Chili Crab
Chili crab is Singapore's most iconic dish, created in the 1950s and now deeply embedded in the city's food identity. Mud crabs — large, meaty, and sold live — are wok-fried in a rich sauce of tomato paste, sweet chili, garlic, and ginger, with beaten eggs stirred in to create silky threads through the sauce. Despite the name, the sauce is sweet and tangy first, with moderate heat rather than fierce spice. The crab is eaten with hands and cracked open at the table. Fried mantou — Chinese steamed buns, lightly toasted — are served alongside specifically to mop up the sauce, which is considered as important as the crab itself.
Rich in protein
Filling and nutritious
Can be frozen
Great for meal prep
Traditional recipe
Authentic taste
Ingredients 4 servings
- 2 live mud crabs (1.5kg total), cleaned and halved at the joints
- 4 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 tbsp sambal oelek (or chili paste)
- 2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
- 60ml ketchup
- 30g fresh ginger, grated
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 3 spring onions, chopped
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 500ml chicken stock (or water)
- 60ml vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp water
- Fried mantou (Chinese buns), to serve
How to make it
- 1Place the crabs in the freezer for 30 minutes to humanely stun them; clean them, lift off the top shell, remove the soft inner organs, and chop the crab in half at the joints; crack the claws with the back of a knife so the flavour penetrates.
- 2Beat the eggs in a small bowl; in another bowl, stir together the tomato paste, sambal, sweet chili sauce, ketchup, vinegar, sugar and salt — this is the sauce base.
- 3Heat 60ml of oil in a large wok or deep pot over high heat; add the crab pieces and stir-fry for 3–4 minutes, turning, until the shells turn red; lift onto a plate.
- 4In the same oil, sauté the grated ginger and garlic for 30 seconds, until very fragrant.
- 5Pour in the tomato-paste mixture and 500ml chicken stock; bring to a boil, adjust with more sambal for more heat.
- 6Return the crab pieces, cover the wok and simmer for 8–10 minutes, turning once halfway, until the meat is fully cooked and tender.
- 7Stir the cornstarch slurry into the sauce in a thin stream so the sauce thickens to a glossy coat; pour the beaten eggs around the wok in a spiral without stirring — they will set as silky ribbons; wait 30 seconds, then fold once.
- 8Scatter with the chopped spring onions; serve immediately on a large platter with fried mantou alongside to soak up the sauce.
Nutritional info
per serving (~400 ml)
Estimated nutritional values.
Pairs perfectly with
