Crab Soup
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This rich and creamy crab soup seasoned with Old Bay is the essence of the Eastern shore.
Filled with fresh lump crab meat and seasoned with Old Bay, a spice blend that comes from my home state of Maryland, this soup tastes like a day on the Eastern shore. In fact, the recipe was scribbled down on a piece of paper for me by the chef from the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay, when we were there celebrating my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. It is unapologetically rich and indulgent. Please don’t be tempted to substitute the half & half with milk. It won’t work unless you add more butter and flour, which would defeat the whole purpose of making it lighter. I promise, it’s 100% worth it!
What you’ll need to make Crab Soup
If possible, use fresh-off-the-boat crab meat. It comes in a clear plastic container and is usually resting on ice in the seafood department. It’s not always available depending on the season and region, so your second-best option is refrigerated crab meat, such as Phillip’s, which is readily available year round. Just avoid shelf-stable canned crab meat; it contains additives that affect the taste and texture of the meat.
Old Bay seasoning is a spice blend that you can find at most supermarkets near the seafood department. If you’d like to make your own, I recommend this recipe. I love Old Bay and use it in many recipes, such as Maryland Crab Cakes, Salmon Cakes, Shrimp Salad, Chesapeake Corn with Tomatoes and Basil, and Peel n’ Eat Shrimp.
How to make Crab Soup
To begin, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, then add the flour.
Whisk for about 1 minute, until well blended.
Whisking constantly, gradually add the half & half.
Add the mustard, Old Bay, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil, whisking frequently (be sure to scrape the edges of the pot, where the flour mixture tends to settle).
As soon as the soup starts to boil, reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, until thickened, about 30 seconds.
Stir in the sherry and crabmeat. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
If the soup is too thick, add water, little by little, to thin it out (it will thicken the longer it sits on the stove, even off of the heat). Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with chives. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.
You may also like
- French Onion Soup
- Vegetable Soup with Pesto
- Southwestern Corn Chowder
- Easy Butternut Squash Soup
- Potato Leek Soup
- Summer Corn Soup with Fresh Herbs
Crab Soup
This rich and creamy crab soup seasoned with Old Bay is the essence of the Eastern shore.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 cups half & half
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning, plus more for serving (see note)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons dry sherry
- ½ pound lump crabmeat, picked over to remove any shells
- Finely chopped chives, for garnish
- Lemon wedges, for serving (optional; see note)
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk for about 1 minute, until well blended.
- Whisking constantly, gradually add the half & half. Add the mustard, Old Bay seasoning, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil, whisking frequently (be sure to scrape the edges of the pot, where the flour mixture tends to settle). As soon as the soup starts to boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until thickened, about 30 seconds. Stir in the sherry and crabmeat. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. If the soup is too thick, add water, little by little, to thin it out (it will thicken the longer it sits on the stove, even off of the heat). Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with chives. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.
- Note: Old Bay seasoning is sold in the seafood department at most supermarkets. It can also be ordered online or made from scratch.
- Note: Lemon is really only necessary if not using the sherry.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 475
- Fat: 37 g
- Saturated fat: 23 g
- Carbohydrates: 17 g
- Sugar: 11 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 18 g
- Sodium: 580 mg
- Cholesterol: 167 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Native Marylander and this recipe is a good start but as is, lacks falvor and just tasted fattening and heavy and still way too thin. Next time I will start with a roux adding more flour & butter and try toncut down the fat by subbing at least half of the half and half for milk. I did sub out the salt for celery salt, added 1 1/2 tablespoons finely minced & sautéed shallot, doubled the sherry and the Old Bay- and still it was just ok- i think a hollandaise mix with lemon solids might have added the thickening and citrus tang it needed- i will be trying another recipe next time.
Try a Knorrs chicken bouillon cube and add it to your roux. Make sure to cook your roux long enough to cook the flour taste out….my roux is so thick a spoon stands up…no salt, just Old Bay or J.O….double the crab meat and let simmer…the roux is the secret and a dry sherry …happy cooking!
Can dry Marsala be substituted for the sherry? I’m looking forward to making this. Thanks!
Hi Lynn, the taste will be slightly different, but it will work. Hope you enjoy!
This recipe was very good. My husband and I added 2 cans of cream of celery soup and extra old bay. We put Dungeness crab meat in ours. Delicious. Will definitely make again. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Wow! Amazing recipe. We loved it. So easy. So full of flavor.
YES!!!! I am a Southern Maryland Girl! I love this recipe! Your peel and eat shrimp…Authentic!!! Do you have a Maryland Style Crab recipe? The tomato based one. I make that alot but always seems to miss just something I can not put my finger on. Or, maybe just not enough of something…lol….. thoughts?
Hi Dee, So glad you like this! As of now, I don’t have a tomato-based crab soup – sorry! I’ll have to add that to my list of recipes to potentially develop. And it’s hard for me to say what your current crab soup recipe is missing without seeing the recipe. If you’d like to forward it to me, I’m happy to take a peek. 😊
Nice and easy recipe! I did add a little bit of a shallot and some cayenne pepper. It was delicious! Thank you for a great recipe!
Hi Jenn. I was recently gifted a quality brand of canned super lump crab meat. Would it be appropriate for this recipe? At 74, I’m becoming a much better cook using your amazing recipes!
Sure, Marcia, So glad you’re enjoying the recipes! And the crabmeat would work nicely in the soup. 🙂
This soup is the absolute best crab soup and so easy! Love it!
This was so so good! I read the reviews and added 2 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce along with 1tbsp (not tsp) of Dijon mustard and it was delicious. Next time I will definitely be serving it in a sourdough bread bowl or pairing it with some simply oyster crackers. Lemon was a game changer also. My fiancé and I ate the entire pot of soup in one sitting.
Jen, you’re an amazing cook! Can’t wait to try the rest of your recipes.
This was a lovely soup. I liked the sherry flavor. It thickened up nicely even using gluten free flour. (KAF cup for cup)
I would love to make this soup buy can’t eat wheat flour. What would you substitute? Corn starch, tapioca starch, . . . and how much?
thank you.
Hi Maggie, I’d go with a gluten-free flour here. Hope you enjoy the soup!
It was delicious, but I made a couple of modifications. I thought that it was a bit plain and doubled the mustard and added a dash of Worcestershire sauce. I’ll definitely make this again.