Description
This Imitation Crab Pasta Salad Recipe is cool, creamy, and delicious. It's easy to make-ahead and filled with chunks of yummy crab meat.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 lb. dry pasta (I usually use bowtie or rotini)
- 12 - 16 oz. imitation crab, torn into small pieces
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt (I use Lawry's)
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 2 Tbsp. sugar (optional, good with or without)
- Salt & Pepper, to taste + for pasta water
- 4 green onions, thinly sliced (optional)
Instructions
-
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1-2 tablespoons of salt.
- Add the dry pasta to the boiling water and cook according to package directions (usually 10-12 minutes).
- Rinse with cold water, drain, and set aside to completely cool.
- While the pasta is cooking, tear or cut the imitation crab meat into bite-size pieces.
- In a very large bowl, combine the crab meat, mayonnaise, buttermilk, garlic, lemon juice, and seasonings.
- Mix together until well combined.
- Add the cooled pasta and toss/mix until well-coated. See the tips below if your pasta is not cooled.
- Garnish with green onions (if desired)
- Chill for at least one hour - up to overnight. Toss again before serving.
Notes
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- First, this is a big batch. Be sure to grab a very large bowl to mix it up! It's usually enough for my family of 8 to have lunch (we usually add fruit or bread or both as side dishes).
- If you plan to eat this pasta immediately or the pasta is not cooled completely, I recommend draining the hot pasta, then immediately placing it in an ice bath for 2-3 minutes, then draining again to completely cool it down before adding it to the crab mixture.
- If you don't have buttermilk on hand, use this substitution. I've done it many, many times and nobody ever comments about the pasta salad tasting different.
- I don't eat raw onions. Ever. And I mean never EVER. Green or otherwise. Therefore, I never use them in this recipe. But if you like them, go ahead and ruin your pasta salad...I mean, add them to your pasta salad and enjoy. I was just kidding. About ruining it. Maybe. The bottom line is, the original recipe given to me did include them if that's something you like. But I assure you it's 1000% delicious sans onion.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cooling Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 12 mins
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: crab, crab pasta, pasta salad, buttermilk, immitation crab, immitation, crab pasta salad, crab salad with pasta, imitation crab pasta, pasta crab salad, imitation crab pasta salad, crab pasta salad recipe, crab salad pasta
