Dungeness crab meat is sweet, salty and succulent, with a meaty texture that makes it hearty enough to enjoy straight out of the shell. While melted butter is always a delicious dip for the crab meat, steamed Dungeness can be enjoyed with a dynamic range of sauces and flavors — you'll never get bored with a good selection of dips.
Here are 10 different sauces that you’ll want to try out for easy meals and festive gatherings:
Sweet Cajun Butter
This zippy and sweet Cajun butter is reminiscent of a crab boil, but with all of the flavors melted down into a luxurious dipping sauce.
Garlic-Herb Buttermilk Dip
Garlic-herb buttermilk dip is a tangy, mayo-based sauce for crab legs. It’s blended with jalapeno and herbs into a creamy, pastel green dip that perfectly complements sweet, briny crab meat.
Tartar sauce
Tartar sauce is a classic accompaniment to Dungeness crab legs. While many of us may have grown accustomed to buying tartar sauce in a jar, this is one of those sauces that’s so easy to make at home that you’ll never want to buy a store bought jar again. Inspired Taste’s straightforward recipe for tartar sauce is made with pickles, capers, mayo, dill, and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Remoulade
Remoulade is New Orleans's answer to tartar sauce. It's zesty with a little kick, and goes with just about any type of seafood you can imagine. Remoulade is also very easy to make, requiring minimal chopping and very little active prep.
Cocktail Sauce
A tangy cocktail sauce goes great with chilled crabmeat, cracked straight out of the shell. Try using this easy, 3-ingredient sauce from a recipe for cocktail spot prawns — and consider serving both varieties of shellfish together for your next gathering.
Green Cocktail Sauce
As an alternative, you can use tomatillos rather than ketchup as the base of your cocktail sauce for the green version that you can find at the bottom of this recipe from Food Network. If you are substituting prepared horseradish for this sauce, hold off on the rice wine vinegar and just add enough to taste.
Clarified Butter
Clarified butter, also known as drawn butter, melts better than regular butter as the milk solids have been strained out. It’s very easy to make and goes so nicely with sweet, succulent crab meat. Make yourself a big batch, then keep the remainder refrigerated or frozen for an extended period of time.
Meyer Lemon Aioli
The mellow citrusy flavor of Meyer lemon juice is the perfect foil to a homemade Meyer lemon aioli, adding a hint of brightness and sweetness to this aioli recipe from Food and Wine Magazine.
Curried Yogurt Dip
Thick, greek-style yogurt is an easy base for a healthy dip — and it’s as simple as adding in a tablespoon or so of your favorite curry powder, as suggested by this recipe for curried yogurt from Real Simple.
Diablo Sauce
This tomato-chili diablo sauce from Saveur is more than a spicy marinara dip. Made with a mix of spices and chilis, the smokiness and heat of this sauce contrasts nicely with the sweetness of Dungeness crab meat.
