As we all know, crab is most definitely a delicacy and you probably rarely eat it. This could be because of its relatively high price when compared with other seafood options. Or, it could also be because of a lack of access to it.
But, what if we said, getting your hands on crab meat wasn’t so difficult? Instead of buying a whole crab, where you’ll have to do all the hard work of ripping off its shell just to get to the crab meat, why not opt for an option where all the hard work is done for you? That’s where canned crab meat comes into play.
In this review, we’ll show you seven of the best canned crab meat choices on the market today. Full of that savory crab flavor you love and are familiar with, canned crab meat is an excellent alternative to fresh crab meat. As well as being less expensive than the real thing, it is also much more accessible because there are so many different brands out there today!
Be sure to read all seven reviews of these canned crab meat options and stick around for the buying guide after. In that section, we’ll discuss what some of the most important considerations you need to think about before making your final decision. Let’s get started!Best Pick
The Crown Prince, Fancy White Lump Crab Meat is our top choice for canned crab meat because it gives off a great amount of crab meat and doesn’t contain any preservatives in the can, ensuring it is 100% safe and healthy to eat.
Budget Pick
Shopping on a budget? No problem! With the BUMBLE BEE Crab Meat, Fancy White, you can satisfy your crab meat cravings and do so while purchasing this for a very low price!
Quick Comparison: Top 7 Best Canned Crab Meat
The Crown Prince, Fancy White Lump Crab Meat is the best choice for best canned crab meats. If you’re particularly worried about the ingredients or if you’re more health-conscious, let this Crown Prince Lump Crab Meat, put your worries to rest.
This can of lump crab meat does not contain any preservatives, MSG, or sulfites. These ingredients are typically known to enhance, and often exaggerate the crab meat flavor, and they are not used in this Crown Prince can.
This crab meat is also processed and packed without the use of any bleaching materials and instead, it is packed in water. This is to help preserve the natural taste of the crab meat itself. This crab meat is caught off the waters of Thailand and are known to have a great and rich flavor.
Each can of this Crown Prince Lump Crab Meat contains 615mg of omega-3 for each serving. It is also a terrific source of protein as each serving with give you 17% of your daily protein intake requirements. Thus, if you’re looking for a tasty and very light protein source, this canned crab meat is a great option.
Many of you may also be wondering about its nutrition facts since it doesn’t contain any preservatives or MSG. This canned crab meat is a non-fat product as well meaning it contains 0% in both saturated and trans fats. It does have a hearty 19% of cholesterol to go along with 12% sodium content so if you think these figures are too high, be mindful of them.
With this Crown Prince White Lump Crab Meat, you’ll get 120g or 4.25oz of full-flavored crab meat. They recommend that each serving be 60g or roughly half the can of this crab meat. For people watching their calories, one serving of this canned crab meat contains approximately 40 calories. If you’re not eating the entire can when you open it, it’s best to keep it refrigerated so as to preserve its freshness and taste.
What we liked: we really enjoyed this canned crab meat because it was more geared towards health-conscious consumers. We found that this crab meat worked well on its own as the main protein in a meal but we also liked it in dips for our chips as well as in salads and in crab cakes.
What we didn’t like: the only issue we had with this crab meat is that since it didn’t use any preservatives to help preserve its full, natural flavor, and also to enhance the flavor, this crab meat is lacking in full flavor and for some people, it can often be flavorless. We found that by adding our own salt to it, the taste definitely improved.The BUMBLE BEE Crab Meat, Fancy White is another excellent choice for canned crab meats. This crab meat is especially tasty because of its texture. While some canned crab meats will contain big, heaping chunks of crab meat, this BUMBLE BEE Crab Meat is more flaky than chunky.
This canned crab meat is a fantastic choice because of its affordability and taste. People that love buying canned crab meat appreciate this BUMBLE BEE product because it offers a different texture to the crab meat. There are many fans of this flaky type of crab meat and this just may be the best choice for it.
Each can of this BUMBLE BEE White Crab Meat comes with 120g of this flaky white crab meat. Like many other canned crab meats, this one is also good for two servings and with each serving, it will contain about 60g, which is roughly the equivalent to one quarter of a cup. For those looking for the calories, this one has a net caloric intake of 45 calories, which includes 5 fat calories.
