Fish and seafood
Crab on a GLP-1: protein, portions and how to actually eat it
About 19 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), cooked, picked meat, for around 97 calories. A small bowl of picked meat, about 100 g (3.5 oz), gives roughly 19 g of protein for 97 calories.
To reach 30 g of protein from crab alone you would need about 158 g (5.6 oz). On a small appetite that is often more than one sitting allows, which is why we pair it rather than chase the whole target from one food.
How crab sits on a GLP-1
Crab meat is soft, sweet and needs no chewing at all, which makes it one of the easiest proteins to eat when your appetite has collapsed. The work is in the picking, so tinned or pre-picked crab is the version that will actually get eaten on a bad week.
When your appetite is small
A hundred grams of picked crab mixed with a spoon of mayonnaise and lemon is about 19 g of protein in a format that goes down like a dip. Spread it on a cracker and it becomes a meal you can finish.
Three ways to prepare it
Mixed with mayonnaise and lemon
Cold, soft, five ingredients at most, and about 20 g in a small bowl.
Stirred through warm pasta with chilli
The heat and the starch carry it, and the chilli helps a flat palate.
Folded into an omelette
Crab and egg together is about 30 g in one pan and stays soft the whole way through.
What to eat it with
Mayonnaise, lemon, chilli, avocado, cucumber. Crab is very lean and mild, so it wants fat and acid.
How it compares
| Food | Protein per 100 g | Energy per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crab | about 19 g | 97 kcal | this page |
| Prawns | about 24 g | 99 kcal | See the page |
| Scallops | about 20 g | 110 kcal | See the page |
| Tinned tuna | about 25 g | 116 kcal | See the page |
All figures are typical values for the food as eaten, cooked, picked meat, not laboratory figures for a particular brand.
Australian, US and UK names
Blue swimmer and mud crab in Australia, brown crab in the UK, and blue, Dungeness and snow crab in the US. Tinned crab and pasteurised picked crab are sold in all three and carry similar protein.
Questions people ask
Is tinned crab worth buying?
For a small appetite, yes. About 19 g of protein per 100 g, no picking, no cooking, and it keeps in the cupboard. Check the label, since some tins are heavily salted.
Your number comes first
Knowing what is in a food only helps once you know how much you are aiming for. The target is 1.2 to 1.6 g of protein per kg of your goal weight, not your current weight, which for most people is 90 to 140 g a day.
Work out your protein targetMore on eating well when your appetite is small: high protein foods for a small appetite, how much protein on a GLP-1, and every food we have written up. The whole system in five documents is the Keep Muscle Kit, A$47 / US$29 / £23.
EverStrong provides nutrition and strength coaching and education. It is not medical advice and does not replace your prescribing doctor.