If you have been looking for some King Crab Legs near you then head down to your local Costco and you can pick up of these beauties. Costco almost always has King Crab legs in stock but sometimes you need to look around to find them.
These legs are not going to be cheap but they are a delicious treat for special occasions.
The legs I find at my local Costco are size 6-9 which means it takes 6 to 9 legs to fill a ten pound case. I have seen people post pictures on Reddit of legs in the 4-7 size range that they found at other Costco stores.
Where Does Costco Keep the King Crab Legs?
Around Christmas and other major holidays Costco will sell small packages of King Crab legs that weigh about three pounds.
The smaller packages will be located near the fresh meat section and are typically in the coolers with the other seafood offerings such as scallops, lobster tails and fresh salmon. These legs are previously frozen but have been thawed so if you buy them you will want to eat them as soon as possible.
In other times of the year, when demand for specialty items is lower, Costco keeps the King Crab Legs in the frozen seafood section. The legs are sold in 10 pound boxes and will need to be thawed at your home.
How Much Do King Crab Legs Cost?
The price of King Crab Legs has been fluctuating quite a bit and these days seems to just be going up!
You can see in the picture of the 10 pound box of legs that in January of 2021 the price of the crabs was $24.99 per pound.
When I went to Costco today (December, 2021) the price had shot up to $38.99 per pound. Talk about inflation!
While nearly $40 per pound might sound expensive it is still a bargain compared to buying the legs from online stores where the price is often around $90 per pound with shipping included.
How to Cook Costco King Crab Legs?
All King Crab Legs get cooked and frozen at a processing facility as soon as they come off the crabbing boats. This is true regardless of where you buy the legs as the crab is perishable and would not last long in a fresh, uncooked state.
Because these legs are already cooked all you need to do is make sure they are thawed before eating.
Some people like eating the crab cold from the shell which is easily done by using a pair of scissors to clip the legs open and expose the meat.
Personally, I prefer to eat the crab hot so I throw it on my Weber grill and let it heat through for about five minutes. I separate the legs at the joints to create manageable sized pieces and to isolate the larger “knuckles”.
There is a lot of meat in the knuckles and they will typically take a few more minutes to heat through than the legs.
If you don’t feel like using a grill you can always heat the legs in a steamer basket on in a 350F oven for 15-20 minutes.
What Does King Crab Taste Like?
There are three main species of King Crab:
- Red
- Blue
- Golden
The Red King Crab is the most abundant and makes up about 75% of the commercial catch. The king crab legs sold at Costco come from Red Kings.
While many people describe the flavor of this crab as “sweet” I find it to be incredibly rich. If you serve the crab with a butter dipping sauce make sure there are plenty of lemon wedges available to help cut through the richness of the crab/butter combo.
Obviously this comes down to personal choices, values, budget, etc.
When the crabs were $25 per pound earlier this year I was happy to buy them but, at the current price of $40 per pound, King Crab is not worth the money to me.
Two pounds of King Crab Legs will cost me about $80 and for that kind of money I could have a much nicer feast. For example, I could get two Prime ribeye steaks for $40, the Costco Shrimp Cocktail for $15, spend $5 on salad fixings and have $20 bucks leftover for a nice bottle of wine.