Crab Omelette Recipe for a Very Decadent Weekend Eggs Dish

This crab omelette recipe makes for a decadent weekend eggs dish that’s perfect if you’re just back from an early morning shop at the fish markets, armed with luxurious fresh crab meat. This Southeast Asian style crab omelette is a little sweet, a little spicy, and very, very moreish. It feels very luxurious. And while we can happily linger over this dish for a late weekend breakfast, brunch or light lunch, it also makes for a wonderful evening meal.

I thought I’d opt for a decadent Southeast Asian style crab omelette recipe for my latest recipe for the Asian edition of my long-running Weekend Eggs series of quintessential eggs dishes from around the world, which I started when we launched Grantourismo way back in 2010. I’m picking up my Weekend Eggs series where I left off with this Thai omelette called kai yat say from Bangkok.

I have adapted the Vietnamese crab omelette recipe from Charmaine Solomon’s The Complete Asian Cookbook which was on our bookshelves in Sydney for many years and saw a lot of use — it’s a classic in the Australian-Asian kitchen. While the book is light on Lao and Cambodian recipes, it’s a pretty good reference book to have when comparing different recipes across Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnamese dishes and Thai recipes.

There are many different Asian crab omelettes but this crab omelette recipe, which I’ve tweaked quite a bit, is a Vietnamese crab omelette called trứng chiên với cua, according to Solomon. Although we’ve never seen this style of omelette in Vietnam — nor have our Vietnamese friends! Vietnamese omelettes tend to be thinner, like this Cambodian omelette — so we’re calling it Southeast Asian for now. In my opinion it’s the best method for making a crab omelette and one of our best Asian omelette recipes.

Crab Omelette Recipe for a Very Decadent Weekend Eggs Dish

This crab omelette recipe will make you a sublime weekend eggs dish if you’re just back from the market with some fresh crab meat, sustainably sourced, of course. As for that crab meat: if you’re in Australia, the mud crab, blue swimmer crab and spanner crab are all deliciously sweet and will work in this omelette, while our American readers will want to get hold of some flavourful Alaskan snow crab.

I just love this Southeast Asian style or Vietnamese ‘inspired’ crab omelette recipe for fresh crab. I find the Japanese-style Kanitama-don, where a crab meat omelette is served on top of rice, to be too heavy and a waste of good crab meat. That is, of course, if the chef doesn’t use imitation crab sticks — popular in this Soviet-era Russian crab salad that Lara makes for her Mum.

The most famous crab omelette in Southeast Asia is the Thai style crab omelette served at Raan Jay Fai in Bangkok, which is not only notable for how expensive it is by Bangkok standards, but how well-cooked it is. ‘Sister Mole’, as the owner-cook, Supinya Junsuta, is known locally, is amazing to watch on the woks — she alone fronts the burners, wearing goggles — but I can think of better things to do than wrap that much fantastic crab meat in an eggy casing.

There are other versions of this crab omelette recipe too, including Chinese omelette renditions that are similar to the Bangkok style omelettes. And in Australia, chefs make a heavenly crab omelette, too, but in the French style of omelette, with big chunky pieces of crab. But it’s Charmaine Solomon’s Vietnamese inspired crab omelette that I really think does the delicate sweet flavour of the crab justice.

Tips to Making this Crab Omelette Recipe

Just a few tips to making this Vietnamese crab omelette recipe.

Fresh Crab Meat is a Must

I can’t stress the importance of the freshness of the crab meat for this crab omelette recipe. Charmaine Solomon’s recipe uses uncooked crab meat that’s cooked in the pan. I prefer the crabs to have been boiled first and then just getting a little heat from being in the pan for 30 seconds as the omelette sets.

We’re lucky that we have great local markets and can get good blue swimmer crabs here in Siem Reap at Psar Chas, Old Market, which has the city’s best seafood. We love this crab omelette recipe so much, that it’s actually hard to go to the market without bringing some crab meat home.

Although the crab to meat ratio can sometimes be a little deceiving, so I’ll also buy freshly cooked crab meat. I don’t want to spend an entire Sunday morning extracting a couple of hundred grams of crab meat, half of which Lara will consume before I’ve cracked an egg.

