The Best Imitation Crab Meat Brand Is Luckily Also The Most Affordable

There's no need to knock imitation crab meat. It's featured in some of our favorite foods, including sushi, crab rangoon, and seafood salads. ​​Even David Chang is on board. On a 2025 episode of "The Dave Chang Show" he called imitation crab "a testament to human ingenuity" and argued that it can be better than the real deal. 

There's a good chance you've eaten imitation crab without even knowing it. Despite its name, imitation crab, aka surimi, is very much made from real seafood. A paste made from deboned, finely minced, washed white fish (often Alaska pollock), surimi is mixed with ingredients including starch, egg white, sugar, salt, and other flavorings, then formed into the same familiar sticks designed to mimic the appearance and flaky texture of crab meat coming from a claw. (A word to the wise for anyone with a fin-fish allergy, as you likely won't be able to partake in the luxury.)

The good news for crab aficionados is that the best imitation crab on the market is also the most affordable. There are a slew of imitation crab products available — and we have the definitive imitation crab ranking — but the Kani Kamaboko Premium Gold Imitation Crab Stick is our top pick. Sold under the Shirakiku name, the 17.6-ounce (500-gram) package currently retails for precisely $6.49 at H Mart (though this amount could vary slightly based on your location), making it considerably less expensive than actual crab while still delivering what we want from an imitation version. 

So, what makes imitation crab taste like the real thing? It has to nail two distinctive qualities: crab's subtly sweet, briny flavor and its delicate, flaky texture, the latter of which is largely a feat of food science. Manufacturers process the fish into a protein-rich paste, mix it with starches and other binding ingredients, and form it into thin layers or strands that are bundled together before being cooked. That layered construction gives the finished product the pull-apart texture we associate with crab meat. Crab flavoring and seasonings then supply the sweet, savory, ocean-y notes that the relatively mild fish base lacks.

What sets Kani Kamaboko Premium Gold apart from the rest of the bunch is that it actually tastes like crab. In our testing, it had enough of that characteristic fishy, briny flavor without veering into aggressively fishy territory. Its texture was also a standout: firm and flaky rather than soft, mushy, or rubbery, with no unpleasant aftertaste. It was good enough to eat straight from the package after thawing — a surprisingly high bar for any imitation product. At approximately $0.37 per ounce, it's truly a lot of bang for your buck.