Maryland Crab Cakes with Quick Tartar Sauce
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A Maryland staple, these crab cakes are made from fresh lump crab meat and just enough filler to bind the crabmeat together.
Photo by Alexandra Grablewski (Chronicle Books, 2018)
When you live in Maryland, eating Chesapeake blue crabs and crab cakes is practically a religion—and, in my family, we are all loyal devotees. Every summer, we hit all of our favorite crab shacks, from local joints all the way to the Eastern shore, where you can look out over the bay and put your feet in the sand.
I’d never attempt making steamed blue crabs at home. Live crabs, giant steamers—yikes! But I do often make crab cakes, which are just as delicious and easier to prepare (not to mention eat). The key is using fresh lump crabmeat and just enough filler to bind the crabmeat together. I love them with tartar sauce, but you could also serve them with lemon wedges or cocktail sauce. Don’t forget the peel-and-eat shrimp, hush puppies, and cornbread.
Table of Contents
What You’ll Need To Make Maryland Crab Cakes
It’s very important to use fresh, good-quality lump crab meat. Look for fresh-off-the-boat crab meat, which is sold in a clear plastic container, usually resting on ice in the seafood department. It’s expensive, but one pound is enough to make six generous crab cakes (or 12 mini ones).
If fresh lump crab meat is not available, the second-best option is refrigerated crab meat, such as Phillip’s, which is readily available year-round. Avoid shelf-stable canned crab meat, which contains additives that affect the taste and texture of the meat. (For a less expensive alternative to crab cakes, or when fresh crab meat is not in season, try fresh salmon cakes.)
Note that celery is not traditional in Maryland crab cakes, but I love the little crunch it adds; feel free to leave it out if you’re a purist.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Make the Crab Cakes
To begin, combine the eggs, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire, Old Bay, salt, celery, and parsley in a bowl.
Mix well to combine.
Add the crab meat (be sure to check the meat for any hard and sharp cartilage) and panko.
Gently fold the mixture together until just combined, being careful not to shred the crab meat.
Shape into 6 large crab cakes (about ½ cup each) and place on a baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. This is really important to help the crab cakes set.
Preheat a large nonstick pan to medium heat and coat with oil. When the oil is hot, place crab cakes in the pan and cook until golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Flip and cook 3 to 5 minutes more, or until golden. Be careful as the oil may splatter.
Make the Tartar Sauce
Combine the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, sweet pickle relish, red onion, lemon, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
Whisk well, then cover and chill until ready to serve.
Video Tutorital
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Maryland Crab Cakes with Quick Tartar Sauce
A Maryland staple, these crab cakes are made from fresh lump crab meat and just enough filler to bind the crabmeat together.
Ingredients
For the Crab Cakes
- 2 large eggs
- 2½ tablespoons mayonnaise, best quality such as Hellmann's or Duke's
- 1½ teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup finely diced celery, from one stalk
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
- 1 pound lump crab meat (see note below)
- ½ cup panko
- Vegetable or canola oil, for cooking
For the Quick Tartar Sauce
- 1 cup mayonnaise, best quality such as Hellmann's or Duke's
- 1½ tablespoons sweet pickle relish
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon minced red onion
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice, to taste
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
For the Crab Cakes
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean-up.
- Combine the eggs, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire, Old Bay, salt, celery, and parsley in a large bowl and mix well. Add the crab meat (be sure to check the meat for any hard and sharp cartilage) and panko; using a rubber spatula, gently fold the mixture together until just combined, being careful not to shred the crab meat. Shape into 6 cakes (each about ½ cup) and place on the prepared baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. This helps them set.
- Preheat a large nonstick pan over medium heat and coat with oil. When the oil is hot, place the crab cakes in the pan and cook until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Be careful as oil may splatter. Serve the crab cakes warm with the tartar sauce.
For the Quick Tartar Sauce
- In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, relish, mustard, onion, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
- Make-Ahead Instructions: The crab cakes can be formed, covered, and refrigerated a day ahead of time before cooking. The tartar sauce can be made and refrigerated up to 2 days in advance.
