Spicy Crab and Corn Pasta
- Total Time
- 35 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- Kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)
- 12ounces spaghetti
- 1lemon
- 5tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1garlic clove, grated
- ¼teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more to taste
- ¾cup panko
- ½cup dry white wine
- Kernels from 1 large or 2 small ears corn (about ¾ cup)
- 8ounces fresh lump crab meat
- 3tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 3tablespoons grated Parmesan
- Julienned or torn fresh basil leaves, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
587 calories; 18 grams fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 74 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 25 grams protein; 524 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the spaghetti and cook, tossing occasionally, until al dente. Scoop out 1 cup pasta water, then drain the pasta and set aside. Zest, then juice the lemon, and set aside to use later.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, in a large (12-inch) skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low. Add the garlic, red-pepper flakes, and ¼ teaspoon salt and cook for 1 minute, stirring often, until fragrant. Add the panko and cook, stirring occasionally, until the panko begins to brown. At that point, begin stirring almost constantly and cook until the crumbs are golden brown, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside, reserving the skillet.
- Step 3
Wipe out the skillet with a paper towel. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons butter, along with the wine. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to melt the butter, and add the corn kernels. Cook until the corn is tender and the liquid is reduced by about half, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside until the pasta is ready.
- Step 4
Add the reserved pasta water to the skillet, along with 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, then add the cooked pasta and cook, tossing often, until about half the liquid has been absorbed, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Step 5
Add the crab and parsley, toss, and cook for 1 more minute, until the crab is heated through. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice, then the Parmesan, and toss until the cheese is melted. Taste for seasonings and add salt to taste.
- Step 6
Serve the pasta in shallow bowls, topped with a generous sprinkle of bread crumbs, lemon zest, basil and more red-pepper flakes if desired.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Gerry
In my many years of pasta and seafood paring the amount of cheese called for here is exactly the right amount to enhance the whole dish. I will be adding it when I make this dish over the weekend. I get so cross with the number of critics who post comments about recipes before trying them.
ChicagoCook
Fresh corn should never be cooked longer than a minute. It should retain some crunch. Do the butter and wine, add corn along with the pasta water, followed by the crab and parsley. For a flavor boost, try making a corn broth from your leftover corn cobs. I store mine in a freezer until I’ve got about 18. Then I simmer in a big pot of water for hours, strain out all the bits and reduce the broth until it’s like a nectar. The aroma! It makes an amazing base for seafood dishes and corn soups.
peterportez
This is a pretty tame "spicy" crab/corn pasta dish. Abd pul-eeze, no parmesan over the crab, At $50 a pound, don't do anything to take away the crab's inherent sweetness.
Namekc
I think it sounds dee-lightful,thank you NYT for continuing to bring us wonderful and creative recipes!
Juarroz
Chicken-of-the-Sea lump crab, about $3 can.
Hamish
Outstanding recipe, thank you, great balance of flavors, easy and quick. For those who repeat the tired trope about seafood-and-cheese, that's more fetish than "purist." As a lover of seafood and cheese, separately and together, my guess is this came from idiotic combinations like putting blue cheese on scallops, etc ... and the baby went out with the bathwater.
Martha
I think that $50 per pound was the crab, not the Parmesan. Whichever he meant, I would still agree to the advice of get thee to Costco.
Dana
Added a couple dashes of cayenne and then a couple more of Old Bay and this became much more complex.
Bob
peterportez pays $50 a pound for Parmesan? Get thee to Costco
Nina
Why not cook the corn on the cob briefly with the spaghetti? This flavors the water and after a minute, the kernels can be sliced off the cob.
Andrea
Cooked with wild mushrooms (chicken of the woods shredded) in place of crab. Delicious !
Equilibrist
Crab is super-expensive right now. Here in Baltimore, it’s $79 a pound for jumbo lump. I recommend trying this with shrimp, or using crab claw meat, eat least until prices stabilize.