Use of Butter

A little note about the use of butter in this crab omelette recipe. You might think that butter is not very Asian, however, Vietnam was part of French Indochina, and I’m pretty sure the French might have had a hand in the way Vietnamese omelettes (and Cambodian omelettes) ended up so delicious.

What butter adds to the dish is a little nuttiness and it helps give the exterior of the omelette colour, even though it’s not fully cooked through.

Not Quite Set Before Folding

With skill, you can make a perfect omelette with three eggs without it being too much omelette ‘casing’ for the crab. Having the omelette not quite set before you fold it (some cooks roll the omelette as well) means that by the time it arrives at the table it will be just cooked through. You don’t want a dry omelette. Ever.

Make in Batches

This crab omelette really is a fantastic brunch dish so if you’re having guests over and want to serve it for four people you can easily multiply the amount of ingredients and use a bigger pan to make a grander omelette and slicing the omelette in half to serve. I suggest doing it in two batches and making it for two people at a time.

Condiments

With the condiments, I don’t mind the ubiquitous nước chấm dipping sauce, a mix of chillies, garlic, sugar, lime, rice vinegar, and fish sauce. But for me it’s a little too ‘thin’ a sauce for this dish and if you pour it over the top you have a soggy omelette.

I like going pan-Asian with oyster sauce and Sriracha sauce — which, if my memory serves me correctly, is the same way they do their omelette sauce at Chin Chin in Melbourne, where a similar-style Thai crab omelette was also a standout.

Serving the Omelette

If you’re making our crab omelette recipe for brunch for friends, some sparkling wine or a sauvignon blanc is the perfect accompaniment. If you’re serving this for a New Year’s breakfast or brunch, then Champagne is the perfect match.

Why not make it special? You’re not only enjoying some fantastic produce, but you’re also showing off your kitchen skills by making the perfect omelette.

Crab Omelette Recipe

Crab Omelette Recipe — Weekend Eggs

AuthorTerence Carter

This crab omelette recipe makes for a great weekend eggs dish, perfect if you’re just back from an early morning visit to the fish markets. It’s decadent, a little sweet, a little hot, and very, very moreish.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine Vietnamese

Servings made with recipeServings 1

Calories 575 kcal

Equipment

Non Stick Egg Pan

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

• 80 g cup fresh cooked crabmeat - blue swimmer if possible
• 1 long red chilli - halved, seeds removed
• 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 tbsp of neutral oil
• 4 spring onions - thinly sliced
• ½ cup snow pea sprouts
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 small bunch coriander
• Sriracha sauce to taste

Instructions

 

• Deseed the chilli and finely chop half the chilli and add to a hot pan with a little oil and the white ends of the spring onions and the ginger.
• Cook until the spring onions and the ginger are translucent and add to the crab meat in a small bowl and stir.
• Lightly beat the eggs until yolks are broken and mix in the soy and fish sauce.
• Prepare your garnish. Thinly slice the remaining chilli into strips. Pick a small handful of coriander leaves. Wash and drain the snow pea sprouts.
• Over medium-high heat add the rest of the oil and the butter to an omelette pan. When it’s hot add the egg mixture and leave it for 15 seconds to start to set a little. With a silicon spatula, begin pushing the cooked egg towards the centre of the pan and additionally swirl the pan to get the unset eggs to cook. Run the spatula around the rim of the pan to stop it from sticking.
• When the omelette is becoming firm and there is only a little liquid on the surface of the omelette add the crab mixture to the centre of the omelette. Using the spatula, fold one side of the omelette to just over centre of the pan, followed by the other side. This will be the bottom of the omelette.
• Take the pan off the heat and turn the omelette over onto a plate.
• If you’re going to present this to guests and want a fancy presentation, slice the omelette in half and arrange as in the photo (above).
• Drizzle with the oyster sauce and Sriracha, followed by the snow pea sprouts, the chilli strips and the coriander.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 575kcalCarbohydrates: 18gProtein: 31.3gFat: 42.7gSaturated Fat: 9.7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 33gTrans Fat: 0gCholesterol: 583mgSodium: 2096mgFiber: 3.6gSugar: 10.1g

Do let us know if you make this Crab Omelette Recipe as I’d love to know how it turns out for you.