This Crab Marinara is made with blue crabs, San Marzano peeled tomatoes, red pepper flakes, garlic, basil and served on pasta.
This is a delicious crab sauce on spaghetti that you can make for a nice warm summer day. Your local fish market will clean the crabs for you.
Blend the whole plum tomatoes into a puree with a blender or a food processor. Alternatively, you can squish them with your hands if you like your sauce on the chunkier side.
If you love this recipe, feel free to try my Lobster Bucatini and my Seafood Fra Diavolo.
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Ingredients
You'll only need a few simple ingredients to make this. The exact measurements are listed in the recipe card below. Here's an overview of what you'll need:
- Cleaned blue crabs
- 2 cans San Marzano Whole Tomatoes
- Red pepper flakes
- Basil
- Garlic
- Olive oil
- Pasta
See recipe card for Crab Marinara quantities.
Instructions
In a large stockpot or dutch oven on medium heat, add the oil and wait for it to shimmer. Add the garlic for 1 minute, stirring.
Pour in the tomato puree, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and let it simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the basil and the crabs and make sure the crabs are nestled in the sauce. Cover and cook for 2 hours.
When there is 15 minutes remaining on the crab cooking, cook your spaghetti or linguini. Garnish with more basil.
Hint: Make sure to buy the crabs cleaned. Ask your fishmonger to do it for you.
Substitutions
- Blue Crabs: The blue crabs must be cleaned.
- Garlic: The garlic can be fresh or garlic from a jar.
- Tomatoes: I used San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes and pureed them. Alternatively, I like to crush them with my hands and simmer. You can also buy 2 cans of pureed tomatoes as well.
- Red pepper flakes: Red pepper flakes make the dish spicy.
Variations
Cooking is a chance to be creative! Have fun with it and feel free to make your own variation.
- Spicy - add extra chili pepper flakes while cooking to imbue heat into the dish.
- Deluxe - top with extra parsley or parmesan cheese.
- Kid friendly - use fun sized pasta for this dish.
Check out my Spicy Mexican Crab Recipe.
Equipment
Equipment can have a big impact on how a recipe turns out. Stone bakeware takes longer to heat up than metal pans, and also retain heat for longer, which could make the recipe more watery, or burnt on the outsides.
I love using my Caraway pots, pans and baking sheets for best quality. Get yourself a discount by clicking here!
Storage
This will be good in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
These ingredients don't stand up well to freezing.
Top tip
Make sure the crabs are nestle int he sauce completely before covering.
Crab Marinara
- Total Time: 2 hours and 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
This Crab Marinara is made with blue crabs, San Marzano peeled tomatoes, red pepper flakes, garlic, basil and served on spaghetti or linguini.
Ingredients
- 8 blue crabs, cleaned
- 2 (28 oz each) cans of whole plum tomatoes (San Marzano peeled tomatoes are recommended)
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of pepper
- 1 tablespoon of red chili flakes (or less if you prefer less spicy)
- 4 basil leaves
- 4 cloves of garlic, smashed
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 lb of cooked spaghetti or linguini
Instructions
- Blend the whole plum tomatoes into a puree with a blender or a food processor. Alternatively, you can squish them with your hands if you like your sauce on the chunkier side.
- In a large stockpot or dutch oven on medium heat, add the oil and wait for it to shimmer. Add the garlic for 1 minute, stirring. Pour in the tomato puree, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and let it simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the basil and the crabs and make sure the crabs are nestled in the sauce. Cover and cook for 2 hours.
- When there is 15 minutes remaining on the crab cooking, cook your spaghetti or linguini.
- Garnish with more basil.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 Hours and 30 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 150.5
- Sugar: 10.7 g
- Sodium: 1,196.6 mg
- Fat: 4.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.2 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 21.5 g
- Fiber: 3.3 g
- Protein: 4.7 g
- Cholesterol: 1.9 mg
Food safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
Guiseppe Franco
This was just the way my Pops made it! I am so happy to have stumbled upon this recipe.
★★★★★
Maxine Dubois
I'm so glad to hear that! 🙂