Sydney
This is amazing! I did not have parsley but my basil is going crazy so I used that instead. Also, I could not bring myself to buy crab from Sri Lanka so I used domestic sole. Still super delicious!
Laurie
I'd make this again but tweak it. If I could afford it, I'd double the crab, or cut the pasta in half if all I had was 8 oz of crab. Doing this would make it more of a crab dish with pasta, rather than a pasta dish with some crab.
Schnu
For the commenter who wondered why so many people wont put cheese on seafood-it was an interpretation of jewish dietary law for certain sects of Sephardic Jews. Many Italians have Sephardic Jewish heritage and it’s just something that got carried down through the centuries.
chelsea
Great recipe! Two alterations that punched it up for our family - 3 garlic cloves and adding a few finely chopped thai red chilis for tossing at the end for added spice. Would have been fine without but we like garlic & chili so enjoyed the addition. Others who may want more heat should consider the small thai chilis as an addition! They freeze nicely and got tossed in while still frozen and worked beautifully.
ashley p
Really delish. If you don’t like the cheese and fish combo you’re gonna really hate this: To edits I made: 1. Sautéed a thinly sliced shallot at the beginning 2. No parm I just added a tablespoon of ricotta at the end on top and yes you can still very much taste the corn and the texture is the same.
Sheila Pulver
This recipe sounded easy and flavorful, but alas it was pretty bland. I'd eliminate the pasta water and maybe add garlic and red pepper flakes to the corn and butter. Bread cumbs were tasty and added texture.
Richard X
The recipe calls for "1garlic clove, grated" and "¼teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more to taste." The pasta water is meant to emulsify the sauce, not to add liquid..
Erinn
DELICIOUS! I added a lot more garlic than this called for and added spinach to increase the greens. I only had pappardelle which required a bit more than a cup of pasta water, but was perfect for this combination. Give the pepper grinder a few more cranks, and this recipe will be a favorite when you're fortunate enough to end up with fresh crab!
Jenn
I made just as directed except I put a few chilis flakes in with the corn when it cooked. I was worried that all the heat was only in the bread crumb garnish; I am glad I made this addition, it had the perfect amount of heat. Next time I will scale back the pasta to 9/8oz instead of 12. This was very yummy and easy to throw together.
Nat
Instead of crab, we used a bag of "frozen seafood pieces" from Trader Joe's (mix of shrimp, scallops, & squid) and it came out amazing. If you skip the parmesan, you're insane. Will be making this again!
Doubled pasta and crab
16 oz pasta; 16 oz. Crab meat
nancy
It was a good recipe but it seemed to be way too many steps. I’m a passionate cook but felt the steps could be reduced for the simplicity of the final product.
Virginia
Made it according to the recipe. It was very tasty but we thought it needed a bit more sauce. Perhaps a little more wine/butter sauce or cherry tomatoes that burst and add a little liquid. Still really tasty, though - loved those spicy breadcrumbs! Some fresh ground pepper at the end was very tasty too.
al6al
Followed the recipe to a T. Not at all spicy. In fact, pretty flavorless. Panko mixture as the best component.
Sooz
This was a more subtly flavored dish than I usually make but was truly excellent. We had probably closer to 1 1/2 lbs of dungeness crab pulled from a pot that morning so I used a full lb of pasta and increased other ingredients proportionally(ish). I did add a couple of shallots in with the corn and didn't have any parsley but didn't miss it.
Catherine S.
Made as directed EXCEPT for using Calabrian chiles and shells for the pasta - which provided structure for the corn kernels and crabmeat (Maine, 38.00/lb) for a perfect bite every time. Will make again!
Eve
Dungeness crab gets lost in this.
Isabella
The spicy garlicky breadcrumbs are now my second favorite NYTCooking item since the brown butter aioli in the Prune crab toast. This pasta was as good if not better than my neighborhood Italian restaurant's version (which is very good). Only substitution was using Crushed Calabrian Chilis in Oil instead of red pepper flakes and it was divine. No crumbs.
Diane
Add diced sweet red pepper for color.
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