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Easy Crab Cake Recipe

This Easy Crab Cake Recipe will remind you of your favorite Maryland crab cake. These crab cakes mix lump crab meat, spices, mayonnaise, crushed saltines and butter. They are cooked in a skillet and topped with a simple tartar sauce. These are great for lunch or dinner! 

Easy Crab Cake Recipe with tartar sauce.

EASY CRAB CAKE RECIPE

We eat a lot of seafood in our house. Not only is it healthy it is easy to make and my kids will eat it!

I recently made these Mediterranean Tuna Cakes which my kids loved. 

I thought I would try this Easy Crab Cake Recipe and I am so glad that I did.

In my opinion these are the best crab cakes around and remind me of maryland crab cakes.

This recipe is so easy to make and these homemade crab cakes can be frozen for later for a special occasion or a quick dinner. 

You can also prepare these crab cakes ahead of time and stored in the fridge for up to two days before you cook them in a skillet. 

These crab cakes use lump crab meat, mayo, spices, green onions, crushed crackers and a light tartar sauce for serving.

You could also try this Creamy Dill Sauce for serving.

We will often rotate these crab cakes with this Air Fryer Cod, Baked Cod with Lemon, Black Sea Bass or this Mediterranean Salmon Bowl

Easy Crab Cake Recipe ingredients.

WHAT INGREDIENTS ARE IN THIS CRAB CAKE RECIPE?

LUMP CRABMEAT: This recipe uses 1 pound of lump crabmeat. If you can find jumbo crabmeat try that. You could also use canned lump crab meat if that is what you have available. 

GREEN ONIONS

SPICES: This recipe uses tarragon, crushed red pepper and chili powder for the tartar sauce. You can use other spices like paprika, Italian seasoning or oregano. 

LEMON JUICE

MAYONNAISE 

RITZ CRACKERS: Part of the crab cake recipe uses crushed crackers to help bind everything together. 

BUTTER or OLIVE OIL

Easy Crab Cake Recipe crab meat in a bowl.

HOW DO YOU MAKE THIS EASY CRAB CAKE RECIPE?

TO MAKE THE CRAB CAKES:

In a large bowl, add the egg, mayonnaise, red pepper flakes, green onions, tarragon and lemon juice. Mix until well combined.

Easy Crab Cake Recipe ingredients in a bowl.

Add the crab meat to the egg mixture, blend well.

Easy Crab Cake Recipe crab mixed in the bowl.

Use a ziploc bag and rolling pin to crush the crackers, add the cracker crumbs to the crab meat mixture. Mix until well combined.

Form 8 small crab cakes and prepare a skillet with melted butter over medium-high heat.

Easy Crab Cake Recipe crab cakes formed on a cutting board.

Add the crab cakes to the skillet and cook for 5 min approximately on each side or until a light golden brown.

Remove from heat, serve immediately with tartar sauce or cocktail sauce and lemon wedges.

Easy Crab Cake Recipe crab cakes in skillet.

TO MAKE THE TARTAR SAUCE:

In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, relish and chili powder.
Optional: use finely chopped pickles in place of the relish.

Easy Crab Cake Recipe crab cakes on a cutting board.

TIPS FOR MAKING THIS EASY CRAB CAKE RECIPE

GREEK YOGURT: You can sub Greek yogurt for the mayo if you like but I personally really like the mayo in the crab cakes. I think it helps bind everything and offers a subtle creaminess to the crab cakes.

SPICES: Spices can really add great flavor to these crab cakes. I used tarragon and crushed red pepper but feel free to use other spices like paprika, cajun seasoning, Italian seasoning or oregano. Old Bay seasoning is nice too.

CRABMEAT: I like to use fresh jump lump crab meat but you can also use canned crab meat if you like. If you can’t find jumbo lump crab meat you could use regular lump crabmeat too.

You want to make sure that if it is fresh you pick through it to make sure there are no pieces of crab shell in it.

BREADCRUMBS: You could sub the crushed crackers with bread crumbs or panko bread crumbs. 

WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE: I have added this sometimes and I think it adds a nice flavor. I would add 1 teaspoon.

Easy Crab Cake Recipe breadcrumbs.

MAKE-AHEAD: You can prep the crab mixture ahead of time and leave them in the fridge for one to two days in an airtight container. When you are ready to cook them you can pull them out and heat them in the skillet. 

