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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This recipe was EASY to follow and provided me a GREAT foundation to incorporate on !
Thank you so much for this delicious recipe! My husband bought the packaged fresh crab at Cotsco (Phillips). I was wary, but using it in this recipe was fantastic! We saved a few crabcakes and they were also delicious the next day. Googling for a crab cake recipe lead me to Once Upon a Chef and I have been enjoying many more recipes since.
Keep up the beautiful work!
You cant call this a Maryland Crab cake if you gonna put TARTAR sauce on it. GEEZ.
This recipe is amazing. Thank you so much!
I have tried so many recipes, even my own. This one is excellent. Remember the rest in the fridge, as this is critical.
Made these tonight for dinner and they were excellent! Restaurant quality! Even the tartar sauce was delicious! This is the first recipe that I have made from this site (just discovered it while searching for a crab cake recipe). Based on the results, I look forward to trying many other recipes from this site.
I’ve made these crab cakes before several times and always delicious! I am I interested this time if possible in the oven. What do you think Jen? And how would you do it? Thanks in advance and thank you for all your great recipes.
Glad you like them, Janio! I like them best pan-fried but you can cook them in the oven. I’d suggest 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. I’d love to hear what you think of the baked versus pan-fried versions!
I made these in a hot iron skillet and baked them in a convection over at 400 for 20 min They were delicious crispy on the bottom and fluffy throughout! Did not do the tarter sauce because I prefer Remoulade.
Easy prep and tastes delicious!
I tried this last night & it turned out good. I’ll definitely make them again but need to modify the recipe for 2 picky eaters & based on what I had in the pantry.
I used artificial crab meat chunks (Kroger Chunk Style Imitation Crab Meat $4/lb.) & the taste/texture was fine once you mixed in all the other ingredients. There was no real difference between artificial vs. real meat ($20+/lb.), based on crab cakes I’ve had in nicer restaurants. Plus, no shells…lol.
The Dijon mustard & Worcestershire sauce was the perfect combination of tangy & savory. I didn’t have any Old Bay, so I used cajun seasoning instead. Next time I’ll use 2t. instead of one.
We never eat celery since it always goes to waste, so I left that out. The salt ratio was fine. If I ever buy celery salt, I’ll use that.
I used 2T. dried parsley instead of fresh & it added a beautiful pop of green color & made them look restaurant quality.
I used Panko bread crumbs, but I’ve never been a fan of them in other recipes, so the next time I’ll use regular bread crumbs. They’re just too big & gritty for me. We both have more of a problem with food texture than taste.
The only real problem I ran into was leaving the crab chunks too big. I chopped them up to try & match the size shown in the photo but the cakes were falling apart while frying. Maybe I used too much oil? I only used barely enough to cover the bottom of a large 13″ skillet, but even after letting them sit in the fridge for an hour, the pieces of meat along the edges kept breaking off & a few of them split into big pieces. Next time, I’ll mince the crab much finer as you would find in a salmon patty.
I shaped them using 2 different 1/2 c. measuring cups, which made it really easy. One was shorter & wider, the other was taller & deeper. I scooped the mixture into the short wide measuring cup & used the taller, deeper one to pack it down nice & tight. This made for a really pretty presentation. I got 8 uniform crab cakes using this method.
I formed them & put them all on a plastic cutting board, then covered them with cling wrap & left them in the fridge for an hour to set.
It took 5 minutes on each side to fry in olive oil over medium heat & they turned out a gorgeous golden brown.
I didn’t make the tartar sauce, because we don’t eat it anyway, so I have no idea how that tastes.
This is definitely a 5-star recipe. If you like crab cakes, I would highly recommend giving them a try.
I have a great way to store celery!!
I love celery!!! So when you bring home from store, you cut a slime slice off the stock end. Rinse dry with paper towel wrap it good with foil.. and also, I cut off any brown ends on the tips. You can keep for a month or more!!!
A suggestion for your panko dilemma: add the necessary panko crumbs to a baggie or wax/parchment paper and crush them into bread crumbs. I’ve done that numerous times and it always works well.
Simply superb- followed recipe exactly and they were as expected- delicious!