Although I adore Japanese chicken teriyaki, I think most recipes could use a bit more flair. Even the pickiest eaters in my family have cleaned their plates and asked for seconds thanks to this recipe. Steamed rice is recommended.
| Prep Time: | 40 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 12 crab cakes |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- ½ onion, finely chopped
- 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
- ½ large red bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1 bunch green onions (green portion only), chopped
- ½ large carrot, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon parsley flakes
- 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning (such as Tony Chachere’s®)
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 pound lump crabmeat, picked free of shell
- 9 buttery crackers (such as Keebler Club® crackers), crushed
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon chile-garlic sauce (such as Sriracha®)
- 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning (such as Tony Chachere’s®)
- 2 teaspoons parsley flakes
- 1 teaspoon paprika
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the celery, bell pepper, green onion, carrot, and garlic. Continue to cook and stir until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes more.
- Season with 1 tablespoon parsley flakes, 2 teaspoons Creole seasoning, basil, pepper, dill weed, oregano, and thyme. Cook and stir until fragrant, 5 minutes more.
- Transfer cooked vegetables to a large bowl; allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Set skillet aside for later use.
- Stir the beaten eggs into the vegetables. Mix in the crabmeat and cracker crumbs with your hands, making sure not to break up the chunks of crab too much.
- Shape the crab mixture into 12 small cakes.
- Heat vegetable oil in the skillet over medium high heat.
- Pan-fry the crab cakes in batches until golden brown on each side, about 3 minutes.
- To make dipping sauce: Whisk together the mayonnaise, chile-garlic sauce, 2 teaspoon Creole seasoning, 2 teaspoon parsley flakes, and paprika.
- I recommend using a good-quality food processor to finely chop all vegetables.
- Feel free to prepare crab cakes ahead of time. Form into patties and refrigerate. Remove patties from refrigerator about 30 minutes before frying to allow time to reach room temperature. Serve as an appetizer, a side dish, or on top of a pasta dish.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 530 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 13 g |
| Cholesterol | 144 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 21 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Sodium | 1040 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 44 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This is the first time I have ever made crab cakes. They were delicious! Better than most I have had in restaurants. This recipe will be a mainstay for us forever. Don and Virginia
Liked the flavor but I should have cut the crab (imitation ) smaller. Needs more binder too. They completely came apart so I will do something next time to help it hold together.
I made these for dinner last night. My daughter who ‘hates’ crab cakes liked them. They were really good and the sauce made them even better.
The flavor was delicious. I would make it again, but it needed more binder so I would add more crackers.
I will make this again. Read all the reviews, and I broiled them. Really good! Made the remoloude and it was good too. Did cut back on the Tony’s, but if you use Tony’s regularly (like I do) you already know it’s kind of salty. But excellent recipe and I will make this again.
used fake crab still tasted good to me. I had no green onion or fresh parsly or celery. Served with re moo loude sauce..yum
The crab cakes are excellent and the sauce is excellent. I left out the green onions because I didn’t have any, and I used slightly less seasoning. Adjust according to your taste. They are very moist and flavorful.
These had excellent taste and balance. My only difficulty was keeping them together as a patty. I squeezed out excess moisture when forming the patty which helped a lot. I will surely make this again.
I had to triple the recipe due to having 14 people over for Easter brunch So I didn’t make the sauce but I followed the recipe omitting the celery, carrots and dill. The first two cause I don’t like them and the dill cause once I got everything going and the rest of the herbs in, it’s didn’t need it. The vegetable mixture is pretty fragrant by itself. I mixed everything up and formed the crab cakes the night before and took them out to come to room temp about 30 minutes before popping the into the oven at 350 for 25 minutes. I turned them over about half way through. I couldn’t keep people away from them. Everyone made some comment about it being the best they’ve had etc. I frankly don’t cook crab often, and will def not be making this for such a large crowd again in the future only due to the expense of crab meat. But according to Hubby, I need to keep this recipe handy, in case he gets a craving.
