Great deli-like salad. Our family never seems to get tired of it! You may use low-fat sour cream and mayonnaise if you wish. Serve on lettuce leaves with tomato wedges for a garnish.
The first crab salad I remember having was from The Sizzler--probably 15 years ago. I thought it was great. Not fine dining, but it was worth going to the Sizzler to get that crab salad. Since then, I've had crab salad in restaurants many times, especially buffets. Having learned to cook--at least half-way competently and therefore unafraid to try new recipes--I've been carrying the crab salad idea around in my brain for a few weeks. To scratch the itch, I finally gave it a try. WOW! This is great stuff. It has more of a tangy zing than any other crab salad I've tried, including at The Sizzler. I would NOT omit the Italian dressing; That's what gives it the "zing," though you may wish to reduce the amount. I used what I had, 1/3 cup Italian dressing and the rest Italian Pesto dressing. To get it ready for the steak and potatoes meal we had last night, I popped it in the freezer for 30 minutes. That provided the salad with a chill that was just about right. As another reviewer suggested, I used 1 1/2 pounds of crab meat. Too, I wasn't real stingy with the green pepper, red onion, or celery, adding slightly more than that called for in the recipe. Using more of these ingredients than called for prevented any "soupiness." The consistency was absolutely perfect. This will go into my regular rotation of recipes. Excellent!
Read MoreThis recipe was OK for me, although I think others might find it very good. I thought it was too tangy for my taste. It makes A LOT of dressing, so I ended up using 2 lbs. of imitation crabmeat to make use of all the dressing, and even then the salad was still a little soupy.
Read MoreThe first crab salad I remember having was from The Sizzler--probably 15 years ago. I thought it was great. Not fine dining, but it was worth going to the Sizzler to get that crab salad. Since then, I've had crab salad in restaurants many times, especially buffets. Having learned to cook--at least half-way competently and therefore unafraid to try new recipes--I've been carrying the crab salad idea around in my brain for a few weeks. To scratch the itch, I finally gave it a try. WOW! This is great stuff. It has more of a tangy zing than any other crab salad I've tried, including at The Sizzler. I would NOT omit the Italian dressing; That's what gives it the "zing," though you may wish to reduce the amount. I used what I had, 1/3 cup Italian dressing and the rest Italian Pesto dressing. To get it ready for the steak and potatoes meal we had last night, I popped it in the freezer for 30 minutes. That provided the salad with a chill that was just about right. As another reviewer suggested, I used 1 1/2 pounds of crab meat. Too, I wasn't real stingy with the green pepper, red onion, or celery, adding slightly more than that called for in the recipe. Using more of these ingredients than called for prevented any "soupiness." The consistency was absolutely perfect. This will go into my regular rotation of recipes. Excellent!
This recipe was OK for me, although I think others might find it very good. I thought it was too tangy for my taste. It makes A LOT of dressing, so I ended up using 2 lbs. of imitation crabmeat to make use of all the dressing, and even then the salad was still a little soupy.
This is very good, but seemed to have a lot of dressing for my taste. I did cut the recipe in half, so I might have accidentally used a whole amount for some of the dressing ingredients. I'll just watch this the next time I make the salad. UPDATE 6/12/03: Just made again and used the full recipe. I still do think this is too much dressing for my taste - it is almost soupy and the dressing flavor overpowers the rest of the ingredients. Will try to make two-thirds of the full recipe (of dressing) next time.
I read the review saying the dressing was too soupy, so I used 2 teaspoons of Italian Dressing SEASONING MIX instead of the 2/3 cup dressing called for and it was perfect! Served it on top of hot dog buns.
After reading all the reviews, and needing to double the recipe for a chuch social, I used 2 lbs. of imitation crab meat, doubled the seasonings and veggies, but kept the dressing as is. I also added about a tablespoon of Old Bay seasoning, (a necessary ingredient in any crab dish served in MD.) This was a hit. All of it was eaten, although I think my husband ate most of it!
Good, but too much sauce and a bit too tangy. I'm used to the sweeter crabmeat salads. I added a 1/4 tsp. of splenda to take away some of that tang. Next time, I'll just cut back on the Italian dressing.
Love!Love!Love! This recipe was, is, and will be a huge hit with friends and family. I've made this salad twice now for pot lucks and i have gone home empty handed. The only thing i added was 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese to the dressing. This one is going in the handwritten recipe book. Thank You
We enjoyed this recipe very much, reduced the lemon juice to 1 tbsp. and used fat free mayo, dressing, and sour cream -- still delicious.
I served the crab salad on toasted hoagie rolls- absolutely delicious! I ran out of sour cream, so I obmitted it but it still turned out great
This was soooo easy to make! I loved it plain and my husband would make a sandwich for lunch with it. It's the first "fancy" thing I've made that he couldn't get enough of!
