Stuffed Deviled Crab: A South Carolina Lowcountry Classic

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My easy Stuffed Crab recipe is a super-rich crab meat stuffing that will transport you to the Lowcountry of South Carolina in a single bite.

Serve this Gullah dish in retro crab tins for a sophisticated presentation or check with your grocers’ fish monger to see if they have and will sell you any in-tact crab back shells they may be otherwise prepared to throw away.

Vibrant green onions and bell pepper, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, Old Bay seasoning, and crab meat (lump crab or claw meat) are among the few ingredients necessary to assemble crab stuffing, a great Lowcountry tradition steeped in Gullah history.

Also known as Deviled Crab, and similar to crab cakes, this seafood masterpiece offers a bit of heat in addition to a fabulously unique presentation. Piled high into these cute retro aluminum crab tins or the back shells of the crabs themselves, they’re baked until golden brown and basted with a warm butter and sherry sauce.

I’m using blue crabs today. The seafood lover in me is hungry for crab cakes or crab-stuffed mushrooms but my craving is much bigger than that, yielding to this hearty baked deviled stuffed crab instead.

What Kitchen Tools Will I Need for Stuffed Crab?

Before I mention supplies, let’s talk what you plan to bake these in. Six shallow oven-proof dishes capable of holding about 1/2 to 3/4-cups of stuffing is required to get the job done.

Alternatively, use disposable aluminum crab tins. If you plan to purchase fresh crabs, use instead the shell backs from the crabs themselves. You could also ask your fish monger if they have any real crab shells as chances are they’re prepared to dispose of them anyway.

Whether aluminum tins or actual crab backs, both make a fabulous presentation. Shallow ramekins work fine, too.

Onward! Have at the ready your food processor, a large, rimmed baking sheet lined with foil, a large bowl, a medium saucepan, and a rubber spatula for folding. You’ll also want a small saucepan and pastry brush for assembling and applying the butter sherry sauce.

How to Make Stuffed Crab?

As I mentioned previously, I am using American-fished blue crab today. I purchase claw meat for this recipe for a couple of reasons. It’s sweet and it’s generally less expensive than lump crab.

I can pick up a one pound can of freshly packed crab from my grocer’s fish monger. I will use half for this recipe and assemble crabcakes from the remaining half to freeze for later use.

Pick the Crab Meat

Despite the best attempt at ridding all of that crab in the can of their shells, inevitably there are bits and pieces remaining. Scoop the crab right from the can into a large mixing bowl and sift through it using your fingers and feeling for any shell fragments. Discard any shell you find.

Prep the Aluminum Tins

Melt a tablespoon of salted butter in a small microwave-safe bowl. Use your pastry brush to lightly butter the inside of six tins.

Set each tin atop the prepared baking sheet and set all aside. Preheat your oven to 375°F.

Cook the Aromatics

In the barrel of your food processor, pulse a large, sweet onion and a stalk of celery until minced. Finely dice a Fresno chili, discarding the seeds.

Melt two tablespoons of butter in a medium-sized saucepan (you could also use a large skillet to complete this step) over medium heat and add the minced vegetables, chili, and the red pepper flakes. Sauté until soft, about 5 to 8 minutes.

Once cooked, remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the aromatics to cool. I like to give them 10 minutes, stir, then 10 more minutes to cool thoroughly.

Mix the Crabmeat Stuffing

To a large bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, Dijon, sherry, seafood seasoning such as Old Bay or Tony Chachere’s, ground mace, and two large eggs. Whisk in the cooled aromatics.

Gently fold in the crabmeat, a couple of tablespoons chopped green onion, and 28 to 30 very well crushed butter crackers. I am using good old Ritz today but have also used Captains Wafers in the past. As long as they are butter crackers, you’re good.

Stuff the Shells

Spoon about a half cup of the stuffing into each prepared crab tin. Load the stuffing evenly so it’s not all just centered in the deepest part of the tin.

Try not to press the stuffing down. You want the shells/tins loosely packed just enough to where the stuffing stays put. Place back onto the prepared baking sheet.

In a small saucepan over medium low heat, melt two tablespoons of butter and add in a tablespoon of sherry. Stir to combine before brushing the tops of each deviled crab with the butter sherry sauce.

Bake the Crab

Slide the baking sheet filled with deviled stuffed crab into the preheated oven and bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. If you had any leftover butter sherry sauce, baste again each deviled crab and serve immediately.

I also like to mince and combine celery leaves and chives and use as garnish. I especially feel like the celery leaves offer something particularly fresh over and above fishy to that first bite. It’s a flavor that sort of “seals the deal” for me in a very good way 😉 You could also offer lemon wedges tableside.

Variations

This recipe is very flexible as far as substitutions and variations and is often found on menus as crab and seafood stuffed crab. Consider Crab with Shrimp (1/2 finely chopped shrimp and 1/2 crabmeat), Crab with Crawfish (1/2 finely chopped crawfish and 1/2 crabmeat), or even Crab with Redfish (1/2 flaked fish and 1/2 crabmeat).

If you like heat, additional red pepper flakes may be added to the aromatics while they are being sauteed. If I am honest, I am NOT CAREFUL about de-seeding the Fresno chili while mincing because I WANT that tiniest bit of heat the seeds and the ribs offer.

You could also use cayenne pepper or your hot sauce of choice. Regardless of your desired level of heat, achieving the heat should be done during the blooming of the minced vegetable aromatics.

Also, I have substituted in the past, 3/4 cups cooked Carolina Gold rice for the buttery crackers. SPECIFICALLY, Carolina Gold rice, not just rice. This is a common switch in home kitchens here in Charleston, as many Beenya’s will argue that this practice is unique to Charleston.

What to Serve with Stuffed Crab?

This recipe may be assembled and served as an appetizer with one crab per person, or as a main with two to three crabs per person. I can eat two and feel full if served with a filling starch or salad.

Consider gold rice middlins (photo below), also known locally in the Lowcountry of South Carolina as rice grits. Red rice would also be appropriate as would any type of French-fried potato or hushpuppy.

What to Drink with Stuffed Crab?

I’m skipping wine and jumping straight into beer first. To be specific, pilsners and lagers.

Why? A match made in gastronomic Heaven as they say…

Pilsners are super crisp and clean ales with floral notes that are a superlative matching to crab. Lagers have a much lower hop level than many other beers, making them more on the sweeter side than bitter. 

In terms of what I prefer to enjoy, I am a lager all the way, their crisp, clean flavor and pairing ability an unrivaled match to rich crab meat. In particular, and if you have time to shop for it, I recommend a lager born right here in South Carolina, now widely available across the US called Island Coastal Lager.

The maker adheres to the Reinheitsgebot, a German purity law that limits ingredients in beer to water, malted barley, yeast, and hops. So yeah, it’s the real deal and its quality is evident.

Now, as far as wines go, I am a diehard fan of the dry white recommendation I am about to impart. It is delicate, distinguished, and complex with notes of boxwood and grapefruit.

Best yet, it’s available widely in the US for right around $32 a bottle. Look for Chateau Montfollet Icone Blanc, chill it well, and savor. The French just do it right 🙂