Transform your kitchen into a fine dining establishment with this luxurious crab bisque that rivals any restaurant version. This rich, velvety soup showcases the distinctive flavor that only a properly made bisque can deliver, featuring a deeply flavorful stock made from crab shells and finished with tender lump crabmeat. While the process requires patience, the incredible results make this elegant soup perfect for special occasions or whenever you want to create something truly spectacular.
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What makes crab bisque so good?
If you love creamy crab bisque, you know it’s the perfect dish to start a meal. This flavorful soup bursts with crab flavor and has a velvety texture everyone loves.
Easy Crab Bisque Soup
Many fine restaurants serve different types of seafood bisque. Crab bisque is a rich and creamy soup that makes a fantastic appetizer in a small quantity. It also makes a delicious first course or is hearty enough to serve as an entrée with some crusty bread and a salad. This crab bisque recipe is straightforward to make at home.
Many bisque styles of soups are made with the shells of the seafood that is served. And yes, this soup is made with the shells of the crab. So if you buy some crab legs, you may want to consider making a crab bisque with the leftover shells.
The Secret to Making the Best Stock for Crab Bisque
Many soups and stews have their primary flavor from their stocks, and bisque is no exception. Plus, there is one secret ingredient in a bisque stock: time. Simulating the shells with aromatics takes several hours to make a deep, rich stock.
Place the shells in a large pot or a stockpot to make the crab shell stock for this crab bisque recipe. Add some coarsely chopped onions, leeks, celery, and carrots. Then, fill the pot with enough water to cover everything fully and cook on low heat for several hours.
I prefer to season the stock when it nears completion. This way, you can taste it and see what it needs. Seasoning stock while it cooks is judging your food way too early. Once your stock is ready, this soup comes together fairly quickly (see instructions).
What Does Crab Meat Taste Like?
Eating crab is like eating soft white meat with a mildly sweet flavor. Depending on the type of crab, it could be more or less salty.
Different Types of Crab to Eat
- Maryland Blue Crab – has a distinctive blue shell that can turn bright purple when cooked. The meat is lovely, and blue crabs are the best for making crab cakes.
- Soft-Shell Crab – This Maryland blue crab has just grown out of its hard shell and formed a soft shell during the molting process. These crabs are ideal for making fried crab sandwiches (boiling them will make them fall apart).
- Dungeness Crab – This crab is named after Dungeness Bay in Washington State. The meat is more delicate and slightly less sweet than the Maryland Blue Crab.
- Snow Crab – In Canada, these crabs are also called queen crabs, and only the males are kept when harvested. The females are thrown back into the water to sustain the crab stock. Snow crabs have a delicious, sweet taste.
- Florida Stone Crab – The claws on the stone crab easily detach from the body, enabling the crab to escape predators. These claws then quickly regenerate. When a stone crab is caught, the claws are torn off, and the crab is released back into the ocean. This promotes incredible sustainability. The meat in the claws is amazingly delicious and is reminiscent of lobster, making the stone crab an expensive dinner option.
- Alaskan King Crab – is the largest crab species in the eastern hemisphere. A king crab can have a 5- 6-foot span between the middle legs. This enormous leg size yields some substantial pieces of meat with a unique sweet taste.
Recipe Ingredients
For the Crab Stock:
- Crab shells – Essential for creating the deep, concentrated seafood flavor that defines authentic bisque
- Onion – Provides aromatic foundation and natural sweetness to the stock
- Rib celery – Adds earthy depth and classic mirepoix flavor
- Leek – Contributes a mild onion flavor and aromatic complexity
- Carrots – Brings natural sweetness and rounds out the vegetable base
For the Bisque:
- Butter – Creates the rich roux base and adds luxurious mouthfeel
- Shallots – Provides a delicate onion flavor more refined than regular onions
- All-purpose flour – Thickens the bisque to perfect consistency
- Sherry – Adds sophisticated depth and traditional bisque flavor
- Heavy cream – Creates the signature rich, velvety texture
- Cooked lump crabmeat – The star ingredient that provides sweet, tender crab flavor
If you don’t have crab, you can use shrimp or lobster for the recipe. You can interchange the crab, lobster, and shrimp. This is a good soup to make when trying to get the most value out of shellfish, which can be pretty expensive.
