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Let me start out by saying that store-bought crab salad can’t touch this. I am not a fan of deli-made crab salads with those giant chunks of celery and barely any crab. They are a no-go. After you’ve tried this homemade version, there’s no going back. It’s also super easy to make!
My friend Lyuda who is well known for her recipe: Shrimp and Mushrooms in a Garlic Bisque Sauce, shared this wonderful crab salad recipe with me. She invited us for dinner and served this up. We loved it!
It’s different from our first crab salad recipe in that it has more fresh ingredients. The flavor is wonderful. Surprisingly it tastes great the next day too. I was worried about the cucumber and tomatoes getting weird, but they didn’t. They stayed nice and crisp after refrigeration.
Ingredients for Crab Salad:
l lb (16 oz) package of Imitation crab meat, chopped/shredded up into small pieces
1 English One long cucumber, diced small
2 medium tomatoes, diced and drained of any excess juice
1/4 cup chopped Green onions, fresh or frozen
3 cloves of garlic, pressed
1/2 cup mayo, or to taste (I’m keeping it healthier with a a vegenaise)
How to Make Crab Salad:
1. Chop/shred crab into small pieces. You can chop with a knife or use a food processor and pulse in batches. Try to shred it apart a little for better coating with the dressing. P.S. Imitation crab meat is made of white fish.
I’ve loved this stuff since I was a kid and I can’t get over it (don’t judge me). I’d always ask my parents to buy it when we went grocery shopping together.
2. Chop 2 medium tomatoes and drained them of any excess juice. It wouldn’t be a bad plan to seed them to keep the salad from getting too juicy the next day. Make small dice out of the cucumber. In a large bowl , combine chopped tomatoes, diced cucumbers, shredded crab and 1/4 cup diced green onion.
3. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup mayo and 3 pressed cloves of garlic. Add the dressing to the crab salad to taste. You can add more mayo if you like a juicier salad. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Crab Salad with Cucumber and Tomato Recipe

Ingredients
- l lb, 16 oz package of Imitation crab meat, chopped/shredded up into small pieces
- 1 English One long cucumber, diced small
- 2 medium tomatoes, diced and drained of any excess juice
- 1/4 cup chopped Green onions, fresh or frozen
- 3 cloves of garlic, pressed
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise, or to taste (I'm keeping it healthier with a a vegenaise)
Instructions
- Chop/shred crab into small pieces. You can chop with a knife or use a food processor and pulse in batches. Try to shred it apart a little for better coating with the dressing. P.S. Imitation crab meat is made of white fish. I've loved this stuff since I was a kid and I can't get over it (don't judge me). I'd always ask my parents to buy it when we went grocery shopping together.
- Chop 2 medium tomatoes and drained them of any excess juice. It wouldn't be a bad plan to seed them to keep the salad from getting too juicy the next day. Make small dice out of the cucumber. In a large bowl , combine chopped tomatoes, diced cucumbers, shredded crab and 1/4 cup diced green onion.
- In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup mayo and 3 pressed cloves of garlic. Add the dressing to the crab salad to taste. You can add more mayo if you like a juicier salad. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Let me know how much you like it! 🙂
This is the crab salad i have wanted all my life. SO GOOD.
Shannon, that’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review 🙂
I love this salad, its one that i always make when i have guests. I typically put two sticks of chopped celery and fresh dill in my crab salad. You should try it, its super good!
Mmm that does sound really really good! Thank you for sharing your tips! 🙂
So so good! I made it and ate it with Triscuit dill and sea salt and olive oil crackers which added tonthe already delicious salad. It’s going to make a great lunch!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it! It sounds wonderful the way you ate it! 🙂
This salad is soo yummy and so simple to make!! This is the Best Crab Salad!!
I’m so happy you loved it! Thank you for sharing your great review! 🙂
Great shrimp salad, looking for recipe of tomatoe,cucmber, and avocado salad.
Thank you Lorraine, click here for the tomato avocado salad. You won’t be disappointed ?.
delicious love it! do know the calories for a cup of it??
Hi Becca, I don’t typically include calorie counts, but if you go to caloriecount.com you can plug in the ingredients and servings and figured out pretty easily that way. I hope that helps!
I’ve served this two ways. On hot summer days the crab salad is the main course on top of a simple romaine and balsamic vinegar salad (my favorite). Secondly as a crab salad slider – the cold salad only on lightly toasted bun (hubby’s favorite). Thanks for sharing a great recipe!
