Ingredients
Scale
- 1 lb crab meat, pre-cooked or ready-to-eat crab meat
Jumbo lump crabmeat, claw meat or imitation crab meat work great! - 1 tbsp Old Bay Seasoning
OR the following seasonings:- ¼–½ cup fresh dill, chopped
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp paprika
- pinch of cayenne
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 ½ tsp grainy Dijon mustard
- ½ tsp Worchestershire sauce
- pinch of salt
- pinch of pepper
- ¾ cup of mayonnaise, the real kind; like Hellman’s
- 1 egg
- ¾ cup bread crumbs
For this recipe I used Italian style bread crumbs with herbs in them, but you can also use plan bread crumbs, crushed crackers, panko bread crumbs or similar - Canola oil for frying
- Chopped green onions, for garnish to place on top of the crab cakes – this adds a nice freshness!
- Optional (but highly recommended): Homemade Tartar Sauce on the side
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl break up the crab meat so that it’s in smaller chunks and flaky.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the crabmeat and combine well.
- Form the mixture into 16 small patties.
- This Step is optional but a good idea. To make sure your formed crab cakes hold their shape well, refrigerate them in the fridge for at least an hour before cooking. This will also help the flavors to meld together and will also make the crab cakes less likely to fall apart when you cook them.
To Bake Crab Cakes
This is my preferred method for cooking crab cakes as they’ll turn out more flavorful, hold their shape better and makes for less of a clean up!
- Preheat your oven to 420°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place your crab cakes on the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes (carefully flip over once), or until golden brown.
To Fry Crab Cakes
- Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Make sure that the oil is hot before dropping the crab cakes into the skillet. If the oil is not hot enough it will absorb into the crab cakes – you don’t want that.
- Cook the crab cakes for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden. If cooking from frozen you’ll need to cook an additional 1-2 minutes on each side.
- Once they’re finished cooking, remove them from the skillet and place on a wire rack over a baking sheet to drain any excess oil and to keep them crisp.
To Serve
Garnish with chopped green onions. Serve with homemade tartar sauce, lemon wedges, coleslaw and fries or roasted potatoes.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Main
- Method: Pan Fry or Bake
