10/17/2025
🍜 Soup Season Series - She Crab Soup 🦀
Long before She Crab Soup became a staple on restaurant menus across South Carolina, it was primarily a homemade dish.
The soup first appeared in South Carolina in the 1700s, introduced by Scotch-Irish settlers who created a bisque made with cream, crab, and rice. Rice was a key ingredient, as the state was a major rice producer at the time. As the dish evolved, French and Creole influences added new elements, thickening the soup's consistency and enhancing its flavors.
In the early 1900s, chef and butler William Deas, who worked for Charleston Mayor R. Goodwyn Rhett (the same man credited for popularizing Shrimp & Grits!), made a significant change to the recipe by adding crab roe. This addition transformed the soup’s texture, taste, and appearance, giving birth to what we now know as She-Crab Soup. The roe, which can only be harvested from female crabs, gave the soup its distinctive orange color and a savory, tangy kick that balanced the sweetness of the crab and the sherry.
By the 1930s, Deas' version of the soup had become beloved among local cooks. It gained wider public recognition when Deas began serving it at a restaurant, where it quickly became the top dish on the menu.
Today, chefs and restaurants across the state continue to put their own twist on this cherished South Carolina classic.
Stop by and see our friends at Harrelson's Seafood for their famous She Crab Soup!
