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Crab Cake Recipe by Mr. Make It Happen
Introduction
Having lived in the DMV area for a few years, I learned a few things. First, the traffic is absolutely horrible.. it could take you 45 minutes to go 3.5 miles – and Second, those folks don’t play about their crab cakes! If there is a crab cake recipe posted on FB and it has 200 comments, you better believe 120 of them are people from the DMV giving their critiques, lol. All jokes aside, I love my DMV people AND I love crab cakes… if you love them too, there’s no way you won’t enjoy this recipe.
Mise In Place (Prep)
First things first – mise en place! Get all of your ingredients prepped, organized, and ready to roll! Today we are using saltine crackers as our bread crumb binder but feel free to experiment with panko, ritz, or even club crackers. The buns are pictured in the event you wanted to make a BLT or some kind of sandwich like I did for YouTube.
The key to using crackers for your binder is top blend them into a fine dust/powder consistency. This helps to hind the binder evidence from the Crab Cake police too! Lol
Once you have your binder sorted out, it’s time to get started on the crab cake mixture. For that, you will need everything pictured below, along with some freshly diced parsley and of course, the star of the show, jumbo lump crab!
Mix your crab cake ingredients together and season to taste. I like to add a little fresh lemon juice and a pinch of sugar for balance – but feel free to taste and adjust as you see fit. Once you have the flavor right where you want it, carefully fold in your crab mixture. It’s important not to over-work the jumbo lump, because you want to keep the big pieces in-tact.
Once everything is evenly combined and the cracker binder has done its job, throw this in the fridge for about 30 minutes. This trick will help your crab cakes stay together during the cooking process. After 30 minutes in the fridge, shape your crab cakes and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. You can either pan-sear these (preferably for something like a sandwich) or you can bake them in the oven for 12-15 minutes. This is really a matter of personal preference. I like to pan-sear for sandwiches and bake/broil for entrees or appetizers.
Once the crab cakes are cooking away, it’s time to make a quick sauce to serve them with. For this, you will need some creole mustard, ketchup, relish, mayo, and old bay seasoning. Mix to combine and taste as you go – adjust the flavor to your preference.
For sandwiches, use the sauce on the bread – and for entrees or appetizers, you can plate as seen below or serve on the side for dipping.
Print & Download Recipe
Crab Cakes
Equipment
- 1 Large Mixing Bowl
- 1 Small-Med Mixing Bowls
- Baking Sheet with Foil
Ingredients
- 1 lb Lump and/or Jumbo Lump Crab Meat
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1 egg
- 1 tbs dijon mustard
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp hot sauce
- 1 lemon
- 1 tbs sweet pickle juice
- 1 pinch of sugar, as needed
- Old Bay, to taste
- chopped parsley
- 15-25 saltine crackers, crushed into crumbs – 1 sleeve of crackers
- AP Seasoning
- Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato (optional for slider)
Remoulade:
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1/4 cup sweet relish
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/2 shallot diced, optional
- 1-2 tsps old bay
- 2 tbsps creole mustard
- AP Seasoning
Instructions
Prep:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Crush your crackers into bread crumbs.
Make Your Remoulade:
- In a large mixing bowl, make your “sauce” by combining the mayo, worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, lemon juice, sweet pickle juice, dijon mustard, and seasoning. Mix to combine and season to taste.
- After tasting and adjusting, whisk in 1 egg.
- Next, fold in your crab meat carefully, so that you do not break apart the large chunks of crab meat.
- Then, begin to fold in the bread crumbs a little at a time.
- Once the crab cake mixture holds together, place it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Add foil to a baking sheet and spray with cooking spray.
- Melt 1/2 stick of butter in the microwave.
- Form crab mixture into desired size crab cakes and place on the baking sheet.
- Top with old bay and place into the oven for 12-15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and baste with melted butter.
- Place under the broiler for 2-5 minutes to finish and brown the top. (Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t brown too much)