LEFTOVERS: You can store the leftover crab cakes in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freeze for up to 6 months in an airtight container. 

REHEATING: To reheat the crab cakes you can slowly heat them in the skillet again or slowly heat them in the oven. You don’t want to turn the oven too high because it will dry them out. 

VEGETABLES & FRESH HERBS: You could add finely chopped carrots, celery, onion or red bell pepper. I also love adding fresh herbs like fresh parsley, dill or oregano.

AIR FRYER: You could cook them in the air fryer. Make sure to spray the air fryer basket with a non-stick spray. Cook the cakes in the air fryer at 370 degrees for about 10 minutes or until crispy and browned on the outside. 

BAKING: You could also bake these crab cakes on a baking sheet. Cook at 450 for about 12-15 minutes or until the outside is lightly browned. 

Easy Crab Cake Recipe crab cake on a white plate.

WHAT TO SERVE WITH CRAB CAKES?

SALADS: Salads go great with these crab cakes. Try this German Potato SaladSummer Orzo Pasta Salad, Lemon Arugula Salad, Mediterranean Bean Salad or this Mediterranean Eggplant Salad

VEGETABLES: I love pairing vegetables with these cakes. Some that I like are this Mediterranean Roasted Vegetables, Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower, Lebanese Green Beans or these Simple Garlic Parmesan Green Beans. 

POTATOES: If you are a fan of potatoes try adding these Spicy Lebanese Potatoes, Air Fryer Twice Baked Potatoes, Paprika Roasted Potatoes, Gouda Smashed Potatoes or these Lemon Cilantro Roasted Potatoes

You can also find sides for these crab cakes in this post 17 Easy Side Dishes for Fish

Easy Crab Cake Recipe with logo.

Easy Crab Cake Recipe with tartar sauce.

Easy Crab Cake Recipe

Yield: 8
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

This Easy Crab Cake Recipe will remind you of your favorite Maryland crab cake. These crab cakes mix lump crab meat, spices, mayonnaise, crushed saltines and butter. They are cooked in a skillet and topped with a simple tartar sauce. These are great for lunch or dinner! 

Ingredients

  • 1 pound lump crabmeat, picked over for shells {try to find jumbo lump crabmeat if you can}
  • 2 tablespoons green onions, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, chopped {or dried}
  • 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 4 teaspoons lemon juice, fresh (about 1/2 of a lemon juiced}
  • 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 1 sleeve of Ritz crackers, or butter flavored crackers, crushed
  • 1-2 tablespoons of butter or olive oil for cooking

TARTAR SAUCE

  • 1/2 cup dill relish, drain excess liquid
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/8 teaspoon chili powder

Instructions

    TO MAKE THE CRAB CAKES:

    1. In a medium bowl, add the egg, mayonnaise, red pepper flakes, green onions, tarragon and lemon juice. Mix until well combined.
    2. Add the crab meat to the egg mixture, blend well.
    3. Use a ziploc bag and rolling pin to crush the crackers, add the crushed crackers to the crab meat mixture. Mix until well combined.
    4. Form 8 small crab cakes and prepare a skillet with melted butter over medium high heat.
    5. Add the crab cakes to the skillet and cook for 5 min approximately on each side or until a light golden brown.
    6. Remove from heat, serve immediately with tartar sauce and lemon wedges.

    TO MAKE THE TARTAR SAUCE:

    1. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, relish and chili powder.
      Optional: use finely chopped pickles in place of the relish.

Notes

In the tartar sauce you could replace the relish with finely chopped pickles.

Comments are temporarily closed while we perform maintenance on the website.

Judi

Thursday 16th of March 2023

I made this recipe. Instead of crackers I used 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs. I prepared them in the Airfryer at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. I turned them half way through. They were amazing. Thanks Julia

Julia

Friday 17th of March 2023

So glad you liked them! I like the idea of using breadcrumbs.

Aditya

Wednesday 18th of May 2022

I just wanted to say thank you for this crab cake recipe. Keep posting wonderful things.

Julia

Wednesday 18th of May 2022

You are welcome.

Tanvir Ahmed

Friday 13th of May 2022

kids always love to eat cake.

Julia

Friday 13th of May 2022

:)

Comments are closed.
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