Creamy Chili Crab Pasta • Two Purple Figs

February 10, 2025

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Creamy Chili Crab Pasta is yet another seafood pasta recipe that only needs a few minutes to make, and utterly delicious! Lots of chili oil, fresh cooked crab meat tossed in pasta. So Good! So spicy, creamy, flavorful with crab legs.

Do you remember our article on How To Cook Crab Legs? It’s a full tutorial on different methods to cook crab perfectly. We used a skillet to make our Crab Pasta all in one pan. And today we’re using the same crab, and out phenomenal Chili Oil Recipe to make this creamy chili crab pasta!

So it’s crabs galore over here, and if you love crabs you’ll love this recipe too! The Chili Oil is loaded with ginger, garlic, chili flakes, spices all in a healthy avocado oil. So you pretty much don’t need to add anything else!

You can keep it as is or add a splash of creamy, hence the creamy chili crab pasta. Either way it’s SO GOOD!

Why You’ll LOVE this Creamy Chili Crab Pasta

Super Tasty! All the flavors above of the Chili Oil, plus crab, plus a touch of cream!
If making the crabs from scratch , you’ll need one skillet and 40 minutes total.
If you have ready cooked crab, and the oil ready in your pantry, you basically need 15 minutes!
You can make this recipe for a crowd and it’s such a crowd pleaser!
If you have shrimp, feel free to use that. Or try our Sweet Chili Salmon too! OMG so good!
You can use noodles here or ramen if you’re out of pasta or want a full on Asian experience.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Crab. Use store bought crab meat, cooked or raw. We are preparing the fresh crab today from scratch so you can know how to prepare it as well.
Chili Oil. One of our staples with endless uses! We keep a jar of this oil in our pantry and it lasts for months!
Butter. This is for cooking the fresh crab, if you’re using store bought you won’t need it.
Garlic. Similarly the garlic flavors the crab meat as we’re cooking it from scratch.
Seasoning and Herbs. Simple salt and pepper seasoning with fresh herbs like chives, parsley and some chillies for a kick.
Cream. You only need a splash of this for that creamy effect, and you can skip it for a luscious chili crab pasta.

How to Make Creamy Chili Crab Pasta

Cook the Crab

Follow the EXACT same steps to Crab Pasta for the best way to be cooking crab and use it in any type of pasta. Basically you’ll cook the crabs with butter in a skillet that’s also oven safe.
Then you’re going to season the crab, cover it with foil and take it to the oven after cooking on the stove for a 5 minutes.
Once ready, you’re going to remove the crab meat from the shells. And your crab is ready.
You can likewise use store-bought crab meat, but we wanted to show you how to make it entirely from scratch as well.

Make Chili Pasta

Cook your favorite type of pasta. We used linguine for this dish. You can use fettuccine, spaghetti or spaghettini. Bucatini is another great alternative. We find that noodles are a great alternative here too and offer a great Asian experience.
Once cooked you’re going to pour in a generous amount of your Chili Oil Recipe. This oil has all the flavors you need like garlic, ginger, chillies, sesame and more! However you can toss in extra of those in to the pasta if you like as well.
Mix the pasta with the oil until well coated and flavorful.
Now you can the cream to make it a creamy chili crab pasta, or leave it as it is.
Serve it with the crab meat on top–store bought or cooked as shown above.
SO GOOD! Super and satisfying meal!

Tips for BEST Creamy Chili Crab Pasta

If you can use fresh crab meat instead of store bought, it would be highly recommended. If you’re rushed on time, you can buy cooked crab meat and skip the preparation step of the fish.
We always have a jar of Chili Oil in our pantry. It keeps for months and we use it endlessly! If you have that prepared as well, this recipe only requires 15 minutes!
We love a long pasta for this recipe, it gets coated really well with the chili oil and you taste the flavor in every bite.
To make this creamy, add 2 -3 tablespoons of cream per bowl of chili crab pasta. The spicy and creamy contrast is AMAZING!
You can use sour cream if you’re out of heavy cream, but avoid using milk or half n half.
This recipe is great served hot or cold. So feel free to test it both ways and find your favorite. We especially like it without cream when cold–sort of like a salad!
Leftovers are great if you’re going to have them cold the next day. Otherwise reheat the dish in a microwave safe bowl.
We don’t recommend freezing cooked crab, as it changes texture.

What to do with Chili Oil

Sweet Chili Salmon
Asian Cucumber Salad
Chili Lime Shrimp
Seared Ahi Tuna

Crab Recipes

How To Cook Crab Legs
Crab Pasta
Sushi Stacks made with Crab Sushi
Crab Claws