Sheet Pan Crab Legs

Enhanced with Old Bay, butter, garlic, and lemon, these juicy crab legs are sure to put a smile on everyone’s face. These snow crab legs offer such incredible flavors.

Also consider campfire shrimp scampi foil packets or this sheet pan blackened tilapia Baja fish nachos. Sheet pan honey garlic pork chops are also tasty.

Why You’ll Love It

It’s so delicious: This mouthwatering snow crab legs recipe boasts just a few simple flavours, namely the Old Bay seasoning, butter, garlic, and lemon, but it’s really tasty, and you can enjoy the wonderful oven baked crab legs flavour without overpowering it with too many other ingredients.
It’s easy to prepare: If you’re concerned about cooking crab legs because you haven’t done it before, don’t worry – this recipe is especially simple. You need to brush the seafood seasoning mixture over the crab and then bake in the oven while you prepare some garlic butter to go on the side. See? Easy!
An impressive appetizer: Choose this snow crab legs dish if you want to present something fancy but you don’t necessarily want to spend hours making something complicated. Seafood such as king crab or snow crab isn’t hard to cook and even a newbie home cook can bake crab legs to perfection for sure.

Easy Baked Crab Legs Ingredients

A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.

Snow crab clusters: The star of this dish is snow crab clusters and you can find frozen crab legs in most large grocery stores and also in some Asian food markets.
Old Bay: This seasoning is always good with seafood.
Melted butter: For rich decadence.
Garlic: Use freshly minced garlic.
Lemon: Another flavor that’s wonderful with crab.

How to Make Old Bay Crab Legs on a Sheet Pan

For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.

Prepare crab legs: While you preheat the oven, place crab legs on a rimmed baking sheet, mix the olive oil with half the Old Bay seasoning and brush this over the crab legs.
Cook crab legs: Cook them in the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until done.
Make the garlic butter: While the crab legs cook, mix the rest of the Old Bay with melted butter and garlic.
The finishing touches: Serve the cooked crab legs warm, with the garlic butter mixture and some wedges or slices of lemon on the side.

Substitutions and Variations

Snow crab legs: King crab legs are another option, but they’re more expensive, tougher to crack and you’ll definitely need crab leg crackers (here) to open them. King crabs have much thicker legs so they come individually rather than in clusters. Also, they’re not as easy to find as snow crab legs, which can usually just be cracked with your hands.
Old Bay seasoning: Swap the Old Bay for your favorite seafood seasoning if you like, perhaps Cajun seasoning.
Butter: Use unsalted or salted butter. If you’re using unsalted butter for the dipping sauce, you might want to add a pinch of salt, but taste it first.

Serving Suggestions

With a side dish: Enjoy this delicious recipe warm from the oven and give everyone their own melted butter dip and a wedge of lemon. It goes well with crusty bread or mushroom focaccia, or a simple tossed green salad.
With vegetables: Keep the sides light and simple because the garlic butter is very rich and you’ll want a nice contrast. Mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes or smoked asparagus would also be good on the side. You might like to cook some other proteins too, such as fresh shrimp or another kind of fresh seafood, or even something different like andouille sausage.

How to Store Baked Crab Legs

Store: The cooked crab should keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
Freeze: Cooked crab legs can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Thaw: Defrost overnight in the fridge.
Reheat: Reheat crab legs about 12 minutes in the oven preheated to 350 degrees F if the crabmeat is still in the shell, or warm up the crabmeat if it’s out of the shell in a skillet with a splash of oil or a little butter – it will take about 4 minutes.