While I have plenty of family from The Gulf Coast who I’ve enjoyed a basket of crab claws with, I’m hesitant to admit that I never tried West Indies Salad until quite recently. My first taste was at Dyron’s Lowcountry in Mountain Brook. Led by Chef Chris Melville, the Dyron’s team makes a version that stays tried and true to the original: bits of sweetness from the onion, perfectly salty, and served ice-cold.

My next encounter with the famous salad came courtesy of Chef Bill Briand at Little Bird in Fairhope. His West Indies has the addition of lemon and mint, and is served with fire crackers (Saltines seasoned with chili and garlic, and absolutely addicting). I had to restrain myself from ordering another round before even getting to the main entrée.

Like so many Southern staples, West Indies Salad has a storied past of how it became a permanent fixture on Gulf Coast tables. And while it remains closely tied to region, Alabama restaurants across the state have adopted, and adapted, this perfect Southern appetizer.

The History of West Indies Salad

From a Southerner’s perspective, West Indies Salad is called a “salad” simply because the ingredients are mixed together in a bowl. There’s no lettuce or leafy green requirement here; the salad consists of crab, onion, oil, vinegar, and time.

The original recipe is credited to William “Bill” Bayley Sr., who opened Bayley’s Steak House south of Mobile on Dauphin Island Parkway in 1947. Over the years, the restaurant evolved, becoming Bayley’s Restaurant and later Bayley’s Seafood Restaurant. But one thing never changed: the West Indies Salad on the menu.

According to Bayley family lore, the dish was born far from Alabama. While working as a port steward in the Merchant Marine, Bill Sr. spent time in the Caribbean, where he made a simple salad using boiled lobster, onions, oil, and vinegar. When he returned home and opened his restaurant, he recreated the dish using fresh Gulf crabmeat–West Indies Salad was born.

In a Southern Foodways Alliance video, Bill Bayley Jr.—who ran Bayley’s Seafood Restaurant until it closed in 2022—admitted he never paid much attention to the salad’s origin story. But, according to his mother and “a couple more people,” the Merchant Marine story was always part of family history. Bill Jr. also noted that his father loved simple cucumber-and-onion salads dressed with vinegar, oil, and ice water, which likely influenced the final form of West Indies.

However it came together, the dish stuck. Legend even has it that Bill Sr. also introduced fried crab claws to the Gulf Coast menu, making his mark on Southern seafood culture more than once.

From Restaurant Secret to Community Staple

For years, Bayley’s West Indies Salad recipe was a closely guarded secret—until it wasn’t. In 1964, the Junior League of Mobile published Recipe Jubilee, and there it was, tucked into the “Salad Jamboree” section: a six-ingredient recipe credited to William Bayley of Bayley’s Steak House.

The original recipe is spare and exacting: lump blue crabmeat, finely chopped onion, cider vinegar, vegetable oil (traditionally Wesson), ice water, salt, and pepper. No citrus, no herbs, and no embellishment. It’s closer to a crab ceviche than anything leafy, and its restraint is the point.

Since then, variations have emerged—some with a touch of lemon, others with cucumber or additional vinegar—but the soul of the dish remains unchanged. You’ll find West Indies Salad on menus all around Mobile Bay and beyond, often served as an appetizer and almost always fiercely defended by locals who insist their version is the right one.

A Living Recipe

While purists will defend the original West Indies Salad recipe to the death, I (perhaps naively) believe the beauty of the dish exists in making it one’s own. Recipe variations live in kitchens, cookbooks, restaurants, and on small scraps of paper. It’s served at weddings and holiday spreads, scooped onto crackers, eaten straight from the bowl, and passed down with instructions that usually start with something along the lines of, “don’t mess with it too much.”

The Grand Hotel in Point Clear serves a version stays true to the original spirit, with two subtle additions: finely chopped cucumber and chives for freshness and a hint of color.

Whether you call the version with “extras” a West Indies Salad or not–that’s up to you.

The Grand Hotel’s West Indies Salad Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 sweet onions, finely chopped

• 1 English cucumber, seeded and finely chopped

• 3 pounds jumbo lump crab meat

• 1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil

• 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar

• 1 1/2 cups ice-cold water

• 3/4 cup sliced chives

• Sea salt and white pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Combine the onion and cucumber in a bowl and mix well. Spread half the mixture over the bottom of a dish. Sprinkle evenly with the crab meat and remaining onion mixture.

2. Combine the olive oil, vinegar, and water in a bowl and mix well. Pour over the layers in the dish. Chill for 6 to 12 hours to allow the flavors to blend.

3. Add the chives, sea salt, and white pepper and toss to mix.

4. Enjoy with crackers, as a topping for a green salad, or directly from the bowl.

For more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter and get the best of Alabama delivered to your inbox every Friday.