Sweet, tender, and succulent wild-caught Alaskan crab in the shell is a delicious protein to use in a Chinese-style crab stir fry. Flavored with ginger, garlic, peppers, and salty-savory oyster sauce, this crab stir fry is a low-maintenance meal you can make on a moment’s notice — ready in under 20 minutes. Both Dungeness crab and snow crab are excellent options for this dish. Either way, have plenty of napkins on the table, because this crab stir-fry recipe is going to get saucy!
Chef's note: Snap-and-eat crab legs come in different lengths, depending on where they've been broken off at the joint. For this stir-fry recipe, you'll want to break your snap-and-eat crab legs down into manageable, stir-fry-able pieces. Snip them into 2- to 3-inch pieces with a set of kitchen shears, or crack the legs apart at their joints. You may also want to trim off any of tendons that become exposed while you're cracking the legs apart.
What Is Oyster Sauce?
A common ingredient in Chinese cuisine, oyster sauce is a typical addition to stir fries, like our recipe for a spot prawn noodle stir fry. It adds a savory, salty, and sweet layer of flavors to the dish, and has a saucy consistency that melds well with whatever ingredients you have in the pan. You can find oyster sauce at your local grocery store in the same aisle where you'd find soy sauce or hoisin sauce.
If you don't have oyster sauce in your kitchen now, you can also try substituing teriyaki sauce or hoisin sauce to acheive a similar saucy consistency to the dish — though the flavor profile will be different.
Pictured above: Snap and Eat Snow Crab
