Fresh crab meat, a sliced chilli, garlic and a squeeze of lime tossed through angel hair pasta. That is the entire dish. Ramsay teaches a beginner to cook it in 10 minutes on his Fast Food show, and it became a Cookalong Live staple.
In the Fast Food episode, he walks a woman who can only make toast through every step. She has never chopped a chilli, but ten minutes later her husband says he is impressed. He also makes a Cookalong Live version with angel hair and lime.
The crab goes in raw and barely cooks. A minute in the pan with the chilli and garlic warms it through without toughening it. Overcook crab and it turns rubbery, which is why Ramsay adds it last.
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Gordon Ramsay’s Crab Pasta
Course: Dinner, MainCuisine: Italian, BritishDifficulty: Easy2
servings5
minutes8
minutes420
kcal10 minutes
Angel hair pasta with fresh crab, chilli and lime from Ramsay’s Cookalong Live. Three ingredients, ten minutes, no real cooking beyond boiling the pasta.
Ingredients
200g (7 oz) dried angel hair pasta (capellini)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
2 spring onions (scallions), finely chopped
Splash of white wine
200g (7 oz) fresh white crab meat
Juice of 1 lime
Small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Cook the pasta: Boil the angel hair pasta in salted water for 3-4 minutes until al dente. Drain, reserving a splash of pasta water.
- Fry the aromatics: Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the garlic, chilli and spring onions (scallions) and fry for 1-2 minutes until softened.
- Deglaze: Add a splash of white wine and let it reduce for 30 seconds.
- Add the crab: Squeeze in the lime juice, then gently fold in the crab meat. Season and warm through for about 1 minute. Do not stir too hard or the crab will break into mush.
- Combine and serve: Add the drained pasta and parsley. Toss gently. Add a splash of pasta water if it needs loosening. Serve with an extra squeeze of lime and a drizzle of olive oil.
Notes
- Ramsay uses angel hair in the Cookalong but says fresh tagliatelle or dried linguine work too. In the Fast Food episode he uses fresh tagliatelle with lemon instead of lime. Both versions take under 10 minutes.
FAQs
What type of crab meat should you buy?
Fresh white crab meat from the fishmonger gives the sweetest flavour and cleanest flake. Ramsay uses white meat in all three videos. Tinned or pasteurised crab works but drain it well because it holds more water.
Brown crab meat has a stronger, earthier taste that would overpower the chilli and lime. The crab risotto uses both white and brown together because the rice can handle that intensity. This pasta needs white only.
What is the difference between the two video versions?
The Fast Food version uses fresh tagliatelle, lemon juice and parsley. The Cookalong version uses angel hair, lime juice, spring onions and white wine. Both take under 10 minutes and warm the crab gently with chilli and garlic.
The lime version is sharper and lighter. The lemon version is rounder because wider tagliatelle holds more oil. Pick whichever citrus you have in the house.
Can a complete beginner make this?
That is the whole point. Ramsay designed it as a first recipe for someone who has never cooked. In the Fast Food episode, Rachel cannot chop a chilli without burning her eyes. He also teaches Amanda Holden the same dish on the Cookalong.
The only skill you need is boiling pasta and slicing garlic. If you can do toast, you can do this. Ramsay tells her to “stick to something really simple and just climb the ladder.”
What pasta shape works best?
Angel hair cooks in 3-4 minutes, which matches the speed of the crab. Tagliatelle and linguine both work but take a minute or two longer. The lobster pasta uses a similar thin pasta with shellfish, so the logic is the same: thin strands, delicate seafood.
Avoid thick shapes like rigatoni. The crab gets lost inside the tubes and the dish loses its lightness.
What other dishes use crab?
The crab cakes from Great British Pub Food take the opposite approach: bound with breadcrumbs, shaped and pan-fried. If you buy too much crab for the pasta, the cakes use 500g and freeze well.
For another quick seafood pasta, the sardine spaghetti from the UCC takes the same time but uses tinned fish and costs a fraction of the price. The fish tacos from Fit Food are another 15-minute seafood meal if you want to build a rotation.
