Chef John’s Crab Cakes

  4.7 – 444 reviews  • Crab Cake Recipes

A traditional recipe from long ago for pumpkin cheesecake with ginger snap crust.

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins
Additional Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 1 hr 25 mins
Servings: 4
Yield: 4 crab cakes

Ingredients

  1. 8 saltine crackers, finely crushed
  2. 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
  3. ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
  4. ½ teaspoon seafood seasoning (such as Old Bay)
  5. ¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  6. 1 egg, beaten
  7. 1 pinch cayenne pepper (Optional)
  8. salt to taste
  9. 1 pound fresh crabmeat, well drained
  10. ¼ cup dry bread crumbs
  11. 2 tablespoons butter

Instructions

  1. Mix crushed crackers, mayonnaise, Dijon, seafood seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, egg, cayenne, and salt together in a large bowl. Add crabmeat and stir until combined but still chunky. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  2. Sprinkle bread crumbs onto a plate. Shape chilled crab mixture into four small, thick patties. Coat patties completely with bread crumbs.
  3. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add crab cakes and cook until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 297 kcal
Carbohydrate 11 g
Cholesterol 151 mg
Dietary Fiber 1 g
Protein 29 g
Saturated Fat 5 g
Sodium 728 mg
Sugars 1 g
Fat 15 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Lori Johnson
There are flat out delicious. I did use ritz because it’s what I had on hand, and added more old bay because we like it (3/4 teasp). But I’d make these as written too, and be thrilled with the results. Best crab cakes I’ve ever had!
Gerald Jones
I thought these were really good! My husband loved them. Very easy to make. Thank you SO much for the recipe!!
Erica Robbins
Love this recipe!
Pamela Bell
Followed the recipe. Only had 9 oz of crab meat, 1 good sized crab I picked. So I made 2 cakes, split the recipe. Better than restaurant crab cakes by far. best we ever had. Not surprised, all my go to best recipes are from Chef John. Teacher, entertainer, chef. Bravo!
Kent Edwards
Nice, simple true to the taste of nice fresh Crab. I use snow crab, smaller and saltier but so delicious. dont cheap out on the butter… because everything is better with butter 🙂
Lori Smith
I followed this recipe with the exception of using Ritz crackers instead of Saltines. I also don’t measure everything (like the mustard and Worcestershire sauce) but simply “eyeball” the quantity. I used fresh Dungeness crab, which has the best and sweetest meat in my opinion. While the recipe indicates 4 crab cakes for a pound of crab I found five or six would still provide a healthy sized crab cake. I fried the crab cakes in clarified butter. As Chef John said, these are basically just crab. I did find that chilling the crab cakes prior to frying helped to maintain their shape and keep them together. I served these with Chef John’s Tarragon Aioli. Delicious and highly recommended!
Michael Ward
WAS A LOT OF TROUBLE BUT WORTH IT
Scott Combs
It was delicious and easy to make. I added about 6 large shrimp cut into pieces to add to the crab.
Sarah Gardner
My family absolutely loved these. They were fantastic. Later, I talked with a man about crab cakes, and I asked him if he was familiar with Chef John’s crab cakes. “No, I just buy them in the frozen food section.” Ick. Seasoned breadcrumbs.
Kimberly Burke
Delicious and so easy to make. Thank you
Brenda Campbell
This was great. Everyone loves the taste. I use fresh crab meat.
Lee Ramos
Best recipe for crab cakes I’ve made.
Kimberly Sullivan
This recipe for the crab cakes is absolutely delicious .I have made these cakes twice and making them for the third time today.
Christina Love
As I sit writing this review my dear husband is jumping up and down. He said I hit one out of the park with these crab cakes. I substituted the half a teaspoon of Bichon mustard for a quarter of a teaspoon of hot sauce and a quarter of a teaspoon of yellow mustard. I also put the patties in my freezer for half an hour instead of chilling them for the full hour. We also like heat so I added approximately a quarter of a teaspoon to a half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. The flavor profile of these is on point. I may add a few extra crackers just because they were a little flakier than I care for. My husband is looking forward to Future crab cake meals!!!! Make them you won’t be disappointed!
Rachel Marks
I never rate recipes but I had to because it is all sorts of wrong. The end product tasted good but as is the cakes do not stay together. Some bread crumbs should be added to the mix as well as crackers. I increased the old bay by about 3x the amount due to personal preference as well as feeling it lacked taste otherwise.
Justin Wade
I’m giving it a four because my wife really liked it. I followed the recipe for ingredients but sometimes I don’t measure things. It turned out ok. Maybe I am just not a crab cake person. I probably won’t make it again unless she requests it.
Craig Boyd
Broil them! Im born and raised in MD . I would add 4 crackers , double the Mayo and all the other ingredients except bread crumbs . I would add a pat of butter on each crab cake and broil until golden brown
Robert Clark
Delicious.. This recipe is a keeper. agreat recipe by Chef John. I Substituted the Saltines for Ritz crackers as that’s what I had. I didn’t refrigerate for an hour either and the cakes held together perfectly. Also added a dash of old bay.
Curtis Jacobs
Since we live on the water and have access to fresh crab, we decided to try making our own crabcakes. I always try a new recipe verbatim. In this case, completely missed the breadcrumbs in the recipe and I was out. So I just used cracker crumbs. We ended up picking 4 pounds of crab meat, thus quadrupling the recipe. This recipe is simple and so wonderful! Huge hit and enjoyed the time with my husband cooking in the kitchen. Definitely saving this recipe for future guests.
Jennifer Pierce
These were perfectly seasoned and simple to make. I used crushed oyster crackers instead of saltines and canned crab meat. Treat them gently while cooking. I might try to add a second egg next time for better binding.
Luke Daugherty
My husband said this is the 2nd best crab cake he’s ever had! (The best was made with actual fresh crab, haha). I highly recommend watching Chef John’s videos before making any of his recipes. He always explains processes and gives helpful little tips you don’t get by just reading the steps. I made 4 cakes, as the recipe instructed, however I think next time I’ll make maybe 6 smaller cakes to get them a little crispier. DEFINITELY keeping this recipe!!!

 

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