Why Sam’s Club’s Imitation Crab Legs Are Going Viral

Sam’s Club shoppers are raving about its imitation snow crab leg–style surimi, which delivers the flavor and look of crab at a fraction of the price.
Made from minced white fish, this surimi mimics the appearance and texture of real snow crab legs while costing just $5.22 per pound — compared with up to $40 for real crab.
Fans online say the tender, buttery imitation crab shines in a trending seafood boil recipe, offering an easy, affordable way to bring coastal flavors home.

A whole crab can take up a lot of room on the plate while offering only a few delicate morsels of meat. Snow crab might even stretch out of the pot as it cooks, only to yield three bites of protein from each leg. At the same time, what succulent crab does bring with it is an extra expense on the bill. That might be why social media creators are lining up for the next best thing at Sam’s Club.

You may know imitation crab, crab sticks, or krab as an ingredient in the California rolls from your neighborhood sushi spot, but how often do you prepare it yourself?

If you’re craving a taste of warm weather and coastal flavors from the comfort of your own kitchen, Sam’s Club shoppers have found that the bulk retailer’s snow crab leg-style surimi may be the easiest — and least expensive — way to serve a seafood boil at home.

According to fans online, the imitation crab legs from Sam’s Club are soft, tender, and delicious, with repeated rave reviews making them go viral. Are they identical in taste and texture to real crab meat? No. But a trending seafood boil recipe brings the ingredient closer, highlighting the delicate texture of imitation crab and its ability to absorb the rich flavor of seasoned butter.

When you want a seafood boil but are on a budget, this might just do the trick.

What is surimi?

“Surimi” is the Japanese term for a paste made from minced fish, used to craft a variety of products, including imitation crab and kamaboko fish cakes.

All forms of surimi start with finely ground white fish, most often Alaskan pollock. To make imitation crab, this paste is mixed with ingredients like starches and seasonings, then shaped into the desired form and cooked before being packaged.

Many versions of imitation crab come in rectangular sticks, chunks, or flakes, but the offering at Sam’s Club stands out for closely mimicking the size and appearance of a full snow crab leg, with tapered ends and a thick, meaty center.

What sets Sam’s Club’s imitation crab apart?

Content creator Rob Schou (

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) has built up an audience of over 500,000 followers on TikTok by showcasing all things seafood, including reviews of crab meat options from major grocery chains and supermarket-sourced surimi. After tasting a wide array of offerings, the seafood aficionado ranked the Sam’s Club surimi as his

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imitation crab.

Per Schou, the surimi crab legs from Sam’s Club “tasted closer to a snow crab than any other imitation crab meat” and “really did have the same texture as a crab leg.” As further proof, in a

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of several seafood items from Sam’s Club, he even gave the surimi a higher rating than the store’s real, cooked snow crab legs.

Each one-pound pack of the Sam’s Club surimi snow crab includes seven to eight pieces, each shaped and colored to look like a real crab leg. Sold in single or double packs, the imitation crab rings in at just $5.22 per pound.

For comparison, real snow crab legs sell for around $17 per pound at Sam’s Club and $22 per pound at Wegmans, with prices even reaching $40 per pound at some purveyors. Considering that you can serve several people with a two-pack of the surimi for $10.44 total, that’s a steal, even if it isn’t the real deal.

It’s clear from scrolling through videos on social media that customers love the imitation crab from Sam’s Club, but in particular, they love using it to make a seafood boil. The faux shellfish doesn’t actually need to be cooked, so it can be simply heated in a pan with melted butter and plenty of Old Bay or Cajun spices.

TikTok is rife with ideas for enjoying the flavor of a seafood boil — an onion boil has even trended on the platform before — so it’s no surprise that users have tested surimi as an affordable substitute for shellfish. But if you end up loving Sam’s Club’s imitation crab, you don’t need to limit yourself to seafood boils either. You may soon be making California rolls, sushi bakes, crab salads, and at home while still sticking to your budget.