She Crab Soup Recipe: Flavors of the Gulf at Home

she crab soup recipe

On our Panama City Beach road trip, I was reminded how wonderful she crab soup can taste.  Living in Minnesota, it’s not something we see on the menu very often.  My first taste of she crab soup was at The Bubble Room on Captiva Island in Florida when my daughter was a baby.  Since then, I’ve been ordering it whenever I’m near the gulf.  Like most regional foods I crave when I’m back at home, I set out to try to make it myself.

The version below is pretty close to what I know and love.  It was inspired by Paula Deen’s She Crab Soup Recipe on Foodnetwork.com and The Classic She Crab Soup recipe on Allrecipes.com.  I switched it up by blending it with a stick blender (shown below).  If you use fresh crab meat (vs. the canned kind I used) you may want to omit that step for a chunkier soup.  Note:  NEVER use imitation crab meat in this recipe.  I didn’t want the flaky texture of the canned crab in my soup and opted to blend it to make it creamy.  If you can’t find Louisiana Hot Sauce, you can add heat with a few shakes of Tabasco.

Frugal Tips:   Traditional she-crab soup calls for the roe of the crab, but hard-cooked eggs are a frugal (and more accessible) substitute.

She Crab Soup Recipe
 
Ingredients
  • 3 hard boiled egg yolks
  • 4 Tbsp. butter
  • 2 green onions, minced
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
  • 1½ C. fish stock
  • 1½ C. milk
  • 1½ C. heavy cream
  • 2 6-oz. cans crabmeat
  • ⅓ C. sherry
  • ¼ tsp. black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp. Louisiana Hot Sauce (or similar)
  • ¾ C. Parmesan cheese, grated
  • ½ tsp. paprika for garnish
Instructions
  1. With a fork, crumble the eggs yolks. Set aside. In a stockpot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add green onion, celery and garlic, and stir until translucent. Add the flour and cook until it starts to form a paste. Add fish stock, milk, and cream. Bring to a simmer.
  2. Add egg yolks, crab meat, sherry, pepper, hot sauce, and Parmesan cheese. Heat until cheese has entirely melted. With a stick blender, blend until the soup is thick and creamy. Garnish with green onions and a sprinkle of paprika.

 

 

Comments

  1. This soup sounds great. I just made Hungarian mushroom soup after having it at the Pisoma Kitchen in Sleepy Eye. My husband thought it was wonderful

    • frugalbites says:

      I have never heard of Pisoma Kitchen… is it worth the trip from Mankato? If you try the She Crab soup, let me know what you think Alicia! :)

  2. They have a website with the menu on it. The menu changes drastically each month, which I like. They are only open 7-3 weekdays and less on weekends. We love the food, it is so different than anything else you can get in Sleepy Eye. I have heard their breakfasts are good and I have had the caramel rolls and they are to die for. They also have donut holes with sea salt caramel, sinful.

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