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Our easy Homemade Crab Cakes are restaurant quality and made with plenty of fresh lump crab meat. Serve them with chipotle mayo for a perfect appetizer or main dish.
Homemade Crab Cakes Are Actually Easy
Homemade Crab Cakes Are Actually EasyAnd, they're so much better than your average crab cakes. Most of the time, crab cakes have lots of filler, with some crab meat, but that is not what you will find here! I firmly believe that the crab should be the star of the show here, so we add fresh bell peppers and spices to compliment the crab, not to overpower it. They're impressive and fancy enough for a nice date night at home or holiday meal, but they seriously couldn't be easier or quicker to make. You can also prep them, and the sauce, in advance, making them even easier. For a fun brunch option, use them for the most incredible Crab Cake Benedicts!
Don't miss my other seafood recipes, like Lobster Tails, Shrimp Cocktail, California Sushi Roll, Seared Scallops, Baked Salmon, or King Crab Legs!
The Best Crab Meat for Crab Cakes:
Since the crab meat is our star, we want quality crab meat! You get what you pay for, and I promise it's worth buying quality refrigerated fresh lump crab meat for these! Avoid anything that comes in a can! Fresh lump crab meat is at most grocery stores or local fish markets, my favorite is Costco. If you are unsure of where it is, ask the person at the seafood counter. They are often in little plastic containers and will say “wild caught lump crab meat”. We want “lump” meat because it is smaller white pieces of meat that work perfectly in these crab cakes. Jumbo lump is a little too large for these and would be more appropriate for fresh salads and sandwiches. If you have any leftover crab after these crab cakes, use it for our Crab Dip!
How to make Crab Cakes:
Mix Ingredients: Add crab meat to a mixing bowl with all of the other crab cake ingredients except the cornstarch, olive oil, and panko bread crumbs. Mix it up then let it refrigerate for at least an hour. If I'm making these for dinner, I love to mix it together when I have time in the morning or after lunch. It makes the rest of it completely effortless at dinner can be done in just 10 minutes.
Form: Use ⅓ cup measuring cup to scoop the crab then tap it on your hand to get it to fall out. Pat and form it into a flat disc, but not too flat. This mixture will make 7 perfect crab cakes. Sprinkle cornstarch on both sides of each then heat a large skillet over medium heat.
Dip and Pan Fry: Carefully dip each crab cake in a bowl with a beaten egg then into the bowl of panko bread crumbs, pressing them on. Spray olive oil in the large skillet then add crab cakes when they are hot. Cook for 3-4 minutes per side, until golden brown and crispy. See instructions in the recipe card for baking and air frying instructions, if you prefer.
Serve: Enjoy immediately with a side of the homemade crab cakes sauce for dipping. Make sure you don't skip the sauce, it takes 2 minutes and compliments these crab cakes perfectly! If you want more sauce options, you can try tartar sauce, cocktail sauce, remoulade sauce, or a horseradish-sriracha sauce.
Crab Cakes
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound lump crab meat*
- 1/2 cup bell pepper, (yellow, red, or a little of both), diced
- 2 large eggs, , separated
- 2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning
- 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 clove garlic, , minced
- 1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro, , chopped
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, , to taste (1/4-½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper)
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- panko bread crumbs
Crab Cakes Sauce:
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tablespoons chives, , finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, , minced
- 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
- 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Make the sauce by combining the ingredients until smooth. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to serve. (Can be made several days in advance).
- Mix crab and seasonings: In a mixing bowl add the crab meat, bell peppers (I like to squeeze them out with paper towels, to remove excess moisture, before adding), one beaten egg, Old Bay seasoning, mayo, garlic, cilantro and salt and pepper. Gently stir just until blended.1 pound lump crab meat*, ½ cup bell pepper, 2 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning, 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise, 1 clove garlic, 1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro, salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Refrigerate for at least one hour, or up to 5 hours. (If you find a lot of liquid has released, stick some paper towels in the bottom of the bowl to absorb it).
- Form Crab Cakes: Beat the remaining egg and add to a shallow dish. Add the panko bread crumbs to another dish. Spoon about ⅓ cup of the mixture into your palm and flatten into a small disc, about 3 inches in diameter. Sprinkle the outsides of the crab cake patties with a tiny bit of cornstarch.¼ cup cornstarch
- Dip each patty lightly in the beaten egg, and then coat them lightly with panko bread crumbs. I try to avoid doing a thick coating of crumbs because I like the crab flavor to shine through as much as possible.
- Cook: Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the crab cakes and cook for about 3-4 minutes on one side, until golden brown on bottom. Gently flip to the other side and cook for another 3 minutes, or until golden. Remove to a plate.1 Tablespoon olive oil
- Serve warm with chipotle mayo sauce for dipping.1 cup mayonnaise, 2 Tablespoons chives, 2 cloves garlic, 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice, 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder, salt and freshly ground black pepper
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe August 2018. Updated December 2021 and December 2025.
Delicious! We love crab cakes and these were perfect! My son said they are better than the pricey ones at restaurants.
Your directions say to put 1/3 of the crab mixture in your hand to make a patty however, the recipe states it makes 7. Did you mean a 1/3 cup???
Thanks for catching that. It is 1/3 cup! Enjoy the crab cakes- they are a fav of mine!
Why were my crab cakes so moist? They did not pack together very well and fell apart when placed in the egg mixture. What happened?
the same happened to me. maybe it needs some of the Panko in the mix?
it has been my experience that you need to make sure that you drain as much liquid out of the crab meat as possible, as well as add some of the bread crumbs into the mixture to help absorb any remaining mixture. I also do not dip mine in egg before coating in bread crumbs. I just coated them in the bread crumbs as there was usually enough moisture to begin with.
This also happened to me. I used fresh crab that I shelled. The mixture when I tried to pack it was dripping in liquid. I had to put the mixture in a measuring cup and hold it upside down pushing on the mixture to get the liquid out. After a big mess, spooning the egg on top and a lot of Panko to get them to stick together, they ended up tasting good. (-:
Can I put these in the air fryer?
I’ve never cooked with an air fryer so I couldn’t say, but sounds like a fun idea!
Per my family, these are the best! I’m allergic to crab, but I wanted to make something special in addition to the other traditional Thanksgiving dishes and everyone LOVED them! The directions were super easy and most of the ingredients were already in my fridge (except for the lump crab – which was super easy to find at Safeway!). I fried them in Olive Oil – came out perfect!!!! So glad I found your website! This will be my GO TO for all future meals.
Wow! These were restaurant quality! So delicious and easy to make. Thanks for another great meal idea.
What a great recipe! Crab cakes used to always intimidate me, so I very much appreciated the step-by-step instructions and the photos. My kids loved them and my husband was very impressed.
Can these crab cakes be baked verses fried? They sound amazing.
Thanks, Janet
Yes, bake them at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. Hope you get to try them :-).
Made these on a whim and will definitely be making them again. The family loved them and they were super easy!
Dear Lauren, thank you for sharing this with us. I think about making it to have an office lunch with lettuce salad. Have a pleasant rest of the week