How do you dress a cooked crab?

Twist off the claws and legs, separate the body from the main shell, remove the inedible parts, then pick the white meat from the body and claws and scoop the brown meat from the shell.

Which parts of a crab can you not eat?

Discard the feathery grey gills, known as dead man's fingers, and the small stomach sac just behind the mouth. Everything else — the white and brown meat — is good to eat.

Do you need special tools to dress a crab?

A crab cracker and a seafood pick make it far quicker and cleaner, though a small knife and a skewer will do. We stock a full range of seafood tools in our cook shop.

What is the difference between white and brown crab meat?

White meat comes from the claws, legs and body and is delicate and sweet; brown meat comes from the main shell and is richer and creamier. Many people enjoy a mix of both.

Can you dress a crab ahead of time?

Yes. Dressed crab keeps, covered, in the fridge for a day or two, so you can prepare it in advance of a meal or a platter.

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Seafood guide3 min readUpdated 26 May 2026

Prepare a Cooked Crab

Dressing a crab — picking all that sweet white and rich brown meat from the shell — is a satisfying kitchen skill once you know the steps. Whether you cooked your crab from live or bought it ready-cooked, here is how to remove the meat cleanly, what to leave behind, and the tools that make light work of it.

A calm Down The Cove seafood guide for buying, cooking and serving with confidence.

Seafood guide

Seafood notes

A simple route through buying, storing, cooking and serving seafood at home without making the page feel busy.

Prepare a Cooked Crab is here to make seafood feel easier at home: what to buy, how to handle it, and how to cook it with confidence.

Choose wellWhat to look for before it reaches the kitchen.

Start with seafood that looks and smells fresh, then keep the plan simple. Good fish, shellfish and coastal ingredients do not need a complicated route to the plate.

Keep it freshStorage, freshness and calm food handling.

Keep seafood chilled, unpack it when you get home, and cook it while it is at its best. A calm kitchen starts with good storage.

Cook simplySimple heat, short timings and clean flavours.

Use gentle heat, short timings and a little patience. Most seafood rewards simple cooking more than heavy sauces or overworked methods.

Serve with confidenceFinishing touches that keep seafood inviting.

Serve seafood with clean flavours, enough time to rest, and a little confidence. Lemon, herbs, butter, good bread or a simple salad often do the job beautifully.

The full guide

Read straight through, or use the seafood notes above to keep buying, cooking and serving simple.

How to Prepare a Cooked Crab

How to clean and pick a crab to remove the meat (dress a crab)

Whether you have caught or bought a live crab and cooked it or whether you have bought a pre-cooked crab, you will now need to remove the meat from the shell.

If your crab is still alive follow these instructions to cook it:

How to Cook a Live Crab

Once your crab is cooked, if you are using the claws for a seafood platter or salad simply pull them off and save. The meat from the body will need to be removed before it can be used in a recipe. The video below demonstrates how to do this.

How to remove the meat from a cooked Crab

It is necessary to pull the shell off first and remove the parts that are not edible. Full instructions on how to remove the meat from a crab are detailed in our video.

Seafood Tools

Seafood tools specially designed to get in to the awkward areas of the crab make preparing it and eating it a lot easier. We have a full range of seafood utensils in our cook shop including seafood forks, crab and lobster crackers and shellfish tools kits.

Buy Shellfish Tools Now

Common questions

How do you dress a cooked crab?: Twist off the claws and legs, separate the body from the main shell, remove the inedible parts, then pick the white meat from the body and claws and scoop the brown meat from the shell.
Which parts of a crab can you not eat?: Discard the feathery grey gills, known as dead man's fingers, and the small stomach sac just behind the mouth. Everything else — the white and brown meat — is good to eat.
Do you need special tools to dress a crab?: A crab cracker and a seafood pick make it far quicker and cleaner, though a small knife and a skewer will do. We stock a full range of seafood tools in our cook shop.
What is the difference between white and brown crab meat?: White meat comes from the claws, legs and body and is delicate and sweet; brown meat comes from the main shell and is richer and creamier. Many people enjoy a mix of both.
Can you dress a crab ahead of time?: Yes. Dressed crab keeps, covered, in the fridge for a day or two, so you can prepare it in advance of a meal or a platter.