The recipe was quick and easy to make. The flavour was wonderful. My husband who is very picky and does not like any type of seafood enjoyed this salad very much.
I did an extreme makeover to this recipe. It had nothing to do with this recipe, but the ingredients I had on hand and wanted to use. I am happy to say it received many rave reviews so I thought I would share it with you. First I used a 20 ounce package of three cheese tortellini, one 7 ounce container of Pico De Gallo, no red onion, no green pepper, no diced celery. I used diced cucumber, the imitation crab, I used the sour cream and mayo, cut the Italian-style salad dressing down to 1/3 cup, used only 1 T. lemon juice and did not use the oregano. I did use seasoning salt and pepper. I was suprised at how good the dressing mixture blended with the tortellini and crab. Will definitely make again. I am sure this recipe would be awesome as originally written.
We definitely enjoyed this. I was leary of using the Italian salad dressing. After reading other reviews I only used 1/3 C. Not being the biggest Oregano fan I was leary of that, too. But it all went together so well. I also started off with just 1 C of mayo and left it at that. Even though I altered it a tad I'm still giving it 5 stars!
this is really good! I reduced the mayo to 1 cup and the Italian dressing to 1/2 cup, as other reviewers said it was a bit soup-y. (NOTE to SELF: dice celery, green pepper, & onion REALLY FINE!) And I added celery seed & Old Bay Seasoning. Tasted like deli-style crab salad. Thanks, DThomrn, for good recipe!
This is the best! Thanks for sharing. The only think I changed was celery. I didn't want to take away from the crab flavor. Going to serve this one for the 4th of July!
i made this once using 2 packs of crab delights flake style and it was way too much dressing.so much that all i tasted was the dressing.i made it today with 4 packages of crab delights, following the directions, only a smidge more veggies cuz i knew i was going to be using double the amount of crab.it turned out perfect.soooo good! my daughter is a subway seafood salad sub fiend and this is waaaay better.the best krab with a k salad i've ever made.
I'm not sure what happened here...perhaps the salad dressing was too strong...but, we didn't like this at all even after adding some cooked pasta to it to make it more of a pasta salad.
I had some crabmeat to use up, so I thought I'd try this. YUMMY! I took other reviewer's advice and cut down on the mayo (actually ran out of mayo and had to add a little Miracle Whip) and used 1/2 packet of dry Italian Dressing Mix. I initially served it with crackers for an appetizer and used the leftovers for crab salad sandwiches the next day. Very versatile!
This is a great recipe. I followed the first reviewers advice to cut back on the Italian dressing. The result is a perfectly tangy salad. I did not have a problem with it being watery. I do however recommend making this a day ahead so the flavors blend well overnight.
Because I did not have a full pound of imitation crab, I scaled the recipe down so that I had about 3/4 the amout of the other chunk ingredients. Based on other reviews, I used only 1/3c Italian Seasoning, as well as using small amounts of the dressing ingredients, working my way up until I liked the constistency. Had I followed the recipe to a T, I am sure the dressing would've been much too soupy so I'm glad I made those changes! I brought the chilled dish to a potluck and it was enjoyed by many, excepting one comment that it was "too onion-y", that is just a single opinion though! I would make this again if I come across more imitation crab meat in my kitchen!
This was very easy to make, and my husband loved it. I sprinkled half a package of italian dressing on it cause I didn't have any regular dressing. It was a big hit. Really good on crackers.
I found the dressing to be too much and too thin, so I halved the dressing. Keeping full quantity of onion, capsicum and celery, I also halved the imitation crabmeat and made it of 50/50 with cooked prawns adding a sprinkle of capers over the top. As the recipe is written I give it three stars, but with my tweaking I now give it five, so thank you for the basis.
added cyenne pepper for a little kick other than that was very good (we like ours a little juicy)
The combination of ingredients is very good. I tweaked the ratio of the mayo, italian and sour cream and cut the total amount down by 1/2.
Forget the Italian-style salad dressing. It completely takes away the "crab" taste. All I can taste is Italian dressing. As for the sauce it is too much for the amount of vegetable/crab mixture. This is definitely NOT a copy of Sizzler's Crab Salad. I guess I will have to find new ways of using up the concoction I just made.
This is very similar to something i was already making, essentially my tuna salad recipe with imitation crabmeat substituted. Based on some earlier reviews, I used Italian dressing seasoning (dry) instead of liquid to keep it from getting too soupy and I'm glad I did. I also like the addition of sour cream, it adds a nice little zip. I add a little garlic powder, too. All in all, a good recipe, especially if you've never used imitation crabmeat before.