Wow! I love both of those ideas! DELICIOUS!!
I love imitation crabmeat as well.I make a recipe similar to this one except I add a bit of lemon juice,chopped black olives,parsley and a dash of basil.
Oh yum! Your version sounds wonderful also!
This looks delicious! I’m planning on making it tonight; do you have any suggestions on what to serve with it?
It works well with most rice dishes or mashed potatoes.
Going to try it. Looks absolutely delicious. Thanks for posing.
Thank you Catherine! 🙂
Your recipes look really good. I wish you would put the number of calories with them as a lot of people like to know how many calories they are consuming. Just a thought. Thanks..
I don’t typically put nutritional info, but a great resource is caloriecount.com – it’s free to have an account and you can copy and paste your ingredients into their analyzer.
I made the crab salad but added some hot seasoning and it is very tasty
Mick, thank you for the great review and for the seasoning tip :).
Just found your site and you have reinvigorated my zest for trying new dishes. I made your Crab Salad tonight, it looks and smells really good! I didn’t read the tip about leaving the tomatoes out if making it the night before, I will know for next time. Thank you for sharing your recipes, there are so many that sound good, I hardly know where to start.
Welcome to the site Shelagh :). I hope that you’ll find many new favorites :).
Do you think the taste might be altered if I make this the night before? I want to make it Saturday night for Sunday lunch? Just wondering if the tomatoes will hold up?
Thanks!
It might be best to add the tomatoes before serving so the salad doesn’t get too juicy. You can prep and pre-chop all of the ingredients and keep them separate and then just stir everything together with the dressing before serving.
I’ve made similar fish salads with the same ingredients (only with raw fish instead of imitation crab … it’s a Tongan delicacy called “‘ota”). I always love it the next day and even day after. Try it out with the imitation crab. It might be more delish the next day. Just stir a little before serving. The tomatoes will mix in more with the mayo and create a slightly more acidic taste. I always spritz in a half lemon to this recipe. Never tried with garlic though. Going to give that a go.
Just made this salad and it’s delicious. The garlic really makes the salad. I thought the 1/2 cup of mayo wouldn’t be enough but it definitely was. Thank you for this recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
I can’t believe I haven’t reviewed this already. I’ve made this recipe at least half a dozen times since I found it first several months ago. It’s one of my favorites and will remain in my recipe book for years to come. I switch it up sometimes and I add kosher pickle in place of some of the cucumber. I also use red onion instead of green onion. And from time to time I add a little seeded chopped jalapeno. GREAT RECIPE!
Thank you so much for the great review Rowlanda :). I’m so glad you liked it and the pickle does sound like a good idea. Do you still use tomato with the pickle?
I had seen another crab salad recipe that was served in jumbo pasta shells but I liked the ingredients in yours better. I made these for a covered dish luncheon at church and there were none left to bring home. Thanks for sharing.
I’m so happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
This is really tasty! Very jealous of your knife skills – mine wasn’t as pretty as yours, but still looked pretty good. Since the audience that meal likes their food highly seasoned, added 1/2 tblsp of seasoned rice vinegar, a scant 1/2 tsp of celery salt, and a scant 1/2 tsp of sriracha. Still had that comforting crab salad appeal, but with the tiniest bit of heat. YUM.
Thanks for sharing how you made it. I always love to try new ways of making things. I love the idea of adding sriracha! I love that stuff and never would have thought to put it in. Thanks so much!
I don’t care for mayo. Could I substitute yogurt or something. Im Going to try to find veganaise at my local market.
I haven’t tested this salad with yogurt. You might try plain greek yogurt or even sour cream, but you’ll probably have to season it up more since mayo gives this salad some nice flavor. I found the Vegenaise at Fred Meyer 🙂
This crab salad was good..The combination was perfect. It’s like making a cucumber and tomato salad just with crab meat making it extra special and different. Thanks!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you liked it 🙂
Hey Natasha!
I love your recipes.. Russian myself but living in USA, I still cook just like you lots of recipes from home!
Have ever tried this salad with white rice? My mom always made it with rice, she’s would cool it off and add it up to the ingredients! She always would make it for big holidays.. So none would be left
I’ve had crab salad with rice before (and it wasn’t mine, so maybe it was just That specific recipe), but I didn’t dig it, so I never tried making it myself. If you try it witih this recipe, let me know how you like it!