Instant Pot Crab Legs

The Instant Pot turns intimidating crab legs into an easy and delicious seafood dinner in less than 5 minutes. Served with an Old Bay butter sauce, this low carb, keto-friendly dish will become your go-to crab leg method for celebrations and weeknight meals alike.

What Makes This Recipe So Good

• Crab legs are unbelievably incredible, but then you factor in the Instant Pot? Watch out! This method gives you perfectly cooked crab legs in less than 10 minutes. Pair it with the deliciously flavorful Old Bay butter sauce recipe we included and you’ve got an amazing seafood dinner in no time at all.

Chef’s Tips

• This method works for both fresh and frozen crab legs! No need to thaw the frozen ones, either. Just pop them straight in the Instant Pot and follow the instructions as written!
• You can cook any type of crab legs in the Instant Pot. Snow crab legs are typically cheaper than King Crab legs since they’re smaller, and they cook faster, too. If you’re using King Crab legs, you’ll want to set the Instant Pot to 5 minutes instead of 2.
• Highly, highly, highly recommend picking up a crab cracker tool to help you get the meat out of the shells. You can use a knife or kitchen scissors, but the cracker just makes things a little easier.
• If you don’t want your house to smell like seafood, be sure to take out the trash as soon as you’re done enjoying the crab legs. That way the shells don’t hang out in the kitchen too long! You can take things one step further and put your Instant Pot in the garage or outside while it cooks, too, so you’re not releasing the steam in the house.
• For more flavor in the crab legs themselves, use seafood stock in the bottom of the Instant Pot, rather than just plain water. You can also add Old Bay or crab boil seasoning to the water or stock. Whichever you choose, the flavors will incorporate with the crab legs through the steam in the pressure cooker, giving them a little something extra that’s not overwhelming or spicy.

More Instant Pot Recipes You’ll Love

• Instant Pot Cheesy Potatoes
• Instant Pot Paella
• Beer-Infused Instant Pot Brats
• Instant Pot Clam Chowder
• Instant Pot Chicken Breast

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5 from 1 vote

Instant Pot Crab Legs

Prep: 15 minutes minutes

Cook: 5 minutes minutes

Total: 20 minutes minutes

Ready to eat in less than 15 minutes, these Instant Pot crab legs and Old Bay butter sauce will become your new favorite dinner.

Cheryl Malik

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4 servings

Ingredients

For the Crab Legs

• ▢ 4 snow crab leg clusters see Notes
• ▢ 1 cup water

For the Butter Sauce

• ▢ ⅓ cup unsalted butter
• ▢ ½ teaspoon minced garlic
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
• ▢ ½-1 tablespoon lemon juice to taste

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Equipment

• Instant Pot
• trivet for Instant Pot
• Small saucepan
• whisk

Instructions 

For the Crab Legs

• Pour 1 cup water into Instant Pot, then fit trivet into pot and place all 4 crab leg clusters on trivet.
  
• Secure lid on Instant Pot with vent in Sealing position. Set to Manual High Pressure for 2 minutes.
• Once cook time is finished, carefully Quick Release steam and remove lid. Serve immediately with butter sauce (below) or just melted butter.

For the Butter Sauce

• Heat small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add butter to saucepan and melt fully. Once butter begins to simmer, remove saucepan from heat. Whisk in minced garlic, Old Bay seasoning, and lemon juice to taste.
  

Notes

• For King Crab legs, cook on Manual High Pressure for 5 minutes.
• Make it Dairy Free: Use a dairy-free butter.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 228kcal | Protein: 23g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Total Carbs: 1g | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Net Carbs: 0g | Vitamin C: 1mg | Cholesterol: 108mg | Sodium: 770mg | Potassium: 11mg | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 1mg

Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.

 

Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.

 

To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.

© Author: Cheryl Malik