Once you have caught yourself some blue crabs or even bought some live crabs from somewhere you can get them cooked. If you have bought crab meat or whole crab claws or crab legs at the store, typically this meat has already been cooked. Re-cooking it will possibly make it taste better, especially when you cook it in a recipe or something like that.

So to start out, get the largest pot you can find that will fit on your stove. The more crabs you can get into one pot will cut down on the number of cycles you have to do. Once you get it there and not quite full of water, then turn your burner on and wait for it to boil. I did not use any seasoning or “crab boil” with this, because we are going to make crab cakes. So we will be seasoning the crab cake mix. If you want to eat the crabs after you boil them, then maybe you could season the water now.

Putting the Crab in the Pot

1 – Once the water gets to a boil or real close to it, start putting the live crabs in the pot. A pair of tongs are ideal, since the crab pincers are still functional and very hungry for your fingers. Depending on your situation, if you have any crabs that have lost movement, get those crabs into the boiling water first. As you put the live crabs in, you will see the water rise. The water will continue to rise as it gets warmer, so be prepared to take water out if that happens.

2 – Once you have the pot full of as many crabs as will fit (and the water is boiling), then set a timer for 10 minutes. 10 minutes should be sufficient for most crabs. Large crabs, more time, and smaller crabs, less time. I would not cook any crabs for less than 8 minutes. Unless you just have an enormous amount and only a small pot, I would cook them more and not less. You DO NOT want to get sick from eating crab meat that is not cooked.

Trays of Cooked Blue Crabs

3 – Once the timer goes off, start removing the crabs and place on a tray so they can drain. A bowl might work too, but they are still the same size as when you put them in.

4 – After all the crabs have been cooked, they now need to be cleaned. This process will take up a whole other post.

 How to Clean Blue Crab for Crab Meat

Put the blue crabs in the fridge

5 – If you need some time in between cooking the crabs and cleaning the crabs, just put them in the refrigerator. Don’t let more than 24 hours pass though, because all the insides are still there. It may be better to process them halfway first, by just removing the top and the insides. Then they can be stored a little longer in the fridge.

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