Quick and Easy Crab Melt is a perfect sandwich for a summer dinner or lunch. This deliciously flavored crab salad recipe is an open faced crab sandwich on sour dough bread, topped with a fresh tomato and provolone cheese! Yum! Make this homemade imitation crab sandwich for a taste of your favorite meal in San Francisco or the seaside of Maine.
Why This Recipe is the Best
This fun summer meal with is great to share with friends, family, or a meal for one. Just like a tuna melt, this imitation crab sandwich is perfect for anytime of the year. We serve ours open face so there isn't too much bread and you really get that crab flavor.
I've been making this sandwich for years and my family loves it! Check out our other delicious melty cheese sandwiches like Chicken Suiza and our Chicken Pesto Panini.
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Key Ingredients
To make this tasty meal, you'll need only a few simple ingredients. You can find most ingredients at your local grocery store.
- Imitation Crab- Imitation crab is an affordable way to get the flavor of crab. After testing this with a few different options, we recommend using the flaky style.
- Onion- For this recipe, use yellow onion. Purple onion tastes good as well but can be a little over powering. Dice the onion finely, we like it for it's taste but don't want large chunks in the salad.
- Sour dough- Sour dough bread gives this recipe that authentic San Francisco, seaside, taste. We also like how it pairs with the imitation crab.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make Crab Melts
Follow these step-by-step instructions to make a tasty crab melt. Follow the pictures for extra help.
- Mix imitation crab, minced garlic, lemon juice, diced onion, and mayonnaise in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Place the sour dough sliced on a parchment paper and add ¼ of the mixture onto open face bread. Top with a fresh sliced tomato and then add the provolone cheese on top.
3. Place the prepared sour dough rounds in the oven and cook for 5 minutes or until the cheese begins to melt and brown. You can also cook them in the air fryer, that's becoming our favorite method.
4. Serve with this crab melt with slat and vinegar chips, sweet potato fries or fruit and veggies.
Hint: Imitation crab comes packed together. You'll want to break up the flakes into smaller pieces. Make it the size you like best. I prefer it a little chunky rather than minced.
Top tips
Make sure to cook until cheese is melted and starting to brown and that the crab meat is heated up thoroughly.
We love using the air fryer to cook these because it cooks them quickly, it toasts the bread, and the imitation crab warms nicely. Either method, oven or air fryer, will give you delicious results!
For other imitation crab recipes, check out our Kani Crab Stick Salad.
Recipe
Quick and Easy Crab Melt
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 ounce flaky style imitation crab about 1 ½ cups
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- ¼ cup onion diced
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 4 slices sour dough
- 4 slices provolone cheese
- 4 slices tomatoes
Instructions
Oven Method:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- In a large bowl imitation combine crab, lemon, garlic, diced onion, salt and pepper, and mayonnaise. Mix until well combined
- Place 4 sour dough bread slices, open faced, on a parchment lined baking sheet. Put ¼ of the crab mix on one side of the ciabatta, repeat on all 4 rolls. Place a tomato slice and then provolone cheese slice on top of the imitation crab mixture. See process photos above for a great visual.
- Cook open faced sandwiches for 5 minutes or until the cheese begins to melt. Once cheese is melted, remove from the oven and enjoy!
Air Fryer Method:
- Preheat the air fryer to 375* F.
- Follow assembly instructions above.
- Place open face sandwich topped with crab mixture, tomato, and cheese, at the bottom of the air fryer basket.
- Cook for 3 minutes or until cheese and bread are toasted.
Notes
- Try this melt on ciabatta bread, french bread, english muffins for similarly delicious results.
- Do not store and reheat cooked crab mixture. It is unsafe to reheat mayonnaise.
- Appetizer - Make this fun open faced sandwich into a fun appetizer style meal by using small pieces of bread and smaller portions of tomatoes, cheese and crab.
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- Keto - Make this keto friendly and low carb by using a large mushroom or sliced zucchini as the base instead of bread. Follow the directions as stated but place the crab mixture on top of zucchini or a large mushroom.
- Shrimp- Make it a seafood party by adding mini shrimp into the imitation crab mixture. Add about ¼ cup of small shrimp to the mixture.
- Artichoke- Slice canned artichoke hearts and place in the crab mixture. Add about ¼ cup depending on how many artichokes you want added to the mixture.
- Avocado- After the melt is cooked in the air fryer or oven, top the melted cheese with slices of avocado. You can also place the avocado on top of the tomatoes and under the cheese to be heated with the entire sandwich.
- Old bay seasoning - Add the taste of old bay seasoning by adding 1 teaspoon of the seasoning to the crab mixture. Mix well so the flavor is throughout.
Nutrition
Try this delightful seafood sensation Easy Grilled Oysters.
For other fun ideas, check out this Ham and Turkey Sandwich. Make your own homemade sourdough bread with this long fermentation sourdough bread.
Storing Imitation Crab Sandwich
Store the crab mixture, uncooked, in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. you can assemble the mixture before hand, but if not eating right away, wait to assemble on the bread and cook.
Because there is mayonnaise in the melt it is unsafe to store any cooked sandwich in the refrigerator to be heated again. If you plan to have leftovers only cook what you will eat so you don't have to waste food!
These ingredients don't freeze well, once assembled, and is not recommended.
Substitutions
- English muffin - Use the open face of an english muffin instead of sour dough bread for a different texture and style of bread.
- Ciabatta - Don't want an open face sandwich? Use ciabatta bread and toast both sides of the bread and make a ciabatta bread melt with the imitation crab mixture.
- French bread- Slice pieces of french bread and use instead of sour dough.
- Bagels - Use half of a bagel to put the mixture on. Depending on the size of the bagel, you may use more than ¼ of the mixture for a single slice.
- Cream cheese - Spread cream cheese, instead of provolone cheese, on the bread and then add the crab mixture on top of the cream cheese.
- Swiss cheese- Substitute provolone cheese with Swiss Cheese. This will give the melt a mild nutty taste.
- Havarti Cheese- Looking for a creamy and smooth cheese? Use havarti cheese instead of provolone cheese on top of the crab mixture.
- Dairy Free- make this meal dairy free by using vegan cheese and vegan mayonnaise.
Nicole says
YUM, this imitation crab melt sandwich is so good. We loved it.