I thought this was really good. It does make too much dressing and I cut the dressing amount in half! I substituted one green onion for the red onion and one red pepper for the green since that is what I had. Made the salad very pretty and tasty. Also added some shell pasta to absorb some of the sauce and make it more of a seafood pasta. Next time will add some salad shrimp also. Was very tasty- just add the dressing slowly to taste so you don't end up with too much.
Good recipe! I did read the reviews before so I decided to only use 1/2 cup of salad dressing. I used the salad as a fill for wraps and topped it with spinach and tomato slices. It was great to pack in a lunch.
I like this salad. But since I'm watching my fat intake I used miracle whip instead of mayonaise and only 4 Tbsp., 2 Tbsp. of lite sour cream and 4 Tbsp. of Light Italian Dressing. Came out great. It does look too soupy in the photo.
I thought this recipe was good... I took the advice of some other ratings and cut down on the dressing and sour cream. I seasoned it with onion powder and garlic powder. I think I would do witout the lemon juice next time, since the thought of lemon juice and sour cream together grossed me out a little!!!
Great recipe, however it was a bit watery/liquid. I'd recommend halving the wet ingredients, or doubling the dry (crab, bell pepper, onion & celery). Also, if you can find it, I recommend precooked crab meat over the imitation crab used, tastes much better.
I serve this as an appetizer (with Triscuits) for friends that came to dinner. They loved it - ate it till it was gone!
Just as most other reviewers advised ; cut down the Italian dressing to 1/3 cup to avoid too much liquid. I also added 1 LB diced cooked shrimp & served in Pita pockets. Top with lettuce , tomato , pickles, shredded cheese or whatever you want to stuff in those pockets with this & you have a great meal.
Very good salad, we aren't big fans of mayo, so I just used sour cream, I just put in what looked to be the right ratio. It turned out great, thank you for sharing this recipe!
I used less Italian dressing than asked for because of comments in the reviews. Turned out really well. Was even better after sitting for a day in the fridge. I'll definitely make this again. Four stars because I changed the recipe a bit. I save five stars for results after doing the recipe exactly as is. Thanks for this one.
Please use caution with imitation crab meat if you are gluten free. Most imitation crab meat has wheat in it. I used real crab meat and it was wonderful!
Absolutely great !!
This was mostly average for me. Don't get me wrong. I certainly ate my share! But I thought there was too much dressing for the amount of crabmeat called for. I could hardly taste the crabmeat! I thawed some cocktail shrimp and threw that in to help with the dressing-to-seafood ratio. That helped. If I make this again (I think it was good enough to give it another go), I think I'll increase the amount of crabmeat by about 50%.
I put the Italian dressing and sour cream in and couldn't put any mayo because the salad was swimming already. It was drenched! I strained it and just put a spoonful of mayo in. It was too tangy though. Next time I would just put a splash of dressing and a spoon of sour cream. One pound of meat is nowhere near enough for over 2 cups of dressing!! It was enough for 5lb at least!
Really good, but I made a couple of changes. I used low fat plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. Used green onions, and cut back on the mayo. Nice and tangy.
We needed to finish about 3/4 of a pound of krab before it went bad, so I gave this a try. I used the given amount of celery, about 1/4 cup of finely diced yellow onion, and I substituted about 3/4 of a cup of frozen peas, thawed, for the pepper. I cut the dressing amounts in half. It made it perfect, not at all soupy. My husband likened this salad to a coleslaw without the cabbage (he hates coleslaw, but loved this!). Even I thought it was good, and I don't like seafood! Thanks for the recipe, Diana!
after reading other reviews I decided to cut down on the ingredents. I used 3/4 cup mayo and ommited italian dressing and substitutted the envelope style dressing. I added about half, but add acording to your taste a little at a time. This solve the "soupy issue". Flavor with out the liquid! I also added a bit of Cayenne pepper for some kick. I mixed in 1 1/2 lbs crab meat instead, and there was still plenty of dressing. Seemed to be more sandwich material than just eating in straight.
I liked this recipe, except it was pretty saucy. I would cut all the liquids in half the next time around
yes yes yes! I mixed this with bow tie pasta and wow wow wow! It is the most requested recipe hounded by relatives. oh boy oh boy oh boy!
This was not bad but, I am still looking for something like the salad I get at the deli of the grocery store. The Ilalian dressing added an interesting flavor, it took some getting used to...I will try some of the other recipes before making this one again.
This by far is a great tasting recipe. I sometimes cook for about 25 patients that have Alzheimer's and Dementia and not many know their taste pallet is pretty much non existing. I made for them yesterday and let me tell you nothing was left on their plate. All you could hear was "Mmm, this is so good" I even had to do a taste test to make sure it stood up to my standers and they were Right. It was very good!
