chilli crab

UK/ˈt͡ʃɪli kɹæb/

noun

A dish originated and popularized in Singapore, made up of stir-fried crab cooked in a semi-thick sweet and savoury tomato- and chilli-based sauce.

Meanings

nounchilli crab (countable and uncountable, plural chilli crabs)

plural chilli crabs · alternative chili crab

  1. MalaysiaSingaporecountableuncountableA dish originated and popularized in Singapore, made up of stir-fried crab cooked in a semi-thick sweet and savoury tomato- and chilli-based sauce.

    Mr Lim’s family lays claim to being the first to invent chilli crab here in 1956.

    2000 November 23, Ong Wan Shu, The Straits Times
    2 more examples

    But for that special meal, Singapore chilli crab (spicy chilli and tomato-based crab stir-fry dish; see the recipe), black pepper crab (sweet and spicy chilli and black pepper-based stir fry dish) or simple steamed crab (all using mud crab) are much-loved treats.

    2003, Su-Lyn Tan, World Food Malaysia & Singapore, page 55

    The list that emerged was intriguing - durians, chilli crab, Electronic Road Pricing (ERP), parking coupons, memorable Singlish words like "chope" and "lah", "uncles" and "aunties", "mama shop".

    2015 February 7, The Business Times

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

chilli crab. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chilli%20crab

MLA

“chilli crab.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chilli%20crab. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chilli crab,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chilli%20crab.

Source: chilli crab on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.