Maryland Crab Cake Recipe
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If you’re looking for an authentic Maryland crab cake recipe, this is the one to make. Packed with sweet lump crab meat and just enough filler to let the crab shine, these crab cakes are crisp and golden on the outside, tender inside, and full of classic Maryland flavor.
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. While steamed blue crabs are always a treat, these Maryland crab cakes are every bit as delicious and much easier to prepare.
This is the crab cake recipe I make most often at home. I keep the filler to a minimum—there’s just enough binder to hold the cakes together, so the fresh crab meat is what you actually taste.
I love these crab cakes with homemade tartar sauce, but you can also serve them with lemon wedges or even cocktail sauce. Don’t forget the peel-and-eat shrimp, hush puppies, coleslaw, and cornbread on the side.
“This is the best crab cake recipe I’ve ever tried! Absolutely delicious and loaded with all crab, hardly any fillers.”
What You’ll Need To Make Maryland Crab Cakes
- Eggs: Help bind the crab cakes so they hold together when cooked.
- Mayonnaise: Adds moisture and richness to the crab cakes. Use a good-quality brand like Hellmann’s or Duke’s for the best flavor.
- Flavorings: These classic Maryland seasonings enhance the sweet crab without overpowering it.
- Celery (optional): Adds a bit of crunch to the crab mixture—nontraditional but a nice touch. Skip it if you’re a purist.
- Fresh Lump Crab Meat: Look for it fresh in the seafood department, not canned—see “Buying Crabmeat” below for what to look for.
- Panko breadcrumbs: Just enough to help bind the mixture while keeping the crab cakes light. Unlike traditional breadcrumbs, panko creates a delicate texture without weighing the crab cakes down.
- Vegetable oil: For pan-frying the crab cakes until crisp and golden brown.
- Quick Tartar Sauce: A quick mix of mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, sweet pickle relish, red onion, fresh lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Buying Crabmeat
The quality of your crab meat will make or break this recipe. Look for fresh refrigerated crab meat sold in plastic containers in the seafood department, or ask at the seafood counter. Pasteurized refrigerated crab meat, such as Phillips, is the next-best option if fresh isn’t available. Avoid shelf-stable canned crabmeat.
Stick with lump crab meat rather than jumbo lump. Jumbo lump is pricier and best saved for dishes where those oversized chunks can shine on their own; in crab cakes, they actually make the mixture harder to hold together. Before mixing, gently pick through the crab meat to remove any bits of shell or cartilage without breaking up the lumps.
How To Make Maryland Crab Cakes
Step 1: Make the binder. To start, whisk together the eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire, Old Bay, salt, celery, and parsley in a large bowl until well combined.
Pro Tip: Make sure everything is evenly mixed before adding the crab. Once the crab goes in, you’ll want to handle it as gently as possible to keep the lumps intact.
Step 2: Fold in the crab and panko. Add the crab meat and the panko. Gently fold the mixture together until just combined. Be careful not to overmix—the goal is to keep the crab in generous pieces rather than shredding it into small flakes.
Step 3: Shape and chill. Form the mixture into 6 cakes, then place them on a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least an hour to help them firm up. Don’t skip this step—it makes a big difference in helping the crab cakes hold their shape when cooking.
Step 4: Cook the crab cakes. Heat a large nonstick pan over medium heat with a thin layer of oil. Once hot, add the crab cakes and cook until golden brown on both sides, flipping carefully with a thin spatula—they’ll pop and sizzle, so watch for splatters.
Step 5: Make the tartar sauce and serve. While the crab cakes cook, whisk together the quick tartar sauce and chill until ready to serve. Plate the crab cakes with the sauce on the side and enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
In my family, we have a running rule: never order crab cakes outside of Maryland. It’s partly a joke, but it comes from growing up on authentic Maryland crab cakes, where the sweet lump crab meat is always the star and the filler is kept to a minimum. That’s exactly the philosophy behind this recipe.
You can, but I don’t recommend it. Pan-frying gives these crab cakes the crisp, golden crust and rich flavor that make them truly special. Baking or broiling will cook them through, but the texture won’t be nearly as delicious. If you’ve gone to the trouble of buying good crab meat, I think it’s worth spending a few extra minutes pan-frying the cakes.
Crab cakes usually fall apart if they aren’t chilled before cooking, are flipped too soon, or don’t have enough binder to hold them together. Be sure to refrigerate the shaped crab cakes for at least an hour before cooking, and wait until the first side is nicely browned before flipping. A thin fish spatula makes turning them much easier.
Lump crab meat is my favorite because it gives the crab cakes their signature large, tender pieces of crab. Backfin crab meat is a decent substitute if that’s all you can find. I don’t recommend using claw meat on its own, as it has a stronger flavor and a finer texture that won’t produce the same classic Maryland-style crab cake.
Crab cake Recipe Video Tutorital
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Maryland Crab Cake Recipe
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 flat-leaf parsley
- 1 lb 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 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice, to taste, from 1 lemon
- 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.
Notes
- 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.
- The nutritional information does not include the tartar sauce.