How to Make Seafood Stock
To make crab shell stock, place all the leftover shells in a soup pot or large saucepan.
Add some coarsely chopped onions, leeks, celery, and carrots. Fill the pot with enough water to cover all stock ingredients fully.
Cook the stock at a low temperature for several hours.
I do not like to add salt and other seasonings at this time. I want to season the soup when it nears completion. This way, you can taste the ingredients and see what they need. Seasoning stock while you cook is judging your food way too early.
After 3 to 4 hours, drain the stock and toss all of the solids. Then, reduce the remaining liquid by half. Now, you will have a super concentrated and flavorful stock to make your crab bisque.
My big tip is not to let the stock boil now. You want it to simmer only. Allowing a stock to boil means you will have a cloudy stock. The volume of stock will be about a quart and a quart and a half. The volume of stock will be more than what you need for the recipe. Consider freezing the extra stock.
Once you have your stock ready, this soup comes together fairly quickly.
How to Make Crab Bisque
- Melt butter in a pot or a Dutch oven over medium heat.
- Saute the aromatics like shallots and celery in the melted butter until soft.
- Add some flour and cook a roux.
- After the roux cooks for a minute or two, you will add the remaining liquids in small but equal batches.
- You can puree the soup and run it through a sieve if you want a smooth bisque.
- Then add some cooked crab to the bisque and enjoy it.
- If desired, you could garnish the soup with some fresh parsley or other herbs like fresh chopped chives.
What to Serve with Crab Bisque
- Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits
- Homemade Crostini
- Salad with Easy Ceasar Dressing
Storage & Reheating Instructions
- Refrigerator Storage: Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator
- Gentle Reheating: Reheat slowly over low heat, stirring frequently to prevent separation
- Avoid Boiling: Never allow reheated bisque to boil, as this can cause cream to curdle
- Freezing Note: Not recommended for freezing due to cream content, which may separate upon thawing
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Crab Bisque
Ingredients
Seafood Stock
- 2 pounds crab shells
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion
- 2 celery stalks cut into small pieces
- 1 leek (white part only) sliced
- 2 medium carrots peeled and cut into thirds
Bisque
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons chopped shallots
- 2 tablespoons chopped celery
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups seafood stock
- 1/2 cup dry Sherry
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 ounces crab meat if desired
Instructions
Seafood Stock
- If the shells are not already cooked, you will want to break them up into smaller pieces, drizzle a little olive oil on them and roast them in a 350-degree oven until they become fragrant and just begin to brown. This may take about 30 minutes.
- In a large stockpot, place shells, coarsely chopped onion, celery stalks, leek, and carrot. Cover all ingredients with enough water so the shells are completely submerged by 1 to 2 inches. Cook the stock on low for 3 to 4 hours. Strain stock, discard all solids. Return stock to a pan, and reduce by half by turning up the heat until the stock just begins to boil.
Bisque
- Place 2 tablespoons of butter in a 2-quart pot with the shallots, and celery. Saute until the shallots and celery become soft. Add 2 tablespoons of flour and cook until the roux becomes fragrant. Add seafood stock and sherry. Stir until the soup becomes thick. Add cream and heat through. If you desire a bisque that is smooth, process the soup with a food processor or a stick blender, then strain the soup with a fine sieve. Return soup to the pot. Add cooked crab if desired. Serve immediately.
Where do you get crab shells?
From when you make boiled crab.
When making the seafood stock, I used a dozen steamed blue crabs. I put everything in the stock pot except the lungs and picked crab meat. The stock tasted so horrible & I love seafood. When making it with blue crabs, should I only put the main back shell and claws/leg with non of the inside shells (the white part when the crab meat is)? Or does it not matter? I really wanted to love this soup, next time I’ll prob just buy the stock
I would use only the shells, and make sure they are washed well. When you say it tasted bad, I don’t know how it tasted bad, was it gamey? Did it taste dirty?
Excellent recipe. I added more crab, and a tbsn of Old Bay seasoning, otherwise made it according to the recipe.
I wanted to use what I had in my freezer. So, that was some lovely shrimp and King Crab Legs. The stock was decadent and lush.Great results from a great recipe!
This was incredible. I followed recipe exactly except I doubled it. I can’t wait to make it for my daughter when she comes to visit. Thank you!
Looking for some good recipes to try.