Sautéed Soft-Shell Crabs With Lemon-Butter Pan Sauce Recipe

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Sautéed Soft-Shell Crabs With Lemon-Butter Pan Sauce

These crispy, plump, and briny soft-shell crabs are topped with a quick lemon–brown butter pan sauce with capers and parsley.

By Daniel Gritzer Daniel Gritzer Editorial Director

Daniel is the editorial director of Serious Eats, where he leads the site's editorial strategy and oversees everything from recipe development to articles on food science, cooking techniques, and more. He's a former food editor at Food & Wine and has cooked in New York City restaurants.

Learn about Serious Eats' Editorial Process Updated March 21, 2025 Save WRITE A REVIEW Print Close

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Why It Works

• A light flour dredging creates a pleasingly crunchy crust on the crabs without weighing them down.
• Adding lemon juice to the brown-butter sauce balances the flavor and prevents the butter from over-browning.

From May through September, blue crabs shed their hard shells as part of their growing process. When caught before the new shell hardens, they're the delicacy known as soft-shell crabs. There's very little of a soft-shell crab that you can't eat, though there are a few bits that should go before you fry them up (consult our guide to cleaning soft-shell crabs for more on that or ask your fishmonger to do it for you).

While there are many ways to prepare soft-shells (battered and fried are pretty killer), at home, I prefer to quickly sauté them in butter after lightly dredging them. The faster I can get a fresh soft-shell onto my plate, the better. I've tested cornstarch and flour dredging, and both have their advantages. Cornstarch makes a light and crispy coating, but I opted for flour here since it gives the crabs a crunchier exterior and a more robust flavor that pairs really well with the browned butter pan sauce that goes on top.

As for that pan sauce, it's just browned butter, some frizzled capers, lemon juice, and parsley—a perfect topper to plump, juicy, and briny soft-shell crabs. For students of French cuisine, this sauce is more or less a grenobloise (which is itself meunière sauce with the addition of capers). Those French names may sound fancy, but the sauce is dead simple to make.

May 2019

Recipe Details

Sautéed Soft-Shell Crabs With Lemon-Butter Pan Sauce Recipe

Prep 5 mins Cook 15 mins Active 20 mins Total 20 mins Serves 2 servings Save Print Keep Screen Awake

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 4 large soft-shell crabs, preferably jumbo or “whale” size, cleaned

• 1 stick (8 tablespoons; 120 g) unsalted butter, divided

• 1 tablespoon drained capers

• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) fresh lemon juice from 1 lemon

• 1 tablespoon minced flat-leaf parsley leaves and tender stems

1. In a shallow bowl, season flour with salt and pepper. Lightly dredge crabs in the seasoned flour.

2. In a 10-inch stainless steel skillet, melt 4 tablespoons (60g) butter over medium-high heat until foamy. Add crabs, shell-side down, and cook until browned and crisp, about 3 minutes; be careful, as soft-shell crabs sometimes pop in the pan. Flip crabs and cook until crisp and golden on bottom side, about 3 minutes. Transfer crabs to paper towel-lined plates and season lightly with salt.

3. Add remaining 4 tablespoons (60g) butter to skillet and melt until foaming. Lower heat to medium and cook until butter turns a medium-brown color, about 2 minutes.

4. Add capers and cook until lightly crisped, about 1 minute. Add lemon juice, swirl to combine, and remove from heat.

5. Stir parsley into pan sauce, season with salt, if needed. Transfer crabs to a serving platter and spoon sauce on top. Serve right away.

Special Equipment

10-inch stainless steel skillet

Read More

• Classic Fried Soft-Shell Crab Sandwiches with Lettuce and Tomato
• Sautéed Soft-Shell Crab Sandwiches With Pickled Vegetables, Cilantro, and Ginger-Chili Mayo

• Seafood Mains
• Spring Mains
• American
• Stovetop Seafood
• Crab

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
704	Calories
51g	Fat
13g	Carbs
48g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label ×

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 2
Amount per serving
Calories	704
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 51g	65%
Saturated Fat 31g	154%
Cholesterol 376mg	125%
Sodium 1274mg	55%
Total Carbohydrate 13g	5%
Dietary Fiber 1g	2%
Total Sugars 0g
Protein 48g
Vitamin C 17mg	85%
Calcium 254mg	20%
Iron 2mg	12%
Potassium 720mg	15%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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