The Best Canned Crab Meat Brands of 2024: My Top Picks!

Crab is one of the tastiest types of seafood. However, cleaning, cooking, cracking, and picking crab meat for tasty morsels can be painful and time-consuming. Fortunately, there is an alternative. You can forego all the heavy work when you settle for the next best thing, canned crab meat.

best canned crab meat

Canned crab meat is an excellent alternative to fresh crab. It is convenient to use and easy to store. You can use canned crab meat in any recipe that requires crab meat. However, preserving fresh-caught and cooked crab meat in a liquid medium affects its taste and compromises the texture.  Only a few brands get it right.

Check out the best options in the market for canned crab meat with our list and liven up your recipes with this star ingredient.

6. Handy Premium Lump Crab Meat

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Premium lump crab meat arrives in neatly sealed compact cans filled to the brim with tender pieces of crab. Since the crab is steamed, it has an authentic, wholesome taste. You will find big fork-friendly chunky pieces with a firm texture. The contents are flavorful, and they bind together easily. Hence, it is great for fine-looking gourmet dishes.

There are plenty of thoroughly cleaned pieces in each can. The producers, Handy canned foods, mention that the contents are checked under a black light to remove any pecks or bones. So, you need not worry about biting on pieces of shell. Additionally, there are no preservatives or artificial ingredients to worry about.


5. Epicure Jumbo Lump Crab Meat Pasteurized

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Epicure crab meat cans contain the meat from wild-caught blue crabs. The meat is freshly processed and steamed under high pressure to retain its original flavors. This product contains jumbo lump meat from the muscles that connect to the swimmer fins of crabs. It has a delicate, sweet taste and soft, meaty texture.

Since Epicure is committed to sustainable fishing practices, we know that the product is obtained in an environment-friendly manner. Go with Epicure crab meat if you want delicious succulent crab meat with exquisite gourmet flavors. Although expensive, the taste of this crab meat makes the price worthwhile.

4. Crown Prince, Fancy White Lump Crab Meat

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Crown Prince crab meat is sourced from Thailand. The crab is wild-caught and canned without additives, bleaching agents, or preservatives. Hence, it has a fresh taste. The meat is delicate, chunky, and sweet. It is perfect for salads and crab cakes.

Since the crab is freshly packed, it tastes delicious. However, Crown Prince crabs are very moist when compared to other brands. It may look a little mushy because of the water in the can.

3. Phillips Foods Super Lump Crab Meat

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Distributed in Baltimore, Phillips Foods Super Lump Crab Meat has all the qualities of crab meat we are looking for. The crab meat contained no shells. The lumps were almost as big as your thumb, which is one of the reasons why the Super Lump is so wonderful.


We used the crab meat for a classic Maryland-style crab cake. It’s a good product for the price, just not the best in the world.

2. Bumble Bee White Crabmeat

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Bumble Bee crab meat has extremely good flavors. The company is concerned about the quality and they ensure that the crab meat is delicate. The meat is extracted from different parts of the crab and packed together. All the original flavors are sealed in.

Although this brand contains added sugar, salt, and preservatives, it is free from MSG. It is a high-protein snack with 40 calories per can. The water content in the can is slightly high, which makes the meat mushy. We would have liked it better if the chunks were meatier. Some cans also seem to have a lot of shells. Nevertheless, Bumble Bee white crab meat is relatively inexpensive compared to other brands. Hence, it is a good deal for its price.

1. Chicken of the Sea Lump Crabmeat

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Chicken of the Sea blends quality, convenience, and flavor into a compact little container. The company uses wild blue crabs that are responsibly sourced. This brand is renowned for its natural taste, fresh flavor, and high nutritional value. The texture is spot-on and just as good as fresh, succulent, crab meat. It does not have any nasty aftertaste. The pieces are meaty and tender.

The canning is BPA-free with no adverse health impacts. Overall, chicken of the sea crab is the superior choice with a price that matches the quality. It is ideal for a variety of recipes. If there is any downside to this crab, it is just that the texture may seem dry and flaky once you drain the surrounding liquid away.


Final note:

Crabs are an exotic form of seafood. It makes a delicious addition to various recipes because of its beautiful flavors. From sandwiches and salads to exotic gourmet recipes, you can use them in numerous ways.

Don’t miss out on the experience of enjoying delicious crab-based recipes because you cannot find real crab. The canned crab meat brands on our list manage to retain the original texture and taste of fresh crab meat. Hence, they make great additions to recipes calling for crab. Diversify your usual meals with the canned crab meat on our list and enjoy the delicious taste and health benefits of this meat.

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