Description
Quick and easy homemade crab cakes with a five minute mustard aioli.
Ingredients
FOR THE CRAB CAKES:
- 1 pound lump crab meat, drained and double-checked for shells
- 1/4 cup chopped green onion
- 2/3 cup bread crumbs
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise or plain Greek yogurt
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon dry (ground) mustard
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning (or a similar seafood seasoning)
- salt and pepper to taste
FOR FRYING:
- 3-4 Tablespoons ghee (clarified butter) or canola oil
FOR THE MUSTARD AIOLI:
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise or plain Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup stone-ground or Dijon mustard
- 3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 3 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
MAKE & FORM THE CRAB CAKES:
- In a large bowl, combine lump crab meat, green onion, bread crumbs, egg, Greek yogurt, Worcestershire, dry mustard, Old Bay, salt, and pepper. Use your hands to gently fold the mixture together until well incorporated.
- Shape crab mixture into patties. Place patties on a large plate or baking sheet until you're ready to fry.
If you're making the crab cakes in advance, store formed patties between layers of wax paper in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for 1-2 days before frying.
MIX THE AIOLI:
- In a small bowl, combine Greek yogurt, mustard, Worcestershire, lemon juice, hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Whisk to combine and set aside until you're ready to serve.
If you're making the aioli ahead of time, transfer it to an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
FRY THE CRAB CAKES & SERVE:
- Heat 1 Tablespoon of ghee in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When ghee is hot, gently place crab cake patties into skillet (you will need to work in batches here - don't overcrowd the skillet!)
- Cook crab cake patties for 3-4 minutes per side until browned and cooked through. Add additional ghee to skillet as necessary.
- Serve immediately with mustard aioli or your favorite sauce.
Notes
Additions and substitutions. Swap the green onion for diced bell pepper, celery, red onion, or fresh herbs, or omit it entirely. Use Dijon or stone-ground mustard in place of the mustard powder. To stretch the recipe, double the non-crab ingredients. Use panko or regular breadcrumbs, or use crushed saltines instead. We prefer using ghee to fry our crab cakes because it has a high smoke point (the solids in non-clarified butter cam burn when frying) and great flavor, but you can also use a neutral oil like canola for frying.
Sauces and Aiolis. We chose a quick mustard aioli here to keep things simple, but serve these crab cakes with any sauce or aioli you like! We like tartar sauce, roasted red pepper aioli, lemon wedges, and chipotle aioli.
To bake these crab cakes, heat a sheet pan in a 400 degree F oven for 15 minutes to get it nice and hot. Spray with canola oil, then lay crab cakes in a single layer, spray the tops with oil, and bake 15-20 minutes (depending on size) until cooked through. Pop them under the broiler for a minute or two to crisp the tops further if you like!
You can make crab cakes ahead of time. Store uncooked crab cakes in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Store cooked crab cakes in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. (See the post above for more options and instructions!) Make the aioli up to 3 days in advance and store in an airtight container in the fridge until you're ready to serve.
To reheat leftover crab cakes, pan-fry in a bit of ghee in a large skillet until warm or bake at 350 degrees F until heated through, about 10-15 minutes. Use leftover crab cakes with our easy crab cake eggs benedict!
To prevent the crab mixture from sticking to your hands while you shape your crab cakes, run your hands under a bit of cold water periodically while shaping.
For best results, please read through the full post above! We cover the differences between types of crab (and why we prefer lump crab), our best tips for great crab cakes, alternatives to frying, mini crab cakes, the best sauces, and more!