Black Bean Dungeness Crab (Honolulu Cantonese Style)
Steamed Dungeness crab finished in a wok with garlicky black bean sauce, rebuilt from memory of a Honolulu Cantonese seafood restaurant.
By David Kim
Oct 30, 2026
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In 1996 I was a Marine stationed in Hawaii, and that's where I found out how much I love black bean Dungeness crab. The place was Hong Kong Harbor View Seafood Restaurant in Honolulu, a Cantonese spot looking out over Honolulu Harbor. I kept going back for that crab. Sweet meat, glossy sauce, garlic and fermented black bean in every crack of the shell.
The restaurant is closed now, and I never found their recipe. As far as I can tell, they never published it. So I rebuilt it from memory.
The way I remember it, the crab was steamed first and then finished in a wok with the sauce, so that's how I wrote this. Traditional Cantonese kitchens usually pass the crab through hot oil instead of steaming it. Steaming is easier at home, keeps the meat moist, and matches what I remember eating. I tested it alongside a second crab steamed plain with butter, and the black bean one came out pretty damn close to the restaurant's.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Restaurant-style crab at home in about 45 minutes
- Steaming first keeps the meat sweet and moist, with no pot of frying oil to deal with
- One jar of black bean garlic sauce does most of the work
- The sauce gets into every cracked leg and claw
What is Black Bean Crab?
Crab in black bean sauce is a Cantonese seafood house staple. The sauce is built on douchi, soybeans that have been salted and fermented until they turn black, soft and intensely savory. Fried with garlic, ginger and scallion, then loosened with stock and Shaoxing wine, it turns into a glossy sauce that coats the shells. You eat it with your hands and a bowl of rice.
A Warning for Korean Cooks
The black bean sauce here is not chunjang. Chunjang is the roasted soybean and caramel paste we use for jajangmyeon. Put it in this dish and you get jajang crab. Good, maybe, but not this.
About the Ingredients
- Dungeness crab: buy it live and cook it the same day. Keep it in the fridge under a damp towel until you're ready. Don't store it in water or on ice.
- Black bean garlic sauce: Lee Kum Kee is easy to find at most grocery stores and every Asian market. It's salty, so the soy sauce in this recipe is kept low.
- Whole fermented black beans: if you like more funk, look for the round canister of Yang Jiang Preserved Black Beans with Ginger, or bags labeled salted or fermented black beans (douchi). See the variations below the recipe.
- Shaoxing wine: dry sherry is the closest swap. Sake or dry white wine also work. Mirin works too, but skip the brown sugar if you use it.
- Soy sauce: Chinese light soy is traditional. Kikkoman works fine. If you have Korean soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang), a small splash adds salt and depth, but go easy since the black bean sauce is already salty.
Need help with what ingredients to stock? Check out My Essential Korean Pantry article. This article describes each essential ingredient with links to where you can buy them easily!
Ingredients
For Steaming:
For the Sauce:
Instructions
- 1
Chill the crab: Put the live crab in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes. It goes dormant, which makes it easier and safer to handle.
- 2
Set up the steamer: Add about an inch of water to a large pot or Dutch oven with a steamer rack. Salt the water heavily, add the ginger slices and scallion tops, and bring it to a hard boil.
- 3
Steam the crab: Set the crab in shell side down, cover, and start timing once the water is back to a full boil. Steam a whole crab for about 12 minutes. It should be bright orange but slightly underdone, since it finishes in the wok. Check the water partway through and top up with hot water if it's low.
- 4
Cool and clean: Run the crab under cold water for about 30 seconds. Pull off the top shell, scrape out the gills and guts, and rinse. Cut the body into 4 to 6 pieces and crack each leg and claw with the back of a cleaver so the sauce can get inside. Pat the pieces dry.
- 5
Build the sauce: Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Add the black bean garlic sauce, fresh garlic, sliced ginger, and scallion whites. Stir-fry for about 20 seconds. The jarred sauce scorches faster than whole beans, so keep it moving.
- 6
Add the crab: Toss the crab pieces in the aromatics for about a minute to coat them. Pour the Shaoxing wine around the hot edge of the wok so it sizzles.
- 7
Simmer: Add the chicken stock, soy sauce, and brown sugar. Cover and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
- 8
Taste and thicken: Taste the sauce and add a splash of soy only if it needs it. Stir the cornstarch slurry, pour it in, and toss until the sauce turns glossy and clings to the shells.
- 9
Finish: Scatter the scallion greens over the top and serve right away.
Recipe Notes
RECIPE TIPS
- Don't fully cook the crab in the steamer. It gets another 3 to 4 minutes in the wok, and overcooked Dungeness turns stringy.
- Dry the pieces before they hit the wok. Wet shells water down the sauce and keep it from clinging.
- Crack every leg and claw before saucing. The cracks are where the flavor gets in.
- Taste before you add the slurry. Once it's thickened, it's harder to fix the salt.
- If you're steaming two crabs at once with different flavors, use plain salted water and put the aromatics directly on each crab so the flavors don't cross.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS
- Serve it family style with steamed white rice to catch the extra sauce.
- A plain stir-fried green like gai lan or bok choy balances the richness.
- Cooking for a crowd? Steam a second crab plain and serve it with melted butter and lemon or lime alongside. That's how I made it the first time, and having both on the table works well.
VARIATIONS
- Whole fermented black beans: replace the jarred sauce with 2 tbsp Yang Jiang black beans, rinsed and mashed with 4 garlic cloves. Raise the soy sauce to 2 tbsp and the brown sugar to 1 tsp. This version is deeper and funkier. My wife Lacey isn't a fan of the funk, so when I want it, I mash a few rinsed beans into a spoonful of the finished sauce and spoon it over my own portion.
- Restaurant method: instead of steaming, dust the raw cleaned crab pieces in cornstarch and fry them at 350°F for about 2 minutes, then continue from step 5.
- Honolulu style: add 2 sliced lup cheong (Chinese sausage) with the stock and use Aloha shoyu in place of the soy sauce.
- Heat: add a sliced fresh red chili with the garlic and ginger.
STORAGE
- This is best eaten right away.
- Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for a day or two.
- Reheat gently in a covered pan with a splash of water or stock until just warm, since high heat dries out the crab.
Equipment
- Large pot or Dutch oven with a steamer rack
- Wok
- Cleaver
