Crab Legs in Raleigh, NC: Skip the Crab House and Steam Them at Home
Craving crab legs in Raleigh, NC usually means a crab house, a wait and a bib. Or you can bring snow crab home and crack it at your own table. Topsail Steamer’s Raleigh store, in Brennan Station on Creedmoor Road, packs snow crab legs into a steam pot with corn, potatoes and butter. Add liquid, steam about 40 minutes, and dinner is on the table. Think of it as a weeknight seafood boil in Raleigh with no reservation.
No toil, just boil. Here’s which buckets have crab, how to size one for your group, and how to get every last bit of meat out of the shell.
Snow crab legs to go: what’s in a Bay Bucket
A seafood steam pot is a single-use pot that holds the seafood, vegetables and seasoning for one meal, so everything steams together and dumps straight onto the table. Topsail Steamer calls its version the Bay Bucket®. For the full rundown, read what a seafood steam pot is.
Every Bay Bucket starts with sweet corn, red bliss potatoes, butter, cocktail sauce and table paper. The seafood is what changes from bucket to bucket.
Six buckets with snow crab
- Crabby Jimbo: shrimp, snow crab, potatoes and corn. The crab-first bucket, with no sausage or clams.
- Full Steamer: shrimp, snow crab, clams, corn, potatoes and sausage.
- Wrightsville: snow crab, scallops, shrimp, clams, corn, potatoes and sausage.
- Shark Bite: lobster, shrimp, snow crab, clams, scallops, corn, potatoes and sausage.
- Captain Pierce: shrimp, snow crab, scallops, clams, potatoes and sausage.
- Miss Emily II: shrimp, snow crab, lobster, clams, sausage and onion.
Want your own mix? Ask the Raleigh store about a Build Your Own bucket.
If crab legs are the reason you searched, start with the Crabby Jimbo. Crab as one part of a bigger spread? The Shark Bite and Miss Emily II add lobster.
Low Tider or High Tider: size it to the table
Each bucket comes in two sizes. The Low Tider serves 2-3 people and the High Tider serves 4-6.
- Two or three people: one Low Tider.
- A family of four to six: one High Tider.
- Eight people: a High Tider plus a Low Tider, or two High Tiders for big eaters.
- Ten to twelve: two High Tiders.
A common rule of thumb is about 1½ pounds of snow crab per person when crab is the whole meal. The bucket shares the work with shrimp, corn and potatoes, so the crab doesn’t have to carry dinner alone. Round up a size for a table full of crab lovers.
Crab house or crab legs at home?
Raleigh’s crab houses do one thing well: someone else cooks. The cost is the wait, the table size and the clock. Crab legs take time to eat, and that pace suits a long dinner with people you like more than a booth with a line behind it.
| Crab house night | Snow crab at home | |
|---|---|---|
| When you eat | When your name is called | When the timer goes off |
| Group size | What one table seats | Whoever you invite |
| Pace | Set by the dining room | As slow as you like |
| What’s on | The restaurant’s TV | The Canes game, or your playlist |
| Cleanup | Someone else’s job | Roll up the table paper |
The home route still takes a stop on Creedmoor Road and 40 minutes of steam. Plenty of North Raleigh households will take that trade on a Friday night.
How to steam a Bay Bucket in about 40 minutes
- Pick up your bucket at Topsail Steamer Raleigh, 8111 Creedmoor Rd Suite 167, in Brennan Station.
- Add liquid. Water or beer goes straight into the pot. No pre-boil.
- Set it on the heat. The stove works, and so does any burner, including a gas grill burner.
- Start the timer and steam for about 40 minutes.
- Dump it out on the table paper and call everyone in.
Nothing to drain and no second pot to scrub. The whole meal cooks together, and the table paper becomes the serving platter.
Snow crab vs. king crab: which legs are which
Both get sold as “crab legs,” but they eat differently.
Snow crab legs are long and slender, with thinner shells that crack easily. The meat is sweet and briny with a fibrous texture. It’s harvested from fall through early summer and usually costs less per pound than king crab.
King crab is the bigger of the two, with thick pieces of meat people often compare to lobster. Most of it comes from Alaska and the Bering Sea in a short season, and it’s priced as a splurge.
For a table of people cracking and passing, snow crab wins. The shells open by hand or with kitchen scissors, and a pile of clusters goes further around the table. That’s the crab in Topsail Steamer’s buckets.
How to crack and eat snow crab legs
- Twist at the joint. Hold the leg on each side of a joint, bend and pull. The tendon often slides out with the meat.
- Snip the shell. Run kitchen scissors down the softer side of each section.
- Peel it open and lift the meat out in one piece. A fork or crab pick handles the stubborn bits.