If you are a fan of the “Maryland” type crab cake, which uses less filler, then this is not the recipe for you. I live in the Deep South where we like food spicy, full of ingredients and full of flavor! This is by far, the best crab cake we’ve had to date. I did not add all the crab to the mixture at once, reserving about 1/4 of the chunks to press/gently work into already-made patties before cooking. I broiled some under high heat, about four minutes per side. It was good, especially for the health conscious. I fried the rest, which is how we preferred it. So delicious! Also, if it seems like the mixture won’t hold together, add crumbs. And pop the mixture in the freezer for 15 minutes before forming patties. Thank you for a fabulous recipe!
These were delicious, very flavourful and an excellent texture. The dipping sauce added extra zip!
Making it for the third time. We can’t get enough of these crab cakes. I should put out copies of the recipe because I keep getting asked for it. One change, is that I bake them in the oven. Delicious!
Love it but had to use more cracker crumbs and egg than the recipe called for. I also left out the carrots.
I made this for New Years special dinner. It was amazing. I skipped dill. Also, I keep it simple wherever possible so I just combined all ingredients except crab, eggs, breadcrumbs and sautéed all together- much easier and tasted fabulous. Then cooled the veggie/spices till room temp, combined with eggs and cracker crumbs. I lined 6 oz ramekins with Saran Wrap and put 2/3 c. Of crab mix in each. Sealed them up and refrigerated for 2 hrs. Then you can pull pre portioned to cook when you want. Also, I baked at 350 for 25 min instead of sautéing to save calories- was amazing! If possible make sauce day before to give time for flavor to develop. I used low fat mayo for healthier version without flavor sacrifice- enjoy!
Absolutely delicious!! Love the sauce too! This girl knows how to cook up a true New Orleans style crab cake! Yummy!
I only had 8 oz of good crabmeat, so I halved the recipe. I did not have Creole seasoning but used Cajun seasoning (same difference, I believe). The combination of veggies and spices produced a nicely flavored crabcake. When forming, the mixture held together very well and also during the pan-frying. The dipping sauce included with the recipe has a good, spicy Cajun flavor. I happened to have some homemade garlic aioli and honey mustard that I also enjoyed with the crabcakes. Thanks for the great recipe, Tracy!
Tried this last night. Taste great, though the Cajun seasonings I had to use had less salt, and I had to add a pinch to each cake prior to serving. I used only olive oil and did not include the dill (as there was none to be had). I served with wedges of lime and lemon instead of the sauce.
Extremely delicious! I substituted cooked cod for the crabmeat…excellent!
I must admit I was prepared not to like these. What, no mayo? What’s with all the herbs? (I used fresh). It also seemed liked an overload of seasoning and way too many vegetables for the small amount of crab. I thought Hubs would appreciate them even less. His sensitive innards would never be able to tolerate all that Sriracha in the sauce, I thought. But he said he wasn’t interested in having any crab cakes anyway, so I proceeded. But he tried them and ended up eating two of them – we were both surprised at how much we liked them! So different, so flavorful, spicy and fresh tasting! Proof that sometimes it pays to go outside of your comfort zone and try something new and different.
I have made this recipe twice: the first time without dipping sauce, and I used some fresh parsley I had around, and made my own cajun seasoning. It was very good (4.5 stars). The second time, I made it according to directions (2.5 stars– maybe I misread them): dried parsley flakes do not hack it for me; Tony Cachere’s seasoning has way too much salt; and I have to believe that there is a typo on the dipping sauce: we could not eat it, way too salty. IMHO, make it with fresh parsley; add 1/2 lemon’s juice, cut the Tony Cachere’s seasoning in half; use one tsp of basil. Better yet, make your own cajun seafood seasoning mix: 1/2 tsp salt,1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp white pepper, 1/4 tsp cayeene, 1/4 tsp crushed peppers (like you use on pizza), 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/4 tsp oregano, 1/4 tsp onion powder– use 1/2 of this mix and add salt judiciously after tasting the final mix before forming the cakes. I don’t know what to do about the sauce– the cakes are so good alone we don’t need it anyway. –Bill
I always make a recipe exactly as written before I review it. That being said, these were very delicious crab cakes **if you don’t mind some HEAT**. The sauce turned out to be unnecessary as the crab cakes were tasty enough and the sauce was REALLY HOT. I think next time I will reduce the cajun seasoning a little. Other than that, this is now my “go-to” recipe for crab cakes