As for the nutritional values of this can of crab meat, you’re looking at 20% cholesterol, 11% sodium, and it also contains 1% of fat. For people on the keto diet, this canned crab meat is an excellent choice as the primary protein in your meal or even as a light snack. It is incredibly versatile and can be eaten in a number of different ways and as both the primary protein or as a complementary protein.
Many people in particular love using canned crab meat as a substitute for other canned fish, like sardines or salmon, and is much lighter to consume. It also comes at a very affordable price as well, which makes it very attractive to consumers that find it hard to purchase budget-friendly crab meat.
What we liked: we really enjoyed the flakiness of this crab meat. It made us feel less obligated to use it as the primary protein in our meals and instead, we used this crab meat more as a complementary protein in our dishes. For example, we used in our spinach and artichoke dip where those flavors really dominated but the flaky crab meat added a wonderful texture to our dip as well as an excellent source of protein.
What we didn’t like: the only problem we had with a flakier type of crab meat is that it’s often hard to gauge if you’re getting ripped off when you open the can. Since there is water in there to prevent the crab meat from going bad, it almost seems as if there is more water than crab meat because the crab meat is broken down into flakes. Thus, it may seem like you’re not getting a lot of crab meat from this can.
Chicken of the Sea is one of the more popular canned seafood brands and for good reason. They make excellent and tasty canned seafood products and their Lump Crab is no exception. It is remarkably delicious and full of natural and artificial flavor.
If you’ve purchased this Chicken of the Sea Lump Crab before and really enjoyed it, you definitely need to get this. This lump crab comes all the way from Vietnam and a pack comes with 12 cans of your favorite canned crab meat. Each can is 6 ounces in total weight and contains 120g of pure and fresh, lump crab meat.
People that have purchased this pack of 12 Lump Crab cans say that it offers tremendously much better value than if you were to just buy a single can on its own. They also say if you have a family or if you’re cooking for a large party, this pack of 12 cans is perfect for those purposes.
When not using this crab meat for large gatherings, many people also say it’s an outstanding choice for a mid-afternoon snack. It’s light, high in protein, and should be just enough food to hold you over until dinner. It also a great source for omega-3 and calcium too, so many different health benefits.
As for its nutritional content, for each can, you will get 17% of cholesterol, 13% sodium, and 1% of fat. Unlike some other canned crab meats however, this one does contain some Sodium Pyrophosphate, which is a salt additive and the purpose of this is to maintain the crab meats full flavor and firmness, so that it doesn’t disintegrate into a flakier crab meat texture.
What we liked: we really enjoyed the flavor of this canned crab meat as well as the recipes it offers on the back of the can. We tried the crab pesto pasta and it was absolutely delicious and something we have made more than once using this lump crab meat. We also very much enjoyed the price we purchased this pack of 12 cans for as you definitely get more bang for your buck.
What we didn’t like: something we didn’t like was that we noticed there wasn’t consistency in terms of the amount of crab meat in each can. For example, in two of the 12 cans, we noticed that there were significantly more crab shells than crab meat and it seemed like a big waste of two cans.
Another very popular Chicken of the Sea canned crab meat product is their White Crab. This one is different from their Lump Crab because the texture is more fine and flaky instead of bigger chunks of crab meat.
This is great canned crab meat choice if you’re looking for something not as substantial as lump crab meat and instead, are wanting something more shredded. This type of shredded crab meat is what you should expect when you purchase this and unfortunately, it’s not what everyone was expecting when they ordered this one.
A can of this Chicken of the Sea White Crab comes in 6 ounces that is made up of 113g of crab meat. Much like their Lump Crab, this one also comes in a pack of 12 cans, so you’re getting vastly superior value in purchasing more cans, especially if you prefer the flaky type of crab meat.
Like most canned crab meats, this one is also a great source of protein and is rich in omega-3 fatty acids for a better and healthier life. With these health benefits, you can snack on this white crab or use it in bulk for your meals.
In terms of its nutritional values, this White Crab can comes with 17% cholesterol, 13% sodium, and each serving size is the equivalent to about 30 calories. Much like their Lump Crab product, Chicken of the Sea uses an additive to help maintain its flavor as well as a preservative to help preserve its freshness.
As for its taste, many people say that it tastes a bit more mild in flavor yet on the sweeter (rather than saltier) side. However, as many people have pointed out, be sure not to drain the can of its excess fluid because they say much of the flavor is actually in this water. If you’re looking to make a crab meat or seafood soup, simply empty all of the can’s contents into your soup.
