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You are here: Home / Main dish / How To Make Crab Cakes with Canned Crab

How To Make Crab Cakes with Canned Crab

September 12, 2018 By Joe 5 Comments

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Making traditional New England-style crab cakes couldn’t be easier. In this blog post, we’ll show you how to make crab cakes with canned crab meat.

This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.

Overhead, close-up view of 2 crab cakes on a plate.

Maryland, Chesapeake Bay, and Baltimore come to mind when thinking of crab cakes.

While it would be best to be by the ocean to pick up fresh crab meat, but canned crab meat is quite flavorful also.

For these cakes, we used Chicken of the Sea jumbo blend crab meat which is pasteurized and sold refrigerated.

We bought this at Costco. It has about 1/3 lump meat and the remainder are smaller pieces.

This canned crab made some nice cakes and had a good amount of larger crab pieces.

Crabmeat in a bowl being mixed with cracker crumbs.

How to Make Crab Cakes with Canned Crab

This recipe is pretty much just crab meat and binders to hold it together. None of the celery or bell peppers in this one. The result is plain old crab meat goodness. 

First, the wet ingredients are mixed up in a small bowl. Then the crab meat is blended separately with fine cracker crumbs; folded in carefully so as to not break up the larger chunks of crab.

Bowl of crabmeat being mixed.

The mayonnaise-based sauce is then folded into the crab meat and refrigerated for an hour to firm up.

Crab balls on a sheet pan ready to be cooled in the refrigerator.

I used a #12 scoop to divide the mixture into 1/3 cup portions. The cake mixture holds together really well, unlike some recipes where it is hard to keep the cakes from falling apart.

Lower the balled portions into shimmering hot vegetable oil and press down with a fork to form a patty.

Cook each side for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes until nicely browned. The cakes seem delicate but are easy to turn with a spatula and a fork.

Plate of crab cakes.

So that’s the easy way to make crab cakes with canned crab meat. Simple ingredients which bring out the best flavors of the canned crab.

We made a sauce using mayonnaise, (#ad) Crystal hot sauce, and lemon juice to go with the patties.

You could also make a tartar sauce with mayo, pickle relish, and lemon juice. Either goes well with the crab cakes.

Be sure to try these tasty recipes:

  • Grilled Herb Crusted Chicken Breasts
  • Tender Beef Tips on Egg Noodles
  • Roasted Cruciferous Vegetables
  • Stuffed Cucumber Bites
  • Mini Crab Cake Appetizer
  • Classic Crab Louie
plate of crab cakes

How To Make Crab Cakes with Canned Crab

Easy recipe, using a minimal amount of ingredients to make delicious crab cakes with canned crab meat.
4.60 from 10 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Appetizer, Seafood, Seafood main dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: crab cakes, crab cakes with canned crab, how to make crab cakes with canned crab
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Refrigerate: 1 hour
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 295kcal
Author: Joe Boyle

Ingredients

  • 1 lbs canned, refrigerated crab meat
  • 1 cup saltine crackers, finely crushed about 20 crackers
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 lg eggs
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tbsp dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp tabasco, Crystal, or other hot sauce
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil for frying
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Instructions

  • Mix together the crab meat and cracker crumbs in a large bowl folding gently to not break up the larger crab pieces.
  • In a small bowl, mix the wet ingredients, (not the oil), together well.
  • Pour the mayonnaise sauce into the crab meat and fold to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 60 minutes or up to overnight if desired.
  • Use a #12 scoop to portion out 8 balls of crab mixture. Then use a large skillet and add the oil on medium high heat until shimmering. Place 4 of the crab balls into the oil, then press down with a fork to form a patty. Cook each side for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes until browned, flip and cook the second side 2/12 to 3 minutes. Repeat with the remaining 4 crab balls.
  • Serve hot with a side sauce if desired.

Notes

  1. Recipe adapted from Andrew Zimmern.
  2. Nutrition information is per one crab cake. 

Nutrition

Calories: 295kcal
 

This recipe post has been updated on November 4, 2021.

 

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Filed Under: Main dish, meats, Seafood

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kimberly

    August 19, 2022 at 8:12 pm

    I made these for my mother in law (she in her 80’s) and she loved them. Do you know if they freeze well? Next time we visit I would like to make a batch (or 2) and freeze them individually so she can enjoy them when she wishes.

    Reply
    • Joe

      August 19, 2022 at 9:22 pm

      Hi Kimberly,

      I have never frozen the crab cakes. It would make sense that they should refreeze well and be able to be microwaved. Pan frying to warm might cause them to come apart. Give it a try and say hi to your mom in law. Let me know how it works.

      Joe

      Reply
  2. Terrence ODoyle

    July 14, 2021 at 5:54 pm

    5 stars
    Great recipe! So easy to follow.

    Reply
    • Joe

      July 14, 2021 at 6:04 pm

      Thanks Terrence. So glad you found my website and tried the crab cakes.

      Joe

      Reply
  3. Hannah Flack

    June 11, 2020 at 11:44 pm

    5 stars
    I found this recipe via pinterest and wanted to take the time to comment on this wonderful dish. Very easy to make, delicious flavours and easy to follow directions. I added 2 tbsp of sriracha sauce and found the spice level good for hubby and I, but a bit zippy for the kiddo’s (which can be easily fixed with less spice). Thanks so much for sharing your recipe.

    Reply

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