Crab deviled eggs and I have some history together. I first had them at a party in college, decades ago, made with blue crabs from Long Island. As I ate one after another, I quickly realized that a) they’re damn tasty, and b) it is a perfect vehicle for crabmeat.
After all, most crabmeat will flake into fine fibers, which can be limiting as a cook — stringy filaments everywhere may taste fine, but they’re not pretty.
Mixing crab with egg yolks, mayo, herbs and spices masks all that, and makes the filling of your deviled eggs more interesting.
Over the years I’d made crab deviled eggs every which way, but settled on a sort of Chesapeake style, using Old Bay seasoning, the requisite mayo and mustard, minced shallot or green onion, lots of crabmeat, and hits of parsley or chives, hot sauce and lemon juice as needed. Basically this is an eggy crab salad packed into egg whites.
If you think of it in this way, you can vary your filling to suit your tastes. Any version will have crabmeat, egg yolk and some binder — mayonnaise, aioli, Miracle Whip or what have you. Spices are up to you, as is the presence or absence of mustard. I want some in there for acidity and punch.
You could do a cool Japanese version with Kewpie mayo, togarashi and ponzu sauce. Or a German one with mayo, German mustard and horseradish. And if you don’t have Old Bay, Cajun or Creole seasoning, or something similar, will do fine. Catch my drift?
Any sort of crabmeat will work here. I use Dungeness, and either that or blue crab will be best, although if you really wanted to you could use snow or even king crab. Jonah, peekeytoe, stone crabs or calico crabs are other good choices.
It would be hard to sub in any other seafood because here you want that fall-apart texture. Better to go the fish route with something like my smoked salmon deviled eggs.
Once made, crab deviled eggs last exactly 13 seconds in my house. In yours, they may last up to a day in the fridge.
Crab Deviled Eggs
Ingredients
- 8 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half lengthwise
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning, plus more for garnish
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon mustard, brown or Dijon
- 2 tablespoons minced parsley
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce of your choice
- Zest and juice of a lemon
- 5 ounces crabmeat
Instructions
- Mix the egg yolks with all the ingredients except the crabmeat, then fold in the crabmeat. Pack the mixture into the indentations of the egg whites, dust with more Old Bay and maybe some more parsley, and serve.
