How long do you cook a spanner crab?

Boil whole spanner crab for about 8 minutes for the first 500g, then add 4–5 minutes per additional 500g. Most spanner crabs are 400–700g, so a single crab usually takes 8–12 minutes. They are thinner-bodied than mud crab, so they cook faster — don't overcook or the delicate meat dries out.

How do you eat a spanner crab?

Lift off the top shell, remove the gills and stomach sac, and break the body in half. The best meat is in the body cavity and the leg sockets rather than big claws — spanner crabs have small claws. Use a skewer or crab pick to pull the sweet white meat from each leg chamber. Many people buy spanner crab meat already picked because the yield-per-effort is high but fiddly.

Are spanner crabs sold live or cooked?

Both. Live spanner crabs are sold for the freshest result and are cooked the same day. Tasman Star also sells cooked local spanner crabs and XL cooked spanner crabs ready to eat, plus picked spanner crab meat for when you want the sweetness without the work.

What does spanner crab taste like?

Spanner crab meat is sweeter and more delicate than mud crab or sand crab — clean, slightly floral, with no muddiness. The texture is fine and flaky rather than dense. It's excellent simply dressed with lemon and good mayonnaise, in a crab salad, or folded through pasta where its sweetness isn't overwhelmed.

How do you pick a good live spanner crab?

Choose a crab that is heavy for its size, moving its legs, and has a hard, intact shell with no soft or cracked patches. The underside should be clean and pale. A light or sluggish crab has either recently moulted (empty shell) or been out of water too long. Always cook live spanner crab the same day you buy it.

How much spanner crab meat do you get from one crab?

Spanner crab yields a relatively low 18–25% meat by weight because of the thin body and small claws, so a 500g crab gives roughly 90–125g of picked meat. This low yield, combined with the sweet flavour, is why picked spanner crab meat commands a premium and why many people buy it pre-picked.

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Live Spanner Crabs: Buying, Cooking & Eating Guide (Gold Coast)

Tasman Star Team2 June 20265 min read

spanner crablive crabQueensland crabhow to cook spanner crabGold Coast seafood

Live Spanner Crabs: Buying, Cooking & Eating Guide (Gold Coast)

Live Spanner Crabs: The Complete Buying, Cooking & Eating Guide

Quick answer — Spanner crab (a.k.a. frog crab) is a flat, sweet-meated Queensland crab. Sedate the live crab in the freezer for 30–40 minutes, then boil in salted water for ~8 minutes for the first 500g plus 4–5 minutes per extra 500g — most take 8–12 minutes total. The best meat is in the body and leg sockets, not the claws. Yield is low (~18–25%) but it's the sweetest crab you'll eat.

Key facts:

Spanner crab (Ranina ranina), also called frog crab, is a flat reddish crab from Queensland sandy waters
The meat is the sweetest and most delicate of Australian crabs
Boiling time: 8 minutes for the first 500g + 4–5 minutes per additional 500g
Most spanner crabs weigh 400–700g and take 8–12 minutes to cook
The best meat is in the body cavity and leg sockets, not the small claws
Yield is low — about 18–25% meat by weight — so picked meat is a premium product
Available live, cooked whole, or as picked meat at Tasman Star

What Is a Spanner Crab?

The spanner crab (Ranina ranina) is unlike any other crab on the table. Instead of the wide, sideways-walking body of a mud or sand crab, it's flat, elongated, and reddish-orange even when raw, with paddle-shaped legs angled like an open spanner — hence the name. You'll also hear it called a frog crab or red frog crab.

It lives in the sandy bottoms off Queensland and northern NSW, and the fishery here is one of the best-managed crab fisheries in the country. For Gold Coast cooks, it's a genuinely local delicacy.

What sets it apart is the meat: fine, flaky, snow-white, and sweeter than any other Australian crab — clean and faintly floral, with none of the muddiness that mud crab can carry.

How to Pick a Good Live Spanner Crab

A quality live spanner crab is:

Heavy for its size — a light crab has recently moulted and the shell is half-empty
Active — legs moving when handled
Hard-shelled — press the body; it should be firm, not papery, with no cracks
Clean underneath — pale, not discoloured or smelly

As with all live crab, cook it the same day. If you need to hold it for a few hours, keep it in the fridge under a damp cloth — never in fresh water. See how to keep live crabs alive before cooking.

How to Cook a Spanner Crab

Spanner crabs are thinner-bodied than mud crabs, so they cook faster and are easier to overcook. Treat them gently.

Sedate the live crab — 30–40 minutes in the freezer, or ~20 minutes in an ice slurry, until completely unresponsive. (Why this matters: see the humane method in our mud crab cooking guide.)
Boil in well-salted water (35g salt per litre) or clean seawater at a rolling boil.
Time by weight:

Crab weight	Boiling time
400g	~7 minutes
500g	8 minutes
700g	~10–11 minutes
1kg	~12–13 minutes

The formula: 8 minutes for the first 500g, then +4–5 minutes per additional 500g.

Cool in iced water for 2–3 minutes.

The crab is done when the shell deepens to a rich red and the body meat is opaque white.

How to Eat a Spanner Crab

This is where spanner crab differs most from mud crab: the claws are small, and the prize is the body and leg meat.

Twist off the legs and set aside.
Lift off the top shell. Remove and discard the feathery grey gills and the stomach sac.
Break the body in half down the middle to expose the meat-packed chambers.
Use a skewer, crab pick, or the tip of a teaspoon to push the sweet white meat out of each leg socket and body chamber.

It's fiddly — the yield is only 18–25% — but the flavour is the reward. Dress the picked meat simply: lemon, a little good mayonnaise, cracked pepper. It's superb in a crab salad, on fresh bread, or folded through linguine at the last moment so the heat doesn't bully the sweetness.

Live, Cooked, or Picked? Choosing the Right Format

Format	Best for	Notes
Live spanner crab	Maximum freshness, cooking the same day	Cook within hours; you control doneness
Cooked whole spanner crab	Eating today with minimal fuss	Ready to clean and pick; chill and serve
XL cooked spanner crab	Sharing, generous platters	Larger crabs, more meat per crab
Picked spanner crab meat	Salads, pasta, sandwiches, entertaining	All the sweetness, none of the picking

Because picking spanner crab is the fiddly part, picked meat is the smart buy when you're feeding a crowd or building a dish where the crab is mixed through.

Spanner Crab vs Mud Crab

	Spanner crab	Mud crab
Body	Flat, elongated	Broad, heavy
Claws	Small	Large, meaty
Meat	Sweetest, fine, flaky	Dense, rich, slightly nutty
Best for	Salads, pasta, delicate dishes	Chilli crab, cracking and sharing
Meat yield	~18–25%	~30–35%

Want the full comparison across all three Queensland crabs? Read mud crab vs sand crab vs spanner crab.

How Much Spanner Crab Per Person?

Because the meat yield is low, plan generously:

Serving style	Amount per person
Whole crab, main	1–2 crabs (400–700g each)
Picked meat, salad or pasta	80–120g picked meat
Part of a seafood spread	1 crab between two

Buying Spanner Crab on the Gold Coast

Tasman Star Seafood stocks live, cooked, and picked spanner crab in season at both stores:

Varsity Lakes — 20 Casua Dr, (07) 5522 1221
Labrador — 5–7 Olsen Ave, (07) 5529 2500

Spanner crab is seasonal and sells fast, so call ahead to check the day's catch — especially for live or XL crabs. Gold Coast home delivery runs Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.

Browse live seafood at Tasman Star →

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Order live spanner crabs online from Tasman Star Seafood — Gold Coast delivery, open 7 days.

Shop live spanner crabs →