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
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.
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
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.
Add the crab meat to the egg mixture, blend well.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH CRAB CAKES?
SALADS: Salads go great with these crab cakes. Try this German Potato Salad, Summer 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
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
- In a medium bowl, add the egg, mayonnaise, red pepper flakes, green onions, tarragon and lemon juice. Mix until well combined.
- Add the crab meat to the egg mixture, blend well.
- Use a ziploc bag and rolling pin to crush the crackers, add the crushed crackers 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.
- 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 and lemon wedges.
- In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, relish and chili powder.
Optional: use finely chopped pickles in place of the relish.
TO MAKE THE CRAB CAKES:
TO MAKE THE TARTAR SAUCE:
Notes
In the tartar sauce you could replace the relish with finely chopped pickles.
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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
:)