Good recipe. I took the others advice of reducing the mayo (I used 3 Tbsp for a half recipe)and sprinkled part of a package of italian dressing mix. It was still wasn't thick, but it tasted great.
Good recipe. I used yogurt instead of sour cream because thats what I had, and used green onions for the same reason. Over all it turned out quite "onion-y" and smelled up the entire fridge until it was finished, but it was tasty, and even satisfied a picky husband for several days of sandwices!
This one''s too good to pass up.... but don't follow the recipe! ... Not exactly, anyway. I've made this several times now, and I'm convinced that the author neglected to mention that the recipe as written will provide enough dressing for at least two batches! But even so, the dressing is a little too sloppy for my taste. Here is my suggestion for whipping up a single batch of tangy, tasty dressing: 3/4 C mayonnaise, 1/4 C sour cream, 1/2 envelope dry Italian dressing mix, 1.5 T lemon juice, 1.5 t Old Bay Season, 1/2 t dried oregano. Mix all of this up separately, and fold into the other ingredients until desired consistency is achieved. Even with this modification, I end up with slightly more dressing than I need.
I would have given this 5 starts, it totally deserves it but for one step I feel is missing. I personally do not like soupy salad, so I squeeze-dried the crab meat before adding it to the vegetables in step one. Other than that little step, I followed the recipe and it was amazing!
I am going to try this and pack it into cucumber rounds as a yummy hors doeuvre...I hope it's a hit, I may tone down the dressing just a bit.
I made this without the sour cream and 1/2 Cup of the Mayo -- I did use 1 Cup. I used a dry envelope Italian Dressing -- all the rest was the same. It made it WW Freestyle friendly for me at 5 points per 1/2 cup. It is delicious and I highly recommend it for anyone who love Imitation Crab or White Pollock.
I did think it was like that deli made kind. I love that bit of tang from the Italian dressing. Everyone has raved about it so far. But, I have tried variations on some of the ingredients and it didn't work. It's good just the way it is!
I omitted the onion, pepper and sour cream because I needed to use imitation crab I had on hand and those I didn't have. I made much less dressing than called for, which worked out perfectly. Too much dressing is always what I don't like about pretty much every crab salad I've bought! Overall, simple ingredients and an easy recipe.
This was good but a little too rich for me. It made way too much dressing. I did not eat it over lettuce, so maybe if I try it with that it might cut down the dressing. When I make it again, I will cut the dressing recipe down a little.
It was good, and easy to make but was missing something compared to past salad that I have had.
I just rated this a three, and explained why. It just occurred to me I took someone’s advice and used dry Italian seasoning instead of what was suggested, so there was not too much dressing. But for me it was still not very flavorful using imitation crab, so next time I will use real chunk crabmeat. Crab has a delicate flavor, so we’ll see.
I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of Italian salad dressing to use.the oil kind or the creamy kind.so I went with the oil one.
Too oily with all of the mayonnaise and salad dressing. For the "dressing" , I used 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon of Good Seasons dry Italian Salad Dressing mix. I mixed it all together then added the rest. Delicious. And a lot less oily.
After reading the reviews I decided to half the liquids and it worked out just right. I don't think it needs the salad dressing. This is a mayonnaise dish.
This is truly on par with bought or restaurant deli salads. I love that I can now have "salad bar" crab salad anytime I want. I adjusted to my own tastes, leaving out the celery, adding more "crab" meat and less mayo thus making it a little lighter/dryer. It has a great flavor!
This recipe rocks!!! I did not put Italian dressing in it, but followed the rest of the recipe, it was not too tangy at all.
I made this recipe exactly as written and it was very good. However, it has a lot of calories so I'm going to try with light or lower fat versions of ingredients. I hope it still tastes as good. It was a big hit.
Very good recipe. I’ll use this one again. I must admit though I messed up & accidentally used Ranch dressing instead of Italian but it tasted fine. I also only used about 3/4 cup of Mayo in mine. Everyone loved it. Thanks for the recipe!
After a quick read of the recipe, I did cut down on the mayo and Italian dressing, tossed in a handful of frozen peas and refrigerated overnight. It was very good.
This was so simple and the yummiest! I followed the recipe, however, I saw the reviews said a lot of dressing was made. So, after all the ingredient were added, I slowly added the mayo and sour cream to desired thickness. I also had a tad bit of white sugar instead of lemon juice. So good!
Our family favorite crab salad. I added half of the Real crab meet to the salad. Tastes even better. Seedles cucumber can be added as well, or substituted for celery.
5 stars! quick and tasteful. Goes great with crackers or alone! But i do recommend cutting the mayo and sour cream in half.
