Sweet, tender BBQ king crab meat dipped into a sweet, citrusy, homemade ponzu sauce. It’s a perfect match for the summer!
The start of the summer BBQ season around my house usually begins with BBQ King Crab Legs. It sounds fancy, but we like to keep it simple and delicious. We usually get our king crab legs from Costco, already pre-cooked. So all we need to do is to throw them on to the grill to warm up and get a nice smoky flavor. Easy right? To enjoy the crab legs, we typically cut through one end of the joint with kitchen shears, and then trim along the two sides. As a preference, we avoid getting the claw because it’s harder to get the meat out.
In Japan, king crabs are called Tarabagani (タラバガニ) and one of the popular ways to eat them, is to boil or charcoal grill the crab legs, and then dip it in a tangy, citrusy soy sauce called Ponzu. This simple and refreshing sauce goes well with BBQ King Crab Legs (and so much more!).
What is Ponzu Sauce?
If you are used to enjoying BBQ King Crab Legs with butter or olive oil and a splash of lemon juice, I highly recommend introducing this Japanese sauce into your BBQ meal to bring a whole new flavor to the table. The sweet, sour, savory elements of the sauce make crab legs even more lip smackingly delicious! And you can incorporate the sauce into other dishes at your BBQ like dressings for salads and cold noodles.
BBQ King Crab Legs & Ponzu Sauce. A match made for summer!
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BBQ King Crab
Ingredients
- 1 lb king crab legs (do not break king crab legs before you cook them as they could lose flavor and dry out)
Ponzu Dipping Sauce:
- 2 Tbsp ponzu (for my homemade recipe, click here)
- 1 Tbsp green onion/scallion (chopped)
Instructions
- Preheat your bbq grill to medium heat and place the crab legs on the grill. Cook for 5 minutes on each side till the crab legs are warmed up and have some smoky flavor.
- Combine the ponzu and green onion in a serving bowl and serve with king crab legs.
Do you think the recipe would work well with English brown crab claws? We have much easier access to them here in the UK and it is alot of money to get king crab. Examples of the crab I’m talking about are here – The English crab is an interesting case for sustainability. The Fish Society quote “Crab has inbuilt sustainability because when female crabs are carrying eggs – a period of about six months (and they will typically carry two million eggs) – they hide themselves away and do not eat. Thus they cannot be lured into crab pots”. More on that here – https://www.thefishsociety.co.uk/suprafishlong/crab-english/
Hi Jeremy! Thanks for the link! I’ve never tried English brown crab before but I think ponzu sauce will go well with this crab or any crab. 🙂
It’s kind of hard to find large kind of crabs such the alaskan king crab in my country. Can I use this technique for smaller kind crabs?
Hi Auf! Sure, you can definitely use different crabs for bbq, and ponzu will go well too! 🙂