Description
Ina Garten’s crab salad combines delicate seafood with crisp vegetables and a zesty dressing. Her classic recipe offers fresh coastal flavors perfect for summer gatherings. Seasoned cooks can craft this elegant dish to impress guests with minimal effort.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 pound (454 g) imitation crabmeat, flaked
- ½ cup (120 ml) reduced-fat ranch dressing
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) mayonnaise
- ½ cup finely chopped celery, or more to taste
- 1 tbsp white sugar, or to taste
- 1 tsp minced fresh parsley
Instructions
- Preparation: Delicately shred imitation crabmeat into tender, bite-sized fragments using fingertips or a fork, ensuring each piece maintains its delicate structure.
- Vegetable Preparation: Finely dice crisp celery into uniform pieces, creating a refreshing textural contrast to the soft crabmeat.
- Dressing Creation: Whisk reduced-fat ranch dressing, mayonnaise, and granulated sugar until the mixture transforms into a smooth, well-integrated sauce, incorporating finely chopped fresh parsley for a vibrant herbaceous note.
- Combining Components: Gently merge shredded crabmeat and diced celery in a spacious mixing bowl, carefully drizzling the prepared dressing over the ingredients and folding thoroughly to ensure every morsel receives an even, luxurious coating.
- Chilling and Marinating: Cover the salad with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour, allowing flavors to harmonize and develop a more complex taste profile.
- Serving: Redistribute the salad ingredients just before presentation, optionally embellishing with additional chopped celery or parsley to enhance both visual appeal and flavor complexity.
Notes
- Chill for Flavor Fusion: Refrigerate the salad for at least 1 hour to allow ingredients to marinate and develop a deeper, more complex taste profile.
- Gentle Mixing Matters: Use a light folding technique when combining crab, celery, and dressing to maintain delicate texture and prevent ingredient breakdown.
- Customize Crunch: Adjust celery quantity based on personal preference for added texture and freshness in the salad.
- Smart Seafood Substitution: Use high-quality imitation crabmeat for cost-effectiveness and consistent flavor if fresh crab is unavailable.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Lunch, Appetizer
- Method: Blending
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4
- Calories: 239
- Sugar: 3 g
- Sodium: 637 mg
- Fat: 12 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 16 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 14 g
- Cholesterol: 34 mg