- Crack the claws. They have the hardest shell. A mallet or the back of a heavy spoon does it.
Dip in the butter from the bucket, or go for the cocktail sauce. Drop shells right on the table paper, and keep paper towels close.
Feeding 20 or more? Get a Party Pot
A birthday, a reunion or an NC State tailgate is too big for buckets. A Party Pot feeds 20-30 people and is available for pickup at the Raleigh store.
- Seafood choices include snow crab, shrimp, lobster tails, large sea scallops, littleneck clams, andouille and kielbasa, plus corn, potatoes, seasoning, butter and cocktail sauce.
- Timing: you steam it yourself and eat in about an hour. Order 1-2 days ahead, and earlier for holiday weekends, when demand is higher.
- Cost: from about $20 per person, compared with caterers that often run $45 and up and ask for 2-4 weeks of lead time.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I get crab legs to cook at home in Raleigh, NC?
The Raleigh store, at 8111 Creedmoor Rd Suite 167 in Brennan Station, sells snow crab legs packed into Bay Buckets, ready to steam at home. That’s different from a bag of frozen legs from the grocery store. The bucket comes with corn, potatoes, butter, cocktail sauce and table paper, so there are no sides to build and no sauce to hunt down. Six signature buckets include snow crab, and the Crabby Jimbo keeps it to crab, shrimp, corn and potatoes. Steam time is about 40 minutes.
Is there an all-you-can-eat crab legs option in Raleigh?
No buffet here, but a Bay Bucket gets close at home. You choose a size for your group, and nobody is watching the clock or the plate count. A Low Tider serves 2-3 people and a High Tider serves 4-6. A crowd that plans to eat crab until it’s gone should size up one bucket or add a second Crabby Jimbo. Leftover crab reheats in a few minutes of steam, which beats a buffet’s no-boxes rule.
How many crab legs do I need per person?
Plan on about 1½ pounds of snow crab per person if crab is the entire meal. Plan for less when crab shares the table with shrimp, corn and potatoes, the way it does in a Bay Bucket. With a Topsail Steamer order, count people instead of pounds: a Low Tider serves 2-3 and a High Tider serves 4-6. Adults who came for the crab should size up one bucket. With kids in the mix, the stated ranges usually cover it.
Which Bay Bucket should I get if I mostly want crab legs?
Get the Crabby Jimbo. Of the six buckets with snow crab, it’s the only one without sausage, clams, scallops or lobster, so crab and shrimp are the stars. If half the table wants crab and the other half wants variety, the Full Steamer adds clams and sausage, and the Shark Bite brings lobster and scallops. A split table can also order two Low Tiders in different styles, which puts a pot at each end.
How long does it take to steam crab legs in a Bay Bucket?
About 40 minutes. Add water or beer, skip the pre-boil, start the timer and let it steam on the stove or a burner. Work backward from dinnertime: pickup on Creedmoor Road, the drive home, 40 minutes of steam, then a few minutes to lay out the table paper. The steam time is hands-off, so that’s when you set out drinks and find the scissors.
Can I get crab legs for a party of 20 or more in Raleigh?
Yes. A Party Pot feeds 20-30 people, snow crab is one of the seafood choices, and you pick it up at the Raleigh store. Order 1-2 days ahead, and earlier around holiday weekends, when demand is higher. It starts at about $20 per person, compared with caterers at often $45 and up, and skips the 2-4 week booking window. For 8 to 18 people, a few Bay Buckets usually make more sense than a pot built for a crowd.
Is Topsail Steamer Raleigh close to Wake Forest?
The store sits in Brennan Station on Creedmoor Road, about a mile from I-540. Wake Forest is a straight run east on I-540, and Brier Creek is west on the same highway. That puts a crab leg dinner on the drive home for much of the Triangle’s north side. Call ahead and pickup takes a few minutes.
How do I reheat leftover crab legs?
Steam them. Bring a couple of inches of water to a boil, set the legs in a steamer basket or colander over the pot, cover and heat for a few minutes until warm. Steaming keeps the meat moist. In the microwave, wrap the legs in damp paper towels first. Most crab legs are cooked and frozen on the boat, so reheating is warming, not cooking. Too long and the meat turns stringy.
Bring the crab legs home
Skip the crab house wait. Pick up a Crabby Jimbo or any snow crab bucket at Topsail Steamer Raleigh, 8111 Creedmoor Rd Suite 167, Raleigh, NC 27613, or call (919) 322-2825 to plan a Party Pot for a bigger crowd. Topsail Steamer started in Surf City, NC, in 2017 and now serves seafood boil in North Carolina and beyond. No toil, just boil.
