Easy Imitation Crab Seafood Salad - CopyKat Recipes (2024)

Dive into this simple yet scrumptious 3-ingredient Imitation Crab Salad, made with mayonnaise, green onion, and krab (imitation crab meat). This quick and easy seafood salad is a refreshing, light dish perfect for lunch, dinner, or an appetizer. Packed with the succulent crab flavor, the creaminess of mayonnaise, and the subtle crunch of green onion, this dish is sure to be a hit with seafood lovers and salad enthusiasts alike.

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Quick and Easy Crab Salad

This imitation crab salad recipe takes only 10 to 15 minutes to make and contains only three ingredients – imitation crab meat, green onion, and mayonnaise. Although you can use real crab to make crab salad, imitation crab has several advantages – it’s inexpensive, available year-round, and can be found in almost every grocery store.

What Is Imitation Crab?

When it comes to imitation crab meat, there is no hidden meaning or trickery about it. Imitation crab is just that – imitation, not real crab meat. But it doesn’t mean that imitation crab meat isn’t a great substitute for the natural (and more expensive) version. Imitation crab is sometimes called krab or krab meat to distinguish it from the real thing.

Imitation crab meat dates back hundreds of years to a type of mild white fish called surimi. When augmented with fillers, flavoring, and color, surimi imitates the taste, texture, and color of real crab. Nowadays, imitation crab is usually made with Alaskan pollock.

Please make no mistake; imitation crab does not include real crab. However, its “crabby” flavor is delicious.

Why You Should Try This Recipe for Imitation Crab Salad

This krab salad is one of the easiest dishes to whip up for lunch or even an afternoon snack. This imitation crab meat salad recipe gives you a perfect summer salad that won’t break your food budget.

Once you try this seafood salad, you’ll be hooked. It’s so much fresher tasting than the deli version and you know exactly what goes into it – no need to decipher any chemical-sounding ingredients.

Krab Salad Recipe – Ingredients You Will Need

Do you like recipes that don’t come with a long list of ingredients? If so, this imitation crab meat salad is for you – just three components!

• Imitation crab meat
• Green Onions
• Mayonaise

Tip: If you buy imitation crab flakes, you won’t have to chop the imitation crab sticks for the salad.

How to Make Crab Salad with Imitation Crab

1. Chop the crab meat into small bite-size pieces and slice the onions.
2. Place the crab, onions, and mayo in a large bowl.

3. Gently stir to combine.
4. Cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator for at least a few hours before serving.

Allowing your imitation crab salad to sit in the refrigerator for at least a day will give the flavors a better chance to meld.

Recipe Variations

You can easily dress up this recipe for imitation crab meat salad if you like. Here are some ideas:

• Veggies: Add your favorite salad ingredients – celery, red onion, cucumber, bell pepper, and black olives.
• Herbs: Liven things up a bit by adding fresh dill, tarragon, and/or lemon juice. Garnish the salad with fresh parsley.
• Zing: Add some garlic powder, Old Bay Seasoning, or Spice Islands Italian Seasoning. Or mix in some co*cktail sauce, a pinch of cayenne pepper, or a bit of dijon mustard.
• Cheese: Include 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese.
• Cut the Fat: Use low-fat mayonnaise.
• Sour Cream: Substitute half of the mayo with sour cream.
• Yogurt: Substitute Greek yogurt for the mayonnaise.
• Seafood: Add another kind of seafood, such as shrimp, or make it with imitation lobster.

Can I eat imitation crab if I’m allergic to shellfish? This is not recommended because some of the ingredients used for flavoring could be extracts from real crab and lobster.

How to Serve Imitation Crab Salad

There are many ways to serve this seafood salad with imitation crab. Here are some suggestions:

• Crab Salad Sandwich: Serve your krab salad on a toasted roll with some green leaf lettuce or on warm pita bread with lettuce and arugula.
• Crackers: Scoop up your salad with some homemade crackers.
• Lettuce: Throw in some tomato and place it on a bed of lettuce for a delicious lunch, or spoon your creamy crab salad into a butter lettuce cup.
• Tomato: Add crab salad to a large cored-out vine-ripe tomato.
• Avocado: Place some crab in an avocado half.
• Cucumber: Spread onto cucumber slices for an easy party snack.
• Puff Pastry: Use as a filling for puff pastry shells.
• Pasta: Crab pasta salad is so delicious! Try it with elbow macaroni, farfalle, rotini, or any other pasta with plenty of nooks and crannies for holding all that creamy goodness!

How Long Does Imitation Crab Last?

If you pick up imitation crab in a tray or container at the store, it will be kept in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 five days after it’s been opened. Homemade imitation crab salad leftovers will last up to 4 days when stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Freezing imitation crab salad is not recommended. If you freeze dishes containing mayonnaise, the texture will not be good once thawed.

More Crab Recipes

• Crab Alfredo
• Crab Bisque
• Chinese Buffet Seafood Bake
• Seafood Pasta Salad
• She Crab Soup

Favorite Meaty Salad Recipes

• Arby’s Chicken Salad
• Chicken Salad Chick Classic Carol Chicken Salad
• Chicken Salad Chick Fancy Nancy Chicken Salad
• Ham Salad
• Jason’s Deli Chicken Salad
• Subway Apple Orchard Chicken Salad
• Subway Tuna Salad
• Tuna Creations

Check out more of my easy salad recipes and the best seafood recipes on CopyKat!

What do you like about this recipe?Maybe the taste or even how easy it is to make? Let me know what you think about it in the comments below.

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