Crab Canapés

These crab canapés make a quick and easy appetiser that's perfect for entertaining or just spoiling yourself at home.

Made with budget friendly canned crab, spring onions, cucumber and mayonnaise, then flavoured with parsley, lemon and paprika, these crab appetisers are incredibly moreish, creamy and delicious.

Great for a last minute idea and plenty of variations and garnishes too.

You don't even have to make your own crostini! There are plenty of ways to cheat.

Bon appétit!   

Jump to:

• ❤️ Why you will love this dish
• 🥘 Ingredients
• 🍽 Equipment
• 🔪 Instructions
• ⏲️ Baking Time
• 🥗 Side Dishes
• 🥙 Substitutions
• 📖 Variations
• 🍣 Storage
• 🍱 Prepare in Advance
• 🤔 FAQs
• 📋 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

When I've got friends round for drinks or I'm hosting a dinner party, I love to be able to offer something homemade, rather than just filling bowls with nuts and crisps.

However, that doesn't mean that I want to spend hours doing it, especially if I am making several courses!

These crab canapés are great because you can often make the toppings in advance and then just assemble before serving, for stress free entertaining.

So, if you are not a fan of crab, there are plenty of other ideas that are equally as easy to try.

Even better, for these crab crostini, you can even buy ready toasted bread, so there's no excuse.

❤️ Why you will love this dish

• Make the crostini base up to a week in advance.
• 10 minutes to make the topping and assemble.
• Budget friendly with canned crab.
• Fuss free entertaining!
• Great for parties, dinner parties, buffets and drinks get togethers.
• Easy to vary the toppings and garnishes.

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🥘 Ingredients

• Crab - canned white crab meat or fresh crab meat if you prefer.
• Bread - half a French baguette or small stick.
• Lemon - fresh lemon juice is best, but use bottled if you need to.
• Oil - olive oil for making the crostini. There is no need to use extra virgin olive oil as the flavour will be lost in the the baking.
• Spring onions - also known as green onions or salad onions. The long thin onions have a mider flavour and make a better garnish than the larger round ones.
• Mayonnaise - any variety, homemade mayonnaise or lower fat varieties will all work.
• Cucumber - English cucumber for garnish.
• Parsley - fresh parsley.
• Paprika - for garnish.

The printable recipe card with full ingredient quantities and instructions can be found at the bottom of the article.

🍽 Equipment

• bread knife
• pastry brush
• sharp knife
• chopping board
• sieve
• mixing bowl
• baking tray
• cooling rack

🔪 Instructions

Drain the canned crab.

💭 Top Tip

• If you are using canned crab it is often packed in brine or water. Let it drain in a sieve and use the back of a spoon to press out the liquid or it will make the topping too wet. When it has fully drained, fluff it up with a fork.

Cut the bread into 12 slices about 1.5 centimetres or half an inch thick.

You can cut the rounds into circles or cut slightly on the angle to get oval pieces.

Brush the top of each piece of bread with the olive oil and place on a baking tray.

⏲️ Baking Time

Preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F / 160 FAN / Gas 4 and bake the crostini for about 10 - 15 minutes until golden.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Peel the spring onions and reserve 2 for the garnish.

Finely chop the onions and slice the garnish onions on the diagonal.

Retain 2 slices of cucumber for the garnish, cut into segments and finely chop the rest.

Chop the parsley and reserve a few leaves for garnish.

Place the crab in a mixing bowl with the lemon juice, mayonnaise and chopped parsley, cucumber and spring onions.

Mix with a fork to combine.

When you are ready to serve the crab canapés top the crostini with a spoonful of the crab mayonnaise.

Sprinkle the crab mayonnaise with the paprika and top with the remaining parsley, cucumber and spring onion.

🥗 Side Dishes

It's great to serve a variety of different finger foods. Try some of these ideas.

• Prawn Canapés
• Smoked Salmon Canapés
• Salmon Gravlax
• Smoked Salmon Tartines
• Smoked Salmon and Avocado Mousse
• Baked Halloumi Fries
• Cheese Sausage Rolls
• Quail Scotch Eggs
• Turkey Sausage Rolls
• Ham and Cheese Palmiers
• Savoury Cake
• Breaded Garlic Mushrooms
• Asian Pork Koftas

🥙 Substitutions

• Crab - use imitation crab or surimi, also known as kani. Shred the surimi and chop so that it resembles crab meat,
• Mayonnaise - if you prefer use soured cream, yogurt or crème fraîche.

📖 Variations

• Herbs - use chopped dill, tarragon or basil for a change.
• Prawn - use drained canned prawns or defrosted prawns and chop before adding to the mayonnaise. Drain well on kitchen paper before using.
• Salmon - use canned salmon or leftover cooked salmon. Combine smoked salmon and poached salmon together.
• Tuna - for a really budget friendly idea use canned flaked tuna.
• Avocado - add small chunks of avocado dipped in lemon juice.
• Melon - small chunks of melon.

If you fancy a different base for the crab canapés , try one of these ideas.

• Blinis
• Toasted bread rectangles
• Sliced baguette
• Melba Toasts
• Oatcakes.

Try some of these garnishes.

• Capers - add 3 capers
• Radishes - finely sliced radishes
• Cress - add a few sprigs of cress
• Lemon - cut a slice of lemon and then cut into small triangles to decorate.

🍣 Storage

• Refrigerator - store the crap crostini topping covered in the fridge for up to 2 days.
• Freezer - not suitable for freezing.

🍱 Prepare in Advance

• Make the crostini up to a week in advance and store in an airtight tin or container.
• Store any leftover crab mayonnaise topping in the fridge for up to 2 days.

🤔 FAQs

Let me know what you think in the comments or you can post a picture and tag me on Twitter @chezlereve, Instagram @chezlerevefrancais, or Facebook @chezlerevefrancais

More seafood ideas

• Salmon Timbales
• Seafood Bisque
• Lobster with Dill Mayonnaise
• Cod Mornay
• Scallops with Chorizo
• Crab Salad
• Cod Cheeks with Chorizo
• Salmon Meunière
• Smoked Salmon Pâté
• Crab Pâté
• Poor Mans' Lobster with Thermidor Sauce

📋 Recipe

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