Avoid This Imitation Crab Brand At All Costs

True to its name, imitation crab mimics the firm, sweet, and deliciously bouncy taste of crab meat with the help of fish paste, starches, glutamates, and egg white protein, to name just a few of the typical ingredients. A major selling point of imitation crab is its cheap price tag in comparison to the real deal. There are plenty of great brands to satisfy your crab craving and tight budget too. But, sadly, there's one you should avoid at all costs. Tasting Table tried and ranked seven different imitation crab brands from worst to best, according to how close each one got to the taste and texture of real crab. Coming in dead last were Trans Ocean's Seafood Snackers, long sticks of imitation crab "legs" meant to be eaten straight out of the package. With a one-dollar price tag, we didn't exactly have high expectations. 

But even our low expectations weren't quite low enough. The legs themselves looked like flimsy, crab-colored peppermint sticks and they had a weirdly squishy texture between our fingers. Once we took a bite, the texture just got worse and worse; the interior of these crab legs had an incredibly off-putting, powdery graininess. This, coupled with a spongy, almost tofu-like structure was as far from real crab meat as you can get. The flavor wasn't much better either, with the strong umami crabbiness overpowered by a sugary aftertaste. While crab meat has a slight sweetness, the sweetener added to these snackable legs overdid it, making it unavoidably clear that this wasn't the real thing but rather a pale imitation.

We found a wealth of Walmart shoppers who were just as unimpressed with Trans Ocean's Seafood Snackers as we were. Customers obviously weren't expecting flaky, delicate crab meat, but as one put it, "These are bad even for fake crab. They just are kind of gelatinous and don't even have very distinct strings." Another reviewer likened the texture to string cheese sticks. Still more complaints about Trans Ocean's Seafood Snackers detailed how "they acquired an unpleasant mealy, disintegrating texture, marginally edible," especially if they aren't eaten fresh out of the fridge. 

Many customers looking for a high-protein snack were similarly disappointed with the low protein content of the crab legs. Taste complaints run the gamut from overly fishy to overly sweet, to completely tasteless. Since numerous customers pointed to the unsatisfying taste and texture of Trans Ocean's Seafood Snackers, it's safe to say that they aren't worth eating by themselves (clearly their intended purpose).

Our favorite brands in the taste test, Louis Kemp and Waterfront Bistro, balanced sweet and umami flavors in a manner more similar to real crab, with a slight brininess to round them out. They also mastered the firm and meaty texture that could easily flake apart if added to other recipes. Aside from this crab salad sushi, you'd be surprised at the long list Tasting Table has compiled of other uses for imitation crab.