- Note: If you can only find jumbo lump crab meat, you may need to break the pieces up a bit. If the clumps are too large, the crab cakes won't hold together well.
- Note: The nutritional information does not include the tartar sauce.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 2 crab cakes
- Calories: 299
- Fat: 14 g
- Saturated fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 9 g
- Sugar: 1 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 32 g
- Sodium: 1141 mg
- Cholesterol: 275 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Hi Jen-
Can you use king crab leg meat instead of lump crab in this recipe? Thanks, love your website, and happy new year!
Best,
Liz Lupori
Sure, Liz – I think that will work. Enjoy!
In the past, I could never get my crab cakes to stay together so I stopped making them. I think the key to these cakes is to refridgerate. Thank u for this recipe, and now I will be making lots of crab cakes.
I’m making these for the second time today. My first effort last month was such a hit with my crab cake aficiondao son, I had to make them again. Thanks Jenn!
I’m sure I’ve left a review on one of the many recipes I’ve tried from you, Jen, but after going through many of my printed recipes I came across this one and decided to make it for lunch today! I only had canned chunk crab, so I opened two of them and halved the recipe. I got three nice sized cakes – perfect for the two of us. I also didn’t have parsley (crazy that I didn’t dry some of the fresh parsley I grew all summer), so I substituted some green onion. I did put them in the fridge for an hour and they held up perfectly.
I was so glad to see a recipe that didn’t call for green/red peppers in it. They’re like the kind we had on the west coast – very nice, and perfect with the homemade tartar sauce I also made from this recipe.
Hi,
Do you think I can use this recipe to stuff mushrooms and if so could the stuffing me done a day ahead?
Would like to make for Christmas appetizers in small brown mushrooms.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Happy Holidays
Yes, Dolores, I think the crab mixture would work nicely here and that you could get away with assembling them in advance. I’d love to hear how they turn out!
This is similar to the recipe I use to stuff mushrooms.
Amazing! My grandmother and my mother made crab cakes this way except no celery and crushed saltines instead of panko.
Yum!
I make these quite often and they are just as tasty tonight as they were the first time that I made them. My wife and I love them and tonight my grandson was inducted into the fan club. Thanks for the terrific recipe Jennifer! The only thing that I have changed, is that I cook them in the air fryer. I cook them at 400 degrees for 5 minutes a side. They come out perfect. By the way, love the book!
We live in Northern California near the coast. My avid fisherman son went out and got 20 Dungeness crabs, all about 3 lbs each!! This seems to be quite an extraordinary season. We made a huge dent in it for Thanksgiving (much better than turkey), but we still had lots leftover. I made your wonderful crabcakes tonight. They turned out beautifully, tasted sublime. Dungeness must be quite different than Blue Crab, but never having had Blue, I didn’t know what to expect. I had to add more crab and found the mixture was still quite wet. It was fine once the Panko was added, but I think if I only had 1 lb of Dungeness to work with, I would probably have to cut back on the liquids. Just a little tweaking was all it took. The final dish was well balanced, seasoned perfectly and enhanced rather than hid the flavor of our sweet west coast crab. At any rate the recipe is a definite keeper as are all that I’ve tried. Thank you Jenn. I love everything about this site.
I Made these (Only omitting the Celery, sorry) and they are soooo good!!!! I wish I knew how to add my pictures. I’m in heaven and these will definitely be on every Holiday dinner menu going forward, starting with Thanksgiving! Ty So Much Jenn!
Pure excellence! Unbelievably tasty! Made as written!
Shrimp Cakes: I used your recipe with raw shrimp that were shelled and deveined. Cut them into small pieces then used them instead of crab..also, because the shrimp seemed somewhat “wet”, I added maybe 1/4 cup more than recipe called for. Held up well in the skillet. And from a guy who lives in Kansas City, these were a treat..Thanks Jenn.
Hi Bill
I love your idea of shrimp cakes for something different because I always have shrimp in the freezer, but I don’t always have crab!