simple. No pressure. Can’t wait to get those babies on the fire lol.
Erin says
Yay! Enjoy – crab legs are one of my favorite foods!