Fantastic simple Shredded Crab Tagliatelle is a quick and easy to make pasta dinner.
Great recipe idea for canned / tinned shredded crab meat. Cooked in a homemade sauce of garlic parsley butter, lemon and tomatoes.
Simply stir the sauce through cooked tagliatelle, linguine, pappardelle or spaghetti.
How to make Shredded Crab Tagliatelle pasta?
There is a simple step by step slideshow below and a printable recipe card with UK & US measurements and guided images at the bottom of this page.
You will also find a few more tips and tricks in this blog post should you wish to read before making the recipe?
What pasta can be substituted for tagliatelle?
We used tagliatelle for this recipe however feel free to mix it up with other long pasta varieties such as linguine, pappardelle or spaghetti.
Or even fusilli, penne, rigatoni will work. You choose!
How long to cook tagliatelle?
Cook pasta to packet instructions, I will normally cook for the lower time range to keep a little bit of bite in it, rather than soggy pasta!
The best thing about this recipe is the sauce takes around about the same amount of time as the pasta to cook!
Why use reserved pasta water for sauce?
The water leftover from cooked pasta has a lovely salty flavouring and the starch helps to thicken the pasta sauce.
We often use reserved pasta water when making homemade pasta dishes.
Help, I forgot to keep cooked pasta water?
If you accidentally tipped all your pasta water down the sink when draining it, don’t panic!
For 120ml (1/2 cup) boiling water, we use 1/4 tsp of both cornstarch and salt to recreate a similar texture and flavour to pasta water.
How to infuse butter with herbs?
Simply mix room temperature butter with parsley using a fork until its whipped together.
We prefer to use fresh parsley however you can substiture with dried parsley but you will only need 1/2 the amount as dried herbs are more potent.
Is crab meat in a can already cooked?
Shredded Crab meat in a tin is has already been steamed or boiled so is ready to eat.
Canned crab meat is a cheaper alternative to fresh crab meat. It is also a handy store cupboard basic which we like to have for when we can’t source fresh crab.
How long to heat tinned / canned / fresh crab meat?
As it is already cooked, crab meat simply needs to be warmed up in the pasta sauce.
Can I substitute tinned crab for fresh crab?
If you can get fresh shredded / lump or jumbo crab meat (or previously frozen). I would highly recommend you use it over tinned / canned crab meat!
It has a much better flavour.
Shredded, Lump or Jumbo Crab meat which is best?
Shredded crab meat is the cheapest, and what we keep a tin of on standby in our cupboard.
However, if you are looking to impress, you can use lump crab meat or better still jumbo crab meat which will give you.
Substitute fresh tomatoes for tinned?
We used whole cherry tomatoes in this recipe, you can substitute with a tin of tomatoes if you haven’t got any.
Just add at the same time you add passata.
How to stop cooked pasta sticking?
Pasta usually sticks together if it has been left sitting to long after draining, before adding to the sauce.
If you wait to cook the pasta until instructed on the recipe card, you shouldn’t have this problem as it will be ready to drain at the same time you add the pasta to the sauce.
It is best to use tongs to slowly add the tagliatelle in and stir after each addition until all incorporated.
How and what to serve with Shredded Crab Tagliatelle?
We bring the dish it has been cooked in straight to the table and use tongs to serve it to each plate.
We tend to sprinkle with Parmesan more fresh parsley and chilli flakes if we fancy it.
If you want to serve between more than 6 people we add garlic bread and/or salad too!
Shredded Crab Tagliatelle
Equipment
Ingredients
- 500 grams Tagliatelle Pasta or spaghetti, linguine, pappardelle
- 120 ml pasta water save before draining
- 60 grams butter
- 2 tbsp Fresh Parsley chopped ( us 1 tbsp if using dried)
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 Onions diced
- 200 gram Cherry or Plum Tomatoes kept whole
- 5 Garlic cloves (minced) or 3 tsp garlic puree
- 120 ml Passata
- 200 grams Shredded Crab Meat we used 2 tins but fresh crab meat can be used for best results
- 1 lemon juice
- pinch salt and pepper to taste
Optional topping
- Parmesean
- Parsley
- Chilli Flakes
Instructions
- Place butter and parsley in a bowl and mix together with a fork, set aside until needed.
- Add olive oil to a deep pan and fry on high for 3 minutes, add tomatoes and fry for further 3 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta to packet instruction. Remembering to reserve 120ml (½ cup) of pasta water before draining.
- Stir garlic through with onion and tomatoes
- Add the passata and stir until warmed through (about 2 minutes), turn the heat down to medium.
- Add tinned crab and parsley butter.
- Stir through until butter melted through
- Add the juice of ½-1 lemon and the reserved pasta water
- Stir through the cooked pasta and season with salt & pepper.
- Serve and sprinkle with your choice of parmesan, chilli flakes and parsley.
Nutrition
We hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as we do, if you are looking for more ideas using canned fish try out our Easy Tinned Tuna Burgers.
Or another popular tinned fish pasta of ours is our Pancetta, Anchovy and Sundried Tomato Spaghetti.
Please let us know how you get on with this recipe, we love to hear from you!
Looks amazing I’ll definitely be trying this one
Oh wow! This crab pasta is all I need now. I mean…crab + fresh pasta + herb butter…all in one bite. Yum!