Using this easy method, you may learn how long to steam crab legs. Crab legs don’t need to be ordered at a high-end restaurant when you can make them quickly at home in your Instant Pot. In 20 minutes, crab legs go from the freezer to the table. Spend less money. Really, it doesn’t get any simpler than this.
| Prep Time: | 5 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 25 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups water
- 2 pounds frozen king crab legs
- 1 medium lemon, juiced
- ⅓ cup butter, melted
Instructions
- Gather all ingredients.
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- Place a trivet in a multi-functional pressure cooker (such as Instant Pot) and add water. Place crab legs on top of the trivet; you may need to let them thaw for a few minutes so they will fit.
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- Close and lock the lid. Select high pressure according to manufacturer’s instructions; set the timer for 3 minutes. Allow 10 minutes for pressure to build.
- Release pressure carefully using the quick-release method according to manufacturer’s instructions, about 5 minutes. Unlock and remove the lid.
- Use tongs to transfer crab legs to a serving dish.
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- Squeeze lemon juice on top and serve with melted butter.
Reviews
Made with snow crabs and did exactly as written. While I think seasoning – like Old Bay – would be a nice touch, this method cooks the crab perfectly and allows the wonderful, sweet flavor of this crustacean to shine! Squeezed a half lemon overall before serving. Fantastic SLN! Will follow this method for future!
Super delicious! My husband loved it! Thank you! I bought these at a local supermarket that has fresh and live seafood.
Was very good I added Old Bay to my crabs. Steamed perfectly in my Instant Pot.
I used a little more seasoning to the pot and pressure cooked 3 red new potatoes skin on but took the skin off just the ends and cooked 4 min under high pressure, then quick released, removed potatoes, added 1 top more seasoning to 1/2 cup water ,placed crablegs and potatoes squeezed 1/2 lemon juice over top and cooked additional 3 minutes on high pressure.
oh perfect timing no more or no less time needed. i cooked just under 2 pounds Alaskan king
Super easy to make and the guys loved them!
Turned out perfect!!
Great, easy recipe! Will def use it again. We did what a few other reviews suggested and added a little seasoning on them while they cooked. Family all enjoyed it, plus easy clean up! Thanks!
Super easy to make, for extra flavor a sprinkled a generous portion of Old Bay on the Crab Legs before starting the steam and they came out amazing….
I added a little bit of crab boil to the water. PERFECT!
Excellent recipe – simple to follow. I used frozen snow crab legs and cooked at high pressure for 5 minutes with quick release in a 6 quart pot and they were perfect. The weight of the crab legs I used was 1.6 pounds (not 2 pounds as the recipe recommends)…and that didn’t make any difference.
An excellent way to make and keep warm crab legs
First time making crab legs in the Instapot. Took the 1-1/2 cups of water and added broth cubes. Salted and added garlic powder. Layed 4 portions in the pot, sprinkled with Old Bay seasoning. Sealed and set to PC for 5 min. Quick released and removed. Super delicious! We wanted more!
King Crab is extremely expensive here so I went with Russian Red, 7 ounces = $10.00, King Crab is four times the price. Normally I wouldn’t use a recipe with only one review for something so expensive but I trust this submitter’s recipes and I wasn’t disappointed! Other than using less crab I followed the recipe to the T. Honestly, this tasted like it just came off of the boat! I’m so happy that I found this recipe and it will be my go to going forward. I served this with a simple Caesar salad and Spaetzle. I forgot to mention that I used a cleaver to cut these into pieces that would fit into my 6 quart Instant Pot, start to finish, 14 minutes. Thanks Nicole, I throughly enjoyed this!
I made it with snow crabs. I followed the recipe but added a generous sprinkling of Old Bay seasoning. They were wonderful! It should be noted that this recipe is probably for a 6 qt Instant Pot. I used 2 cups of water with my 8 qt Instant Pot