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Old Bay Crab Salsa - grab a bag of cantina-style tortilla chips and dig in!  #dips #salsa #easyrecipe #crab

Old Bay Crab Salsa – grab a bag of cantina-style tortilla chips and dig in!

Old Bay Crab Salsa - grab a bag of cantina-style tortilla chips and dig in!  #dips #salsa #easyrecipe #crabI love salsa. I love tortilla chips. Those are my ‘guilty pleasures’*.

Until a few years ago I would even be happy with the crappy salsa you can pick up in the savory snack aisle – despite the gloopy texture, and lack of any discernible zing or freshness. I don’t have either very often (all. that. sodium), but I really enjoy both.

Old Bay Crab Salsa - grab a bag of cantina-style tortilla chips and dig in!  #dips #salsa #easyrecipe #crabOne of my favourite restaurants in early adulthood was a Mexican one near our closest mall in Tampa Florida, where we would flock in from about 20 miles away. As soon as you sat down the wait staff would offer a big basket of freshly fried tortilla chips to snack on while you perused the menu. My friends and I always knew what we wanted – cheese and bean burrito with guac and pico de gallo for me. But we hemmed and hawed so they would refill the tortilla basket while we “debated” what to get. I still remember the gorgeous masa harina flavour. A flavour that you don’t get much anymore. At least not here in the UK.

I think I loved the pico de gallo as much as the crunchy chips. Thick with fresh vegetables, and heavy with lime and jalapeños, we all loved this freshly made dip. I bet you like this style of salsa too.

Old Bay Crab Salsa - grab a bag of cantina-style tortilla chips and dig in!  #dips #salsa #easyrecipe #crabJust the other day I was at the supermarket shopping for work. No list for home; all work stuff. In a state of semi-hunger I fatefully walked past the fish counter on the way to the vegetables and saw dressed crabs. With a reduced sticker. The white meat looked so plump overtop the creamier, more strongly flavoured brown. Irresistible. I knew I was looking at lunch. And I immediately thought I would make what you see, crab salsa.

Actually it is more of a pico de gallo rather than a salsa, the latter being much more liquid and smooth. But I think our Google overlords prefer the word salsa. 😉

Making the Crab Salsa

Preparing the crab salsa is super easy. Chop the vegetables uniformly small, but not veering towards mush. You really want some texture: chopped enough to make comfortable eating and to aid scoopability for the all important tortilla chips.

dressed crabThe Crab – I bought a dressed crab which, if you don’t know, is all of the meat taken out of the crab and all bits of shell removed. It’s then packed back in the shell, brown meat on the bottom, and the more attractive white stuff on top. If you are lucky enough to get all white crab meat fairly cheaply that’s the best option. It’s often in little tubs. The brown meat is normally really quite strong, and isn’t my favourite. But happily in this instance the brown part didn’t intrude at all. If you must do it with tinned, go for it, but I’m not sure what they tastes like. Frozen and defrosted crab would be fine I’m sure.

Old Bay Crab Salsa - grab a bag of cantina-style tortilla chips and dig in!  #dips #salsa #easyrecipe #crabThe Seasoning – As the title tells you, I’ve used the seasoning blend Old Bay. I used this fab little spice blend in my recent Jackfruit “Crab Cakes” with Jalapeño Remoulade, and thought it would be an interesting change from the usual Mexican flavourings. The spices in this blend are not in the least bit hot – no chilli. Old Bay was invented just for crabs, so why not add it to this salsa? I’ve included gentle heat with homemade jalapeño pickles (see my Instagram for the recipe – these are far better than bought) but use chopped fresh jalapeño, or even some chilli flakes or powder as your heat source. Plenty of lime juice or lemon balances everything out nicely. Salt is optional – I added seaweed flakes initially but ended up sprinkling in a little salt.

Beyond Tortilla Chips – if you don’t fancy it with tortilla chips (?!), it is great mixed though hot pasta, scooped up with homemade pitta chips, in a grain or lettuce wrap. I bet it would be amazing in a soufflé, too. See below the recipe for even more ideas!

Nicely spiced jackfruit "crab cakes" with jalapeño remoulade are delicious in a bun, on a salad, or on their own for lunch or dinner. And they are much easier to make than you might think. #vegan #jackfruit #crabcakes #easyrecipe

yep, you can use jackfruit 🙂

Vegan Option? Really?

Well, it isn’t the same thing at all of course, but good old jackfruit would be a suitable swap, albeit one without much protein. But seeing as it is a snack that probably isn’t much an issue. White beans, very lightly mashed, would be a more protein forward call.

* Per fourth sentence: I don’t do guilty pleasures. And I hope you don’t do that either!

Old Bay Crab Salsa - grab a bag of cantina-style tortilla chips and dig in!  #dips #salsa #easyrecipe #crab

Old Bay Crab Salsa

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: very easy
  • Print

Mix it up, grab a bag of cantina-style tortilla chips and dig in! xx

250g (9 oz) crab meat, picked over and all bits of shell removed if necessary

4 plum/Roma tomatoes or heirloom tomatoes, cored and diced – keeping the juice if you wish

1/2 medium or small red onion, peeled and diced (I used 1/3 of a large one)

Small bunch cilantro/leaf coriander, chopped (chop stem very finely)

2 tbsp chopped pickled jalapeños and a bit of the juice

Juice of 1 lime

1 tbsp Old Bay seasoning OR 1/2 tsp ground cumin

Salt and pepper, as you desire

Method

Toss everything gently together and either cover tightly and refrigerate or serve right away. This will keep for about 24 hours.

Serving suggestions: with toast points, tortilla chips or pitta chips; wrapped in lettuce leaf or in Gem lettuce cups; on a larger leafy salad; in an avocado “boat”; tossed through hot or cold pasta or quinoa; folded into an omelette.

Vegan option: use jackfruit or beans in place of the crab meat.

**Remember to follow me on Pinterest and, if you make my Old Bay Crab (or Jackfruit!) Salsa, click on the pin below and leave a photo of your make with a comment telling me what you think, or any awesome changes that you made. Whether on Pinterest, InstagramFacebookTwitter or of course here on the blog, I love to see what you do with my recipes, and I welcome your comments, tweaks and suggestions.**

Follow my Facebook and Instagram accounts for extra, ultra-simple, complete recipes that don’t appear on the blog. 

RIPE FOR PINNING!

Old Bay Crab Salsa - grab a bag of cantina-style tortilla chips and dig in!  #dips #salsa #easyrecipe #crab

 

 

 

5 thoughts on “How To Make Old Bay Crab Salsa

  1. Another mouth watering recipe that’s healthy, to boot! I can’t wait to make this – perfect for summer. P.S. your pictures are just as yummy!

  2. Old bay seasoning and crab are two of my favorite things! Would love to try this recipe out!!

  3. Mr A says:

    Perfectly balanced and bursting with flavour.

  4. What a way to spice up salsa! I could just devour that whole bowl!! And I have never used that old bay seasoning before but it looks like it could work with a lot of things (:

  5. Oooh this is beyond delicious!. Funnily enough when I was down at Welch fishmonger at Newhaven yesterday I noticed a bag of crab meat and I almost bought it but didnt (as I had already accumulated rather a huge pile of yummy fish) but I think I will nip down later in the week to get some for this recipe. Lovely!

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