Red Lobster's Crabfest Is Waiting For Your Innovative Concoctions
Those who have ever asked themselves, "Why is Red Lobster so cheap?" will have even more to ponder after seeing the chain's 2023 Crabfest menu. The seasonal event that focuses on crab (rather than the chain's namesake crustacean) is back for a limited time as of June 5, and in addition to returning items like Bairdi and snow crab legs, there are new foods to choose from as well.
This year, Red Lobster is introducing Crabfest Creations. Customers get a pound of crab legs and then get to choose which flavor the seafood is bathed in (including three new flavors: roasted garlic butter, honey sriracha, and lemon pepper). The crab legs are served with crispy potatoes and a choice of sides. It's sort of like Red Lobster's answer to those restaurants that specialize in seafood boils, where you pay for your seafood by weight, then get it cooked to order with the seasoning of your choice. Other new items include a Crab & Oscar-topped sirloin, which features snow crab and a sirloin steak topped with lump crab meat in a garlic cream sauce. The Crab & Oscar-topped sirloin costs $35.99 (prices vary depending on location), which isn't too shabby for a dish that was inspired by royalty. Apparently, crab-topped meat with an emulsified butter sauce was a favorite of Swedish King Oscar II, hence the name (via The Austin Artisan). We wonder what he'd think about the other crab-topped item on Red Lobster's Crabfest menu.
New sides, desserts, and drinks
A few other new dishes are arriving for Red Lobster's 2023 Crabfest, too (and one in particular that might draw the eye of ol' King Oscar). Those who always end up ordering an appetizer instead of an entree (or are Swedish royalty) might be intrigued by the Crabby Cheese Fries, a pile of seasoned fries topped with cheese sauce and lump crab in garlic cream sauce (just like the topping on the crab Oscar sirloin). For dessert, there's a new strawberry cheesecake, and there are two new cocktails: the Watermelon Martini and the Ruby Mule, made with grapefruit vodka, ginger beer, and raspberry.
Incredibly, the last Crabfest at Red Lobster was four years ago. Snow crab prices (and food prices in general) were kind of all over the place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between May 2021 and March 2022, snow crab prices spiked to about $19 a pound, but as of February 2023, they have fallen to about $7.50 a pound (via Seafood Source). Consumer demand has also been low, which means there's a high likelihood that Red Lobster is getting a great wholesale deal on crab right now — hence the reintroduction of Crabfest. Savvy home cooks can take advantage of the low snow crab prices and save even more money than they would by dining at Red Lobster. Perhaps try a Cajun crab boil recipe (with a side of freshly baked Red Lobster Cheddar Bay biscuits, of course).