Imagine it — rich and creamy Alfredo sauce paired with sweet, juicy seafood blanketing a big bowl of starchy pasta. The seafood that makes this combination come together in a jiffy is canned crab. Better yet, using jarred sauce and canned crabmeat is not only more affordable than working with fresh meat, but it’s quick, easy, tasty, and packed with protein.
Start with cooked pasta and heated sauce. Once that’s out of the way, drain the excess water from the can before adding the crab to your Alfredo. If the meat is compact, consider breaking it up to create flaky pieces. Since the seafood is already cooked, you can dump the drained crab directly into your heated cream sauce, stirring it in to evenly distribute the chunks. This provides succulent bites of crab throughout the Alfredo, perfect for ladling over fettuccine noodles. Add approximately one pound of crab for every pound of pasta for the optimal ratio.
If a super creamy, crab-laden sauce isn’t your thing texturally, you can use the canned protein to create fried or baked crab cakes. The crunchy exterior of the cake is perfect for topping the lush Alfredo and noodle mixture, adding a bit of variation compared to using the crab straight from the can.
Choosing the best canned crab and jarred Alfredo sauce
Now that you know how to pair these two powerhouses together, it’s time to consider which type of canned crab is best for this dish. One tried-and-true contender is Cole’s Select Wild Caught Snow Crab. This particular crab is sustainably fished in Patagonia and offers a sweet, very mild flavor for the pasta. However, it tends to be more expensive than other alternatives, at around $13 per 5.3 ounces (though prices vary). If you can’t find this type, Chowhound chose Bumblebee White Crabmeat — known for its flaky texture and delicate taste — as its top choice in its ranking of store-bought crab meat.
Another readily available canned option is lump crabmeat, which often comes from the sides of the crab (near the legs). It provides larger chunks that can be broken up with a fork or tossed in whole for a hearty bite. Lump crab has a stronger flavor and is less flaky, which can impart a robust edge to traditional fettuccine Alfredo.
While selecting the type of crab is a significant element, so is choosing a solid sauce. Food Republic chose Rao’s Homemade Alfredo Sauce in our ranking of the best jarred Alfredo sauces, but there are plenty of top-tier options that will coat your pasta in delicious flavor.
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