Maryland Crab Cakes with Quick Tartar Sauce
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
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
You May Also Like
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
Powered by 
- 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.
See more recipes:
Comments
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
We cooked these a few days ago. They came out perfectly. My son ended up eating 4 of them. This is now in our family rotation. I was true to the recipe and I don’t believe it needs to be changed at all. I was concerned that they would fall apart when cooking however, pitting them in the refrigerator to firm up was perfect. I did use parchment to line my pan when I was forming them.
I made this recipe exactly as written. It made wonderful crab cakes and it was super easy. I love your recipes and next I will try the salmon cakes.
These were delicious and came together so easy. I followed recipe exactly as instructed. Will definitely make again. I didn’t make the sauce.
great recipe. it came out perfect. the tartar sauce was delish and so easy to make
I have been making crab cakes for years with a recipe from Williams Sonoma . It was good, but I tried this recipe last night & it is fantastic! So easy and so delicious! I assembled everything in about 10 minutes & it was nice not frying the cakes in an inch of oil. I cooked half last night & the other half tonight. They were excellent tonight too. The tartar sauce was also easy & very tasty. I followed the recipe exactly as it is & can highly recommend it! Thank you for sharing this yummy recipe!
I made this for dinner and the crab cakes were delish! They would be great as an appetizer as well. I will make the tartar sauce next time. Thanks for an authentic Maryland crab cake recipe.
Authentic Maryland crabcakes do not have celery.
Hi Deborah, I love the little crunch it adds but feel free to leave it out if you’d like. 😊
Grew up on the Chesapeake Bay and never saw celery in a crab cake (that I can remember). Maybe I just missed it. But, please don’t fry in oil, use butter instead, it’s the best by far.
BA
What a great recipe!!! We used jumbo lump crabmeat which we broke up a little. This was so easy and clean-up was a breeze. We left out the celery & parsley, just personal preference. We lined a small baking pan with aluminum foil (sprayed with PAM). We placed the crabcakes on the pan and baked them in the toaster oven. Baked at 375 degrees for 13 minutes, placed a pat of butter on each crabcake and baked them for 2 more minutes (total of 15 min.). They were absolutely perfect!!! The “Quick Tartar Sauce” was also amazing!!! We made this for our “Feast of Seven Fishes” on Christmas Eve and we loved it so much that we’ll be making it many more times throughout the year!!!
Not sure if it was me or the recipe but this was a waste of crab meat. No flavor at all in the crab cakes and the tartar sauce was awful.
Same on the flavor of the crab cakes. I followed the recipe and these crab cakes were SUPER mild. I didn’t make the tartar sauce- sounds like that was a good thing.
The recipe did not have the temperature to bake them. What is the temperature for the oven? Do I heat the oil on the pan while preheating the oven, or do I preheat the oven first and then put the pan in to get the oil hot! I’m cooking them this weekend so I need to know, Today’s date is Wednesday 5-15-24
My daughter made these and said that they are delicious.
Hi Sherry, These crab cakes are actually just pan-fried – not baked. I like the crab cakes best pan-fried but you can cook them in the oven. I’d suggest you use a combination of baking and broiling; bake them in a 350-degree oven on a lightly greased baking sheet for about twenty minutes, or until hot (and it’s not necessary to flip them). Then I’d slide them under the broiler for about a minute to get them golden brown on top. Enjoy!
First time making crab cakes with left over king crab. This was super easy to follow and it really made exactly 6 half cup crab cakes! The tartar sauce was also amazing! Will always use this recipe for my left overs!