Who doesn’t love a good crab cake? love eating them, but until recently I hadn’t dialed in just the right recipe to make them myself. My goal was to make a deliciously simple crab cake that has some yummy crunchy ingredient to lift it’s flavor and texture but doesn’t fall apart when you’re shaping it. My recipe is a departure from the original, but I think you’ll like it.
Some research into this yummy dish will lead you back to 1930, when a culinary pioneer named Crosby Gaige introduced crab cakes in his New York World’s Fair Cook Book. He called his recipe the “Baltimore Crab Cake.” His recipe added spices and breadcrumbs to savory crab meat to create the delicacy we know today.
Crab cakes are popular along the coast of the Mid and South Atlantic states in the heart of the crabbing industry. Meat from any crab species can be used in crab cakes, but the blue crab is the traditional choice and generally considered to be the best tasting. In the Pacific Northwest we typically use Dungeness Crab as a popular ingredient for crab cakes.
Crab cakes can be sautéed, baked, grilled, deep fried, or broiled. My recipe simply requires baking the crab cake mixture in a muffin tin which is less messy and they hold together nicely without a lot of fuss .
You can make them in mini muffin tins, for bite sized poppers, or use regular muffin tins for a larger serving size. No matter how you make yours, one of the best ways to prevent your crab cakes from falling apart is to put them in the refrigerator for a few hours before cooking.
You’re Gonna Love It!
Prep Time: 35 Minutes
Serves: 4-6
Recipe Ingredients:
16 ounces lump crab meat, drained and squeezed with a paper towel (to remove as much moisture as possible)
1 cup fresh or canned corn (if canned, drained)
3 mini red bell peppers (finely chopped)
1/4 Cup green onions (diced)
1 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 Egg
1/3rd Cup Mayonnaise
1 Teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 1/4 Cup Panko crumbs
Optional Topping:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon Sri Racha sauce
Squeeze of lemon juice
Recipe Steps:
Preheat over to 450 degrees.
Spray muffin cups with non-stick spray.
Lightly sprinkle some of the breadcrumbs (approx. 1/2 cup) in the muffin tin, lightly tap tin to spread the crumbs evenly.
Chop and drain ingredients as indicated above and ensure all ingredients are as dry as possible.
Combine 1/2 cup bread crumbs with other ingredients, taking care not to break up the crab meat too much.
Divide mixture among muffin cups, and sprinkle lightly with remaining Panko.
Bake for about 10 minutes, until golden brown.
Let cool slightly then remove crab cakes from muffin tin and serve
Optional Topping:
Mix 1/2 cup mayonnaise with 1 Tablespoon Sri Racha sauce and a squeeze of lemon juice. Add a dollop of topping to each crab cake.