Maryland Crab Cakes with Quick Tartar Sauce
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A Maryland staple, these crab cakes are made from fresh lump crab meat and just enough filler to bind the crabmeat together.
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.
I’d never attempt making steamed blue crabs at home. Live crabs, giant steamers—yikes! But I do often make crab cakes, which are just as delicious and easier to prepare (not to mention eat). The key is using fresh lump crabmeat and just enough filler to bind the crabmeat together. I love them with tartar sauce, but you could also serve them with lemon wedges or cocktail sauce. Don’t forget the peel-and-eat shrimp, hush puppies, and cornbread.
Table of Contents
What You’ll Need To Make Maryland Crab Cakes
It’s very important to use fresh, good-quality lump crab meat. Look for fresh-off-the-boat crab meat, which is sold in a clear plastic container, usually resting on ice in the seafood department. It’s expensive, but one pound is enough to make six generous crab cakes (or 12 mini ones).
If fresh lump crab meat is not available, the second-best option is refrigerated crab meat, such as Phillip’s, which is readily available year-round. Avoid shelf-stable canned crab meat, which contains additives that affect the taste and texture of the meat. (For a less expensive alternative to crab cakes, or when fresh crab meat is not in season, try fresh salmon cakes.)
Note that celery is not traditional in Maryland crab cakes, but I love the little crunch it adds; feel free to leave it out if you’re a purist.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Make the Crab Cakes
To begin, combine the eggs, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire, Old Bay, salt, celery, and parsley in a bowl.
Mix well to combine.
Add the crab meat (be sure to check the meat for any hard and sharp cartilage) and panko.
Gently fold the mixture together until just combined, being careful not to shred the crab meat.
Shape into 6 large crab cakes (about ½ cup each) and place on a baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. This is really important to help the crab cakes set.
Preheat a large nonstick pan to medium heat and coat with oil. When the oil is hot, place crab cakes in the pan and cook until golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Flip and cook 3 to 5 minutes more, or until golden. Be careful as the oil may splatter.
Make the Tartar Sauce
Combine the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, sweet pickle relish, red onion, lemon, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
Whisk well, then cover and chill until ready to serve.
Video Tutorital
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Maryland Crab Cakes with Quick Tartar Sauce
A Maryland staple, these crab cakes are made from fresh lump crab meat and just enough filler to bind the crabmeat together.
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 parsley
- 1 pound 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
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice, to taste
- 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.
- Make-Ahead Instructions: The crab cakes can be formed, covered, and refrigerated a day ahead of time before cooking. The tartar sauce can be made and refrigerated up to 2 days in advance.
- Note: 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.
- Note: The nutritional information does not include the tartar sauce.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 2 crab cakes
- Calories: 299
- Fat: 14 g
- Saturated fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 9 g
- Sugar: 1 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 32 g
- Sodium: 1141 mg
- Cholesterol: 275 mg
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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Looks delish! In Charleston SC we do all-u-can-eat crab cracks weekly during warm weather. At $11 a dozen it’s an affordable feast…$8 for mixed if you know the right person:)
looks delish! In Charleston SC we do all-u-can-eat crab cracks weekly. You can get a dozen females for $11 & a mix of males & females for &8. Blue crab of course:)
Good morning, I featured this recipe on my blog today, it looks great! Thanks for allowing me to share. Here is the link http://carriesexperimentalkitchen.blogspot.com/2012/04/week-15-seafood-frenzy-friday-and-guest.html
add capers to that tarter… amazing. ~
Soooooooo good!!! Just made them, my husband and I agree they are the best crab cakes ever!! Thank you for the recipe!! =)
These are awesome, I made these while living in Maryland and they taste like restaurant quality crabcakes. Great recipe!
I have to agree with the posters that have said no celery, never ever heard of celery in crab cakes!! Other than that a GREAT recipe, thanks for sharing
Best crab cakes ever! Thank you!
I’m from Smith Island Md. in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. The crabcakes look head on, except for the celery, but I’m sure they are just delicious with the celery addition!
I grew up in Hawaii but my family is from Baltimore and that is what we eat crab cakes! This recipe is just like my grandma’s who makes the BEST crab cakes ever =) Thanks for sharing this recipe
These look delicious! Are there any alternates to using mayo for someone who doesn’t like sour cream or ranch or any of the other usual suggestions?
I cannot go to maryland so thanks for bring to me their famous crab cakes…
so glad you use panko bread crumbs, they make the texture of the crab cakes so much lighter. and I so appreciate a crab cake that is mostly crab.
Love this that we can control how much salt or anything that is detrimental to our health…Cant go to Maryland so their crabs are brought to me.. Yes..
They look delish, here in Maryland don’t know of many people who add celery though…Now I want one.
I am making these tonight!!!! I am gonna get a shower & go to Neighborhood Wal-Mart & get what I need!!! Can’t wait for dinner!!!!
Mouth is watering!!
I’m making these tonight for birthday dinner — cant wait to try them!
Looks yummy…I’ll have to make it this weekend.
