Shippams Crab Spread on Toast

Instead of using pate, Shippams Crab Spread does the job! This is so similar to crab pate, it’s a crab pate substitute, but handily sold in jars that keep in the cupboard for months! I’ve usually got at least one little pot of crab paste ready to be eaten as a small meal, or an evening snack.

How Much Crab is in Crab Paste?

Shippams Crab Paste = 70% Crab

Shippams Crab Spread has a high %age of actual crab, it’s 70% brown crab meat. With crab, the white meat has a great texture and is my favourite part of a crab to eat, but the brown meat contains a really deep flavour. Shippams Crab Paste enables me to get a great crab snack without preparation or planning!

UPDATE: Since writing the above, pots are now listing they contain 57% haddock and 15% crab. I don’t know if their labelling was tightened up, or if the recipe changed. They certainly taste no different.

Other brands are available, for example, Morrisons crab paste contains 20% crab and is sold in 75gram jars at under 50p. The total fish content of this brand is 35% haddock, 20% crab and 15% sprats (which are fish).

I just find Shippams to be the best tasting crab paste, so I don’t tend to buy others if I’m honest, so I can’t give my opinion on how they compare.

Toast Topper:

Just use the spread as a toast topper, or sandwich filler. One large jar (75 grams) is enough for several slices of toast, depending how thick you want to layer it. There’s always enough for me to make four generous slices.

Once you’ve opened the jar, if you pop the lid back on and put it in the fridge it will keep for 2-3 days. Until the jar is opened, this can be kept in the cupboard.

Ingredients:

2 Slices of toast
½ 75 gram jar of Shippams Classic crab spread

Method:

Make your toast how you usually do
Spread the Crab Spread on the toast
Eat!

I’ll typically use crab spread between two pieces of bread (no butter required), as a toast topper or spread across toasted muffins. It also makes a great/quick food cheats crab pasta meal by mixing half a jar of crab spread with some pasta such as spaghetti or tagliatelli!

The depth of taste of this crab spread cannot be under-estimated! I often struggle to find/buy crab pate in the supermarkets when I do look …. and the price of that tends to be much higher. The jars of crab spread therefore satisfy issues of availability, long shelf life and cost.

Crab spread reminds me of childhood – and seaside holidays. We’d often have a paste sandwich for lunch in the school holidays – and, on holiday, would get to experience a full and proper crab. It’s one of my retro food favourites, it must be said. My cupboards usually contain a jar – and I will eat more of this in the summer months.

Where Can you Buy Shippams Crab Spread?

I’ll always look out for this in the major supermarkets, you won’t find it in Lidl or Aldi. Other shops that will often have stocks include Home Bargains and B&M. If you are an Amazon Prime member, then you can buy it online too: Shippams Crab Spread – a handy way to add to your online order at the moment you think of it!

Prices vary considerably, with the bargain shops most often having the best prices, it can cost 75-80p/jar at full price, so look for the deals and stock up. I think I picked up my last jars of this crab spread at about 37p/jar. On the other hand, this is worth paying “full price” for.

Calories in Crab Spread:

100 grams of this crab spread contains 152 calories – with the large jar weighing 75 grams this means there are just 114 calories – and as the jar contains enough spread for more than one meal it can work out as quite a tasty low calorie snack, if you want to spread it onto your crispbreads instead of using bread.