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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what do you serve with crab cakes?
I love crab cakes with corn on the cob and a green vegetable…cornbread or corn muffins are nice too.
I love crab so I was excited to make these cakes. They tasted delicious, but didn’t stay together. I ended up with a hot, crabby mess in the pan that was pretty much just a seafood salad.
Hi Alyssa, So sorry you had trouble getting the crab cakes to stay together. Did you let them sit for an hour in the refrigerator? This really allows them to set. Also, did you use lump or jumbo lump crabmeat? Jumbo lump is so large that it doesn’t hold together well.
Now, I will preface this statement with I LOVE to cook & have tried several crab cake recipes over the years. Nonetheless, It’s 11:42pm and my husband and I just finished this DELICIOUS meal! I pretty much followed the recipe as stated. I was unable to find the suggested mustard so I used Dejon and instead of the refrigerator, I placed them in the freezer for about 30 minutes! OH! After reading the reviews, and at the last minute, I mixed some Old Bay with some flour and LIGHTLY dusted the cakes prior to placing them in the oil! VERY, VERY TASTY! This was a restaurant quality meal in the comfort of my home! THANKS FOR SHARING!
This recipe sounds delicious! I will be adding it to our menu in a few weeks. Thank you for sharing!
My husband grew up in Maryland, and his Mom wa born and raised in the Chesapeake Bay area..no to the celery. They use and prefer powder dry mustard, and unseasoned bread crumbs….store bought is fine…but everything else is the same as his Mom’s recipe. She served them with home made cole slaw.
If using dry mustard powder instead of Dijon, how much should I use?
Sandy, 1 tablespoon of regular mustard is the equivalent of about 1 tsp of dry mustard. Hope you enjoy the crab cakes!
Can’t wait to make these – Maryland crab cakes are THE BEST! I no longer live on the East Coast (in Md.) and authentic crab cakes are something I really miss.
I just ate, but reading this recipe makes my mouth water. I use to make a stuffing for baked flounder with crabmeat stuffing almost exactly like yours for fried crab cakes, but I used fresh crabmeat that we caught at our coast house. I guess we can’t all be so lucky. LOL
I am a purest and believe you NEVER put celery in a crab cake, same with onion….all this does is hide the delicious flavor of the crab. With crab cakes the few ingredients the better.
I would try this recipe but leave out the celery, reg bread crumbs instead of Panko, and no dijon mustard, again, that ingredient hides the flavor of the crab.
We make these all the time. The trick to getting them to hold together is refrigerating them, so don’t be tempted to skip this step. Maybe this is blasphemy to Marylanders, but I use a Cajun remoulade for the sauce. So tasty!
Becca, We marylanders love our crab cakes so much, we pretty much don’t care what you dip them in !!! HAHAHAHAHA
I have made two different sauces for these. A lemony hollandaise and a creamy dill sauce. Both went over well. Which you use is a matter of taste that day!! I use dijon or whole grain mustard too.