- Make-Ahead/Freezing Instructions: The crab cakes can be assembled and refrigerated, tightly covered, for up to 24 hours before cooking. They can also be frozen, uncooked, for up to 3 months; thaw overnight in the refrigerator before cooking as directed. Leftover cooked crab cakes will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. The tartar sauce can be made and refrigerated up to 2 days in advance.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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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Very excited to try these have just put them in the fridge to chill. Also was lazy and used Always Fresh tinned crab meat, Im sure its not as good as fresh meat. Also just a tip I found was to use a heaped 1/2 cup to scoop the mixture onto the baking tray made exactly 6 and it saves you from getting messy hands and you get a nice round crab cake.
Mrz Cracker-
i used your idea of putting the crab mixture into the 1/2 Cup for measuring…worked to a tee! Put it in, lightly smashed it down, then hit the bottom of the measuring cup with my fist and they all came out perfect! Thanks for the tip! My hands didn’t get dirty once during this step!
I made these for my mom and I toight. I was a little frustrated because they would not stay together when I was shaping them into the cakes, and then they began falling apart in the oil. This was annoying since I had followed teh recipe exactly.
My mom also thought that they would be good as “meatball/appetizer bites.”
Hi Liz, Sorry you had trouble getting the crab cakes to hold together. Did you use jumbo lump crab meat? Sometimes if the lumps are too large, they can be hard to form into cakes. You don’t want to shred the meat, but smaller lumps work best. Hope that helps.
Liz, There become hard to stick together because there’s very little filler. I only use 1 T mayo and 1 T yellow mustard, mixed with 1 egg, Old Bay, Parsley and 2 pieces of chopped white bread. One trick to making them stick, is to refrigerate them for at least 1 hour before frying. Or, broil them which doesn’t require handling or flipping. And yes, you can make them into small “crab balls!”
I am a Maryland girl, born and raised, and I LOVE crab cakes. I like using chopped green pepper instead of celery, and I coat them before frying in either flour or seafood coating, They turn out beautifully golden brown, does not really add to the filling, just makes them stay together, and not fall apart
Thanks for the tartar recipe as well, much better than from a jar, yum!
I am curious….why the no to the celery? It’s fine to say no, but even better to explain why 😉
Folks are saying “no” to the celery because it’s not traditional. I’ve lived in “slower, lower” DE all my life & was raised eating crabs, crab cakes & soft shell crabs. w/ crab cakes, less added is more… This was originally a rustic dish not a high-brow fancy one, thus the suggestions of white bread crumbs & yellow, not dijon mustard. But I say, every recipe is open to interpretation & today dijon mustard & panko are available in most home kitchens & every grocery store… This recipe undoubtedly benefits from the swaps, they just deviate from the “old school” recipe…
Thanks this is my favorite seafood dish….what brand/type of crab to use…..I agree that a little finely minced celery is great addition
Hi Marva, I don’t have a particular brand that I always buy…sometimes I get it at Whole Foods and other times I get it at the Maine Ave fish market downtown.
This sounds fantastic! I am DEFINITELY gonna try this as my soon to be husband is a FANATIC when it comes to crab cakes. HIS FAVORITE food! I had never eaten them before due to the fact that I didn’t like salmon patties. However, I now LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Only have eaten store bought since we do live in the N.east Ga. Mtns. Therefore, I don’t know how to find fresh crab around this area. What brand/type of crab should I buy for this recipe that will make mine taste just as delicious as these and I SAY YES to the celery… the ones we eat have small amounts of celery as well as small amounts of onion. 🙂 Just sayin… my opinion. THANKS FOR THIS RECIPE!!! 🙂
Sounds wonderful! Going in my recipe file!
I can’t wait to make these. The recipe sounds yummy!!
I agree about no celery and fresh bread for authentic md crab cakes. the simpler the tastier it is. We don’t use parsley. Traditional to eat them with saltine crackers.
My Maryland born husband and brother to a professional Annapolis seafood chef says.. NO to celery and use only fresh bread crumbs instead of panko. He also thinks good old yellow mustard is best, but doesn’t realize that my crab cakes, which he loves and thinks are better than his brother’s, include dijon like yours. shhhhhhh and I also add a small amount of finally diced sweet vidalia onion.
I usually sauté my cakes in half butter/half oil. The butter adds some wonderful flavor, the oil tempers the butter so it doesn’t burn.
Grew up on the Chesapeake and dad was a commercial crabber. Agree with everyone above that says NO on the celery, regular mustard is fine. We never added any bread filler at all but I guess a tiny bit wouldn’t hurt. We used plain old flour to coat the outside.
Looks great. I was wondering if you could use salmon or would that be too soft?
Hi Simone, I’ve never tried this recipe with salmon but I think your instincts are right about it being too soft. Hope that helps 🙂
This WILL work great with salmon, I do it all the time, just drain off one can of the salmon juices and use the other in the recipe. This will make it stick together better, and coat it with with either flour or seafood coating before frying, also helps to prevent falling apart. The flavor and taste are awesome.
gotta try
Simone: My grandmother taught me to make salmon cakes using mashed potatoes and following the same crabcake recipe. Dip the salmon cakes in flour before frying in your favorite cooking oil.
Arlene, my mom used to make the salmon cakes with potatoes all the time. I loved those! So sad, she hasn’t made them in years though. I might have to try those salmon cakes using this recipe. Thanks for the suggestion
Has any one tried fresh crab meat.You do not have to use any any thing and the meat holds together——–Ony fresh