What we liked: we really enjoyed this flakier textured white crab meat as a supporting protein in our meals. Since it’s not full or substantial enough to be the main protein in any dish, it tasted great as an add-on flavor with our soups and dips, especially.
What we didn’t like: we, like many other people, definitely wish there was more substance to the crab meat. We weren’t expecting it to be this flaky because it was not advertised as so. However, we made the most of what we were given and used it effectively. However, people should know to not expect full and robust crab meat chunks with this one.
If you’re looking for heaping, giant chunks of crab meat, look no further than the Heron Point Jumbo Lump Crabmeat. It offers some of the largest chunks of crab meat coming in a can and people love it for this reason.
Juicy, tender, great-tasting lumps of crab meat are what you should expect when you open up a can of Heron Point Jumbo Lump Crabmeat. As the name suggests, these jumbo pieces of crab meat will probably be some of the biggest lumps of crab meat you will find in a can.
On top of being very large lumps, they also contain very little shells, which tend to often come in these canned crab meats. This leaves you with more crab meat to eat and less shells you need to fish out of your mouth.
This specific crab meat is taken specifically from the crab’s two fin muscles making it incredibly tender and easy to eat. After, Heron Point runs it through a vigorous cleaning process so that it is fully pasteurized and ready to be eaten right from the can or ready to serve on a plate or platter.
Many people who have purchased this Heron Point Crabmeat rave about its versatility. Lots of people say you can eat as a snack right out of the can, while some others say it tastes great as the star protein of your dish, such as crab cakes. A few other people have even used this jumbo crab meat in crab meat cocktails.
What we liked: of the many crab meats we have tried and tested, we really enjoyed the fact that this crab meat did a real fantastic job of maintaining its shape and size. Oftentimes, what can happen once these chunks of crab meat are in the jar is that they can separate and become stringy or flaky, however, that was not the case with this one. Eating it was a delight since they were still in their very large sized shape!
What we didn’t like: the only thing we didn’t really like is that when you open the can, it does have a very pungent and fishy smell to it. If you don’t mind this and aren’t offput by this, then it really shouldn’t be an issue for you.
The Premium Lump Crab Meat is another wonderful option for crab-eaters that prefer larger crab chunks. This Premium Lump Crab Meat is steamed from live crabs in Southeast Asia and this helps to enhance both the texture and flavor of the crab meat.
Perhaps, the best thing about this Premium Lump Crab Meat is that they use a special black light that helps to inspect the contents in this can and removes the shell. Thus, the end result is delicious and large crab meat that contains no shells.
Another great quality about this crab meat is the sheer volume of crab meat you get when you buy a can. Each can comes with a hefty one pound of crab meat! To put that into greater perspective, each can comes with a fantastic eight amount of servings. When you compare that with the Crown Prince and BUMBLE BEE crab meat cans, those only offer two servings per can.
Each serving size is roughly 57g of crab meat and contains about 45 calories. Each can also contain less salt as evidenced by its sodium figure which is only 9%.
People who have purchased this Premium Lump Crab Meat rave about its adaptability in that it can be used in just about any dish. Its chunks are large enough where it can shine on its own dish or as a featured protein, like in crab cakes. If you want to take your cooking to the next level, they also suggest and provide a recipe to make crab-stuffed mushrooms, which is excellent.
What we liked: the biggest thing we liked about this crab meat option is by far, the amount of crab meat you get in a single can. It’s incredibly impressive how much crab meat is stuffed into one can and each can will usually last you a few meals, depending on how many people you’re cooking for. We also liked that each can is good for up to 18 months, after you use and refrigerate it.
What we didn’t like: as much as we enjoyed the meatiness of this crab, the price was the biggest turn off. Each can is very expensive and we would have preferred the price to be much lower or for there to be two cans offered in a pack at the price that we paid for this.
Last on our list of the best canned crab meat is the Handy Pelagicus Jumbo Lump Pasteurized Crab Meat. Much like the previous canned crab meat, the Pelagicus also sell crab meats in one pound cans with the only exception being that this comes in a pack of 6 cans. Each can is pasteurized meaning the crab meat has been properly washed so that it can be eaten the moment you open up a can.