I made these for dinner tonight. They were a hit! My 6 yo son ate THREE of them 🙂 Will definitely make them again!
My entire family (even all 5 kids!!!) really enjoyed these! Thank you so much for sharing the recipes!
They look delicious. Thank you for including the recipe. What a shocking dinner selecion for my Husband.
I live in Maryland, and regularly have crab feasts in summer – with crabs my family caught that morning — love crabcakes, and this recipe looks good, but I’ve never had celery in them, nor eaten it with tartar sauce — I use the barest minimum filler – about 1/4 cup bread crumbs …. but crabcakes are great, with many variations …
From the eastern shore & this recipe is perfect!
Jack is right about the celery. Also, Marylanders do not eat tartar sauce with their crab cakes. Otherwise, this recipe looks pretty authentic. I only add a little binder, just enough to fill the palm of my hand. When mixing, toss gently so as not to break up the lumps of crab meat. The trick is to form the patties, then place in the fridge for a little bit. They will solidify and hold together better while cooking, enabling you to use the bare minimum of filler.
P.S.
This is the one and only crab cake recipe I’ll use! They are amazing! And has anyone made the tartar sauce? I have and it is better than any I have tasted! Thank you for sharing!
look delish! can’t wait to try making these and glad there is so little breading.
My recipe is very similar but instead of celery I use about 1/4 cup minced green onion. Also I have tried it with half crab and half shrimp chopped up. Even some of the better fake crab works if one can’t get the real thing. I’m from the N.W. and we use dungeness crab.
cant wait to try
yum … I love crab cakes
Found this on pinterest, love new england, from michigan though! going shopping now to make these tonight! We have a nice local meat market so will hopefully find good crabmeat
My comment got scrambled up! This is what I wanted to say: I’m from So. Maryland, St. Mary’s County! Crab country and this recipe is the BOMB! We catch our crabs off our pier on the Wicomico River. Can’t wait to try it with our fresh crabmeat.
I’m from So. Maryland, St. Mary’s County! Crab country. Catch our crabs off our BOMB! Mmmmmm! Can’t wait to try it with our crabmeat.
I wonder how this would taste with “Comeback Sauce”? Yum!
I think it’d be good, Stacey!
Could you bake these to save on calories from the oil? If so, do you recommend a temp and time?
Hi Cindy, I like to pan fry crab cakes for additional flavor, but you can bake them in a 350 degree oven on a lightly greased baking sheet for about twenty minutes, or until hot. I’d slide them under the broiler at the last minute to get them golden brown on top. Hope that helps!
This recipe is awesome! Better than just about any I’ve had at restaurants and as good as the Maryland Crab Cakes I ate years ago at the restaurant located in the Watergate hotel in D.C. – and those crab cakes were GOOD!!! Thanks!!
Can not wait to try this recipe….Thanks….Patsy Dennis
This looks like a real Maryland recipe, except for the celery, no Marylander would ever put celery in a crab cake. I would also suggest making only four cakes, these are so good you will want a larger crab cake.
Delicious! This is my new favorite crab cake recipe, for sure.
I just made these for Father’s Day Dinner & they were GREAT! My husband immediately loved them as soon as they hit his taste buds. He’s from DE and loves fresh seafood. These were right up his alley. I paired this with roasted organic red potatoes, corn on the cob & your corn bread recipe. Thanks so much for the recipe…P.S. I’ve been sharing all the recipes on facebook & telling everyone about this wonderful site. Looking forward to making more recipes.
I made these the other night and they were delicious! Note for the other gluten-free poster — I could not find GF panko either, so I used regular GF breadcrumbs (Glutino brand). The crabcakes were still fantastic! The tartar sauce is delicious also. However, the quantity of tartar sauce suggested by the recipe is a bit too much — I will halve it next time.
mazon). My dad, who grew up in Delaware, would happily live off crab cakes if he could afford it
I am totally going to try these as soon as I can find gluten-free panko (which I know exists — I might break down and order it from Amazon). My dad, who grew up in Delaware, would happily live off crab cakes if he could afford it and were allowed to do so. Hmm, maybe for his birthday…
I made these last night and the were WONDERFUL!
I live in Houston and I couldn’t find Old Bay, but used Emeril’s Essence successfully instead.
Thanks for sharing.
I too live in Houston and always find old bay at Heb and walmarts.
I made these exactly as is and they were wonderful. My husband is already asking me to make them again!
This looks fantastic – I’m trying it out this weekend! May I ask – what do you normally serve for side dishes with crab cakes?
Thanks for all of the fabulous recipes!
I think even in my dreams I will eat this dish looks really delicious.
just love the recipes.
Oh my those do look ever so good…. everything about them- the pictures, the words, all of it! Thanks for sharing…now I’m craving! 🙂
I am printing this out as I type so I can make this for dinner. They look beautiful!
Love crabcakes! Your recipe is very similar to what I do – and you are right – the secret is easy on the filler.
Funny you put this up – I just made Rockfish the other night with a sweet potato/leek/crab/ham hash and thought the leftover hash would make YUMMY crab cakes – I’ll let you know LOL 🙂
These look delicious!