King Crab Legs with Dips

Plan Z Phase: This is a Z3 (ZReboot) recipe. For a party recently, I decided to serve crab legs but wanted my guests to have options for dipping beyond the regular clarified butter. Here are three tasty dips I came up with.

Serving Size: 8 oz of crab leg meat per person the 8 oz is not counting the weight of the shell. When I buy crab legs I plan on one king crab leg per person.

Instructions:

Prepping crab legs:

King crab legs are already cooked when you buy them. Just make sure by confirming with the fish monger. To be nice to your guests the only thing you need to do is cut the crab leg at the thick end with a pair of scissors. That makes it easier to get the meat out. Boning scissors work best, but regular scissors will work too. You can also pass out crab claw crackers if you have them. Getting the meat out is half the fun.

You can re-heat crab legs to serve or serve them cold. When I re-heat them I put them in a large pan and put about a ¼” of water in the bottom. Then cover with aluminum foil and heat at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes. This sort of steams them and keeps them moist.

This is a no-fuss meal because the crab can be hot or cold on the buffet and still taste great. The dips can be made ahead (with the exception of the butter one) and stored in the refrigerator. Just pull them out to serve. Imagine you’re all gathered around the table with the dips in bowls in the middle. Each person pulls out a bite of crab meat and dips it in the dip of their choice. Next bite they can try a different dip.

It’s a fun and slightly messy meal because you are pulling the crabs apart with your hands and a fork.

For the Dipping Sauce:

Sauce1: Mustard Dipping Sauce

  • 1-1/2 cups of full fat Greek yogurt
  • 2 tsp of Truvia
  • ½ cup of prepared Dijon-style mustard
  • 1 Tbl of chopped green onion
  • 1 nice dash of hot sauce. I use Louisiana but any brand will work.

Instructions:

Put all items in the blender and mix. Then store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Sauce 2: HOT, Thai Dipping Sauce

  • 6 Thai chili peppers, chopped
  • ¼ cup of chopped onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced (jar garlic will work)
  • ¼ cup of lemon juice
  • 1-1/2 cups of Bragg’s aminos

Instructions:

Put all items in the blender and mix. This is a very spicy dipping sauce. If it’s too hot for you, you can remove some of the onion/Thai pepper mixture. Keep in mind too, that the longer this stuff sets the spicier it will get.

Sauce 3: Citrus-Butter Dipping Sauce

  • 1 cup of butter
  • ¼ cup of lemon juice
  • ¼ cup of parsley, minced
  • 1 Tbl of mustard (I use French)
  • ¼ cup of white wine
  • grated sea salt to taste

Instructions:

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan. Add the other ingredients and stir. It’s ready to serve. You can store any leftovers in the refrigerator but you’ll have to heat it again to loosen up the butter if you do.

Enjoy!

Cheers,