Within each can, you can expect anywhere between 55 to 75 pieces of crab meat, as it also says so on the can. These pieces tend to be very big and full of flavor. Many people have complimented this brand for their ability to exclude shells from their cans. This makes for a more enjoyable eating experience and peace of mind knowing that your crab meat doesn’t contain those pesky shells.
Another interesting fact about this crab meat is that it comes imported all the way from India. You wouldn’t think of India as a seafood or crab meat exporter but this can proves otherwise as the crab meat is sumptuous and full of substance.
Each can comes ready for eight servings with each serving containing 50 calories. It features less cholesterol and sodium contents than other canned crab meat options as it only features 18% cholesterol with 7% sodium contents. It is high in protein and also has 2% of fat.
Eating this Handy Pelagicus Jumbo Lump Pasteurized needs to be done fairly quickly after opening each can. While they need to be refrigerated after opening, just be wary that they tend to have a shorter life span and the rest of each opened can needs to be eaten more quickly.
What we liked: we’re really big fans of the jumbo lump crab meat which we find is more full of flavor and substance. We also love the texture of this crab meat as when we ate it, it still kept its full shape in our mouths and didn’t fall apart. Overall, a very well textured and light flavored crab meat.
What we didn’t like: despite it coming in a pack of 6 cans, the price of this crab meat is still way too high for our liking. However, if you enjoy this particular brand, it is much cheaper on a cost per can basis than the Premium Lump Crab Meat. Both options come in a one pound can.Things to Consider Before Buying Best Canned Crab Meat
As we talked about in our introduction, accessibility to crab meat can often be a big challenge, depending on where you live. Since it’s seafood, it also can be a very expensive option as well. However, the existence of canned crab meat wipes away those challenges. But, before you go out and buy some canned crab meat, it’s best to consider a few important things.
These considerations are important and should be something every canned crab meat eater thinks about when buying it. Not all canned crab meats are the same and it’s important to highlight this reality as some people have purchased canned crab meats that completely failed their expectations. So, before you purchase one you don’t end up liking, take a look at our top considerations.
Different Types of Crab Meat
There are a few different types of canned crab meat and understanding the slight differences between them will help you tremendously.
Many of the canned crab meat options we explored are either lump crab meat or white crab meat. White crab meat tends to include both big and small chunks of crab meat and tend to be much more stringy or flaky. They may come in chunks but these chunks aren’t tight and more substantial.
Lump crab meat and for some, jumbo lump crab meat, are more high-end crab meat. They usually go through a more rigorous cleaning and sanitization process so that the crab is safe to eat out of the can and still tasty. This type of crab meat is definitely more on the chunkier side and brands that offer this type of crab meat also will usually put in the extra effort of ensuring all the shells are removed from the crab meat. Since there is much more detail and work that goes into these cans, they tend to be more expensive than white crab meat.
What It Can Be Used For
If you generally don’t tend to eat crab meat, it might be helpful to know that crap meat is incredibly versatile in the number of dishes it can be used in. You can use canned crab meat to be the star protein of your dish but it also can play a backup role in your dish. Some of the more popular dishes with which you can use canned crab meat for are crap cakes, crap soup or bisque, in a salad, or even in a dipping sauce. There really is no shortage of recipes you can find that use crab meat in it and they all end up tasting great.
Price and Value
In a nutshell, seafood is generally expensive when compared with other foods. The same can be said for some, but not all, canned crab meat options. Some canned crab meats like white crab meat, tend to come in smaller cans and because of this, they are much cheaper in price. When you compare that to larger crab meats like the jumbo lump crab meat, these can be much more expensive because you are getting substantially more meaty pieces of crab meat.
Some crab meats also come in packs and with various numbers of cans. While it may seem like you’re getting more value by a pack of cans than when you only buy a single can, the best advice we can give is to make sure you have tried that particular can before. We’ve seen too many stories of people ordering these large packs of 12 cans only to be completely disappointed to find out it’s not the type of canned crab meat they were looking for.
Final Thought
Crab meat is a wonderful and tasty delicacy to have, yet for many people, it may be hard to get access to it. However, with the best canned crab meats, that will no longer be the case. Now, you can have access to fresh and delicious crab meat. If you’re looking for a particular type of crab meat, you’ll be happy to know that there are a variety of them out there for you to find and order.
Whether you want an extra dinner option or if you’re looking to impress your guests, canned crab meat is as close as you’ll get to fresh crab meat and they taste just as good too!
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