If it is watermelon season and you are feeling a bit crafty, this Watermelon Crab Salad is for you.
Watermelon Crab Salad is a refreshing, healthy salad complete with crab meat, a touch of heat, and a good dose of watermelon. Perfect for a light lunch!
Sadly, the idea for this dish came to me last year well after the watermelon season had ended. So, I had to wait a while to test it out, but here we are and I made it happen.
I love watermelon salads as a whole because they are so delicious and refreshing with just the right amount of sweetness. Not to mention that you can have all sorts of fun create different shapes and sculptures.
Make sure you PIN Watermelon Crab Salad!
If I am being honest here, I am not the craftiest when it comes to watermelon art. There is no way I can carve a lion face into the side of a melon or magically transform cookies into 3-D masterpieces.
And it is because of my lack of art school skills that I took a different approach for this salad. To make something equally impressive as it is tasty, I decided to skip the sculpting classes and busted out my cookie cutters instead.
If I messed that up, we would need to have a larger conversation. Even the most basic arts and crafts skills can give you a gorgeous looking salad.
Watermelon is a glorious fruit that is actually a member of the gourd family. It grows in the US from April to November although you can sometimes find it imported from other countries.
I like to grill it or even make it into a keg.
Health benefits of watermelon:
- Keeps you hydrated since it is full of water.
- Lowers inflammation.
- Helps you feel satisfied with little calories.
- High in Vitamin A and C.
- Has been linked to improved heart health.
You can’t smell or feel the ripeness of a watermelon, but there are some clues. These delicious treats ripen on the vine in the sun.
A ripe watermelon will have something called a “ground spot.” This is a white or yellow patch on the underside of the melon that indicates it is ready to be enjoyed.
If you tap the watermelon, it should give off a hollow sound. They should feel heavy in your hands no matter the size. Occasionally, a store or farm stand will sell them with their stem attached.
That stem should be hard and green which lets you know it was harvested recently.
Eaten plain, it is a tasty, sweet treat that pairs fabulously with so many other flavors. Sprinkle some salt and it will instantly amplify the flavor.
Pair it with feta or goat cheese and you have a creamy, tangy-sweet treat. You can even add it to salsa to tame the spice levels. Balsamic vinegar is also super delicious!
For this salad, I used a few items from my fridge and sweet, local Maryland blue crab meat. Add a little bit of jalapeno, lime, and salt, and you have one refreshing salad.
For more information on how to choose crab meat, check out my Crab and Shrimp Stuffed Shells with Sherry Cream Sauce. Make sure you check out my 7 tips for more interesting salads before you starting chopping!
If you loved my Watermelon Crab Salad, check out these other easy crab recipes:
Watermelon Crab Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large slices watermelon
- 1 cucumber seeded and finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves shredded
- 1 jalapeno seeded and finely minced
- 1 cup lump blue crab meat
- Juice of 2 fresh limes
Instructions
- Combine cucumber, basil, jalapeno, crab meat, and lime juice in a medium bowl. Place into the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- Cut watermelon into 1 1/2 inch slices. Cut center with a cookie cutter, the shape of your choice, but make sure the center has enough space that you can hollow out a small hole to hold 2 tablespoons of crab meat mixture. You will need at least 4 cut-outs. Reserve the rest for snacking.
- Take each of the four slices and a small slice, about 1/2 inch, horizontally. This will be the lid.
- Spoon out the center of each cut-out to form a bowl.
- When ready to serve, spoon crab meat mixture into the centers of each watermelon bowl. Place the lid back on and serve. Enjoy!
- If you’ve tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was!
I’m allergic to shelled fish — BUT I love this idea! My husband loves crab meat so I wonder what he’d think of this idea!!
I would love to try this salad. I’m going to put it on my grocery list~ YUMMO~
I would have never paired these two items together, but it seems like a refreshing summer meal! Perhaps I will give it a try!
I never would have considered eating these tow together. Looks like a great summer dish!
Beautiful photos! What a light and healthy dish!
I am not sure about crab and watermelon together but I love the idea of using my cookie cutters to make shapes out of my watermelon slices. Awesome!
I’ve never paired fruit and seafood. It looks delicious!
Oh YUM! I’m watermelon obsessed this summer!
Just pinned this cool stuffs!!
Hugs
Watermelon and crab my two favorite foods! Looks like a great recipe for the summer!
I wish I was a seafood person because I really like the combination you have here. It’s so beautifully presented too!
You could leave out the crab and still have a fabulously tasty Watermelon Salas, Liz.
I never considered pairing watermelon with crab. Sounds like it would have a very unique flavor! Thanks for sharing!
What a delicious combo! We love watermelon and crab. I’ll have to give this one a try.
This looks great for a summer time lunch,I have not had crab for years we used to catch our own.
This sounds like the perfect light lunch!
This seems like a very interesting combination. It intrigues me!!! I’ll have to give it a try… 🙂
I’ve only recently discovered how versatile watermelon is. This looks like a great summer salad.
Such an interesting combination. Looks tasty.
I am like a child and would eat it solely based on the shape. I am such a dork like that, but in all seriousness – it sounds awesome 🙂
Wow! this is gorgeous, love crab!