How Long Can You Keep Crabs on Ice?

One of my favorite ways to store crabs is to keep them on ice. It works exceptionally well at keeping crabs alive and their meat fresh. 

But let’s say you’re planning a crab feast, and you need to know how long your crabs will stay alive in your cooler. Well, the question has to be asked: 

How long can you keep crabs on ice? Crabs will stay fresh when stored in a cooler full of ice up to 48 hours, just as long that you keep them out of standing water and replace the melted ice.

But wait! While storing live crabs on ice is the best way to keep them fresh, it’s very easy for your crabs to die. Let’s go over how to properly store your crabs on ice.

How Long Will Crabs Last On Ice?

Before we get into how to store crabs on ice, let’s further answer the question.

From my past experience, live crabs on ice will last up to 48 hours, maybe 60 if you’re lucky.

I would not recommend keeping crabs in your cooler longer than that. Your crabs will get hungry after a while, even in their chilled dormant state. From there they’ll either eat their fellow captives or starve.

The last thing you want is your crabs to die. Once they do, their meat starts to get mushy and bacteria will grow. You’ll taste the difference, I promise. Check out this article on crabtips.com on how to check if a crab is dead or alive.

The trick to keeping crabs alive on ice for a long period of time is keeping the cooler free of standing ice water and full of fresh cold ice.

Keep the plug open in your cooler and tilt it so that the water has no choice but to run out of it. This will eliminate all standing water.

Now all you need to do is keep the cooler stocked with ice. This can be a bit tricky; the ice is covered with a damp towel to prevent direct contact with the crabs. The shock and freezing cold of the ice can kill your crabs, which makes a towel very necessary.

Let’s go over how to store crabs on ice.

Everything You Need To Know About Keeping Crabs On Ice

Keeping crabs on ice is as easy as 1… 2… 3…

First, find a nice sized cooler for your crabs. It needs to be large enough to spread out all your crabs with very minimal stacking on top of one another. This will lead to very stressed and tense crabs, which I believe makes the meat taste tough and unpleasant.

Before we move any further, find the plug at the bottom of your cooler and leave it open. This will come in handy later.

Secondly, you’ll need your ice. Spread it evenly across the bottom third of your cooler. This needs to be enough ice to give off a relaxing chill when you hold your hand over it.

While it might be a nice cold on a hot summer day, it’s too much for our crabs. Grab an old towel that you don’t mind smelling like crabs and cover the ice. This will lower the shock from the cold ice.

Lastly, spread the crabs along the towel-covered ice. Try your best not to stack one onto of the other. This will lead to some very stressed crabs.

Soon the cold will send them into a dormant state, similar to what they experience during the winter time. While this does an excellent job making the crabs easier to handle, it’s hard to tell which is dead and which is not.

To avoid cooking a dead crab, let your crabs sit in the sun for a few minutes and begin to scurry around. Then you will see who survived the chilly cooler, and who did not.

If you want to learn more about keeping crabs, I highly recommend reading a related article: How to Keep Blue Crabs Alive and Well. Note: The article works for every type of edible crab, not just blue crabs. There, I explained the process step by step, and I went over a few different methods of storing crabs. Be sure to check it out.

Tips for Keeping Crabs on Ice Longer 

There are a few extra steps to storing crabs on ice to make it last even longer. These are not necessary for storing crabs, so use these techniques as you see fit.

A Damp Towel

The first trick is placing a damp towel over the cooler. I picked this trick up last year at a neighbor’s crab feast. This will cool down the inside of your cooler even further while making the inside chilly and moist.

This is perfect for keeping the crabs cool and their gills wet, just what we need to store crabs for a long period of time.

Opening the Lid

Another great trick is cracking the cooler lid open. Use a stick to lie across the top so the lid opens just an inch, and turn the cooler into the oncoming breeze. You might want to move the towel out of the way on less windy days.

This will supply the cooler with plenty of fresh air, ensuring that your crabs do not suffocate. This is the ideal way to store crabs, with plenty of moist, fresh air and chilling ice.

Replacing the Ice

The last thing you can do to store crabs over a long period of time is replacing the ice. This may be tricky and stressful for the crabs, so I would try to avoid this by putting in as much ice as you see fit prior to putting in the crabs.

If you find the cooler low on ice, however, you might have to add some more. Grab a container and gently transfer all your crabs to it. This should be easy enough because they are all in a dormant state.

Once all the crabs are removed, pull back the towel and add some more ice. If the towel is dry, damp it enough to feel wet but not drip.

Cover the new ice with your towel and put the crabs back inside the cooler. I would crack the door open to give them plenty of fresh air to recover.

Will Crabs Die On Ice?

Live crabs can die on ice if you are not careful. They would for one of two reasons: they aren’t getting enough oxygen or they are exposed to standing water.

A good fix to not getting enough oxygen is cracking the cooler lid as mentioned before. Make sure the opening is facing the oncoming breeze. If the crabs are indoors, try hooking up a small fan to blow air inside the cooler.

Prevent any standing water by pulling the plug and tilting the cooler so that water has not choice but to run out the bottom. You might need to setup a drip bucket or bowl if you are indoors.

How Long Can You Keep Cooked Crabs on Ice?

Serving steamed crabs buffet style? Or transporting cooked crabs over a long distance?

You might want to try keeping your cooked crabs on ice. Steamed crabs will last for weeks as long as they are kept in freezing temperatures. They will last even longer if you clean the crab by removing its shell, guts, and gills.

You can take a few extra steps to make your crabs last even longer. I recommend vacuum sealing your crabs or storing them in an airtight ziplock bag.

It might lose a bit of its juicy flavor, but still, be quality crab meat. If you want to preserve crab meat and keep the flavor, pick the crabs and store their meat vacuum sealed in a freezer.