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Craving something a little fancier but minimal effort? Try these crispy crab cakes with spiced aioli sauce. Soft, flakey crab cakes that are slightly sweet and tangy bites from the salty capers peppered throughout pair perfectly with spiced aioli sauce. We can’t think of a better meal for spring or summer gatherings.
This recipe will make a large batch, which makes them good for serving a group or for meal prepping for meals throughout the week. Serve with a side of French fries or even a green salad for something lighter. We’ll get into the details of how to make the crab cakes, serving suggestions, storage suggestions and more!
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Crispy Crab Cakes with Spice Aioli
Ingredients for Crab Cakes and Aioli Sauce
Crab Cakes
- Lump crab meat
- Eggs
- Mayonaise
- Dijon Mustard
- Worcestershire sauce
- Lemons
- Capers
- Seafood Seasoning (recipe below) or OldBay seasoning
- Panko bread crumbs
- Olive oil
Aioli Sauce
- Mayonaise
- Smoked paprika
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Cayenne pepper
- Worcestershire sauce
- Lemon
- Salt and pepper
- Hot sauce (optional for extra heat!)
How to make crab cakes homemade.
Crab cakes take minimal effort to make, but the best part is, they look fancy and taste delicious. For equipment, all you need is a large bowl, a sheet pan with some parchment paper and a skillet.
Prepare a sheet pan and line it with some parchment paper. This is where you will place your crab cakes before chilling them in the fridge.
Make crabmeat mixture. Everything goes into one bowl but there is an order to it! First, add crab meat, eggs, mayo, mustard, lemon juice, capers and seafood seasoning. Mix the everything together. Next add in the panko bread crumbs and mix into the meat mixture until it is well combined.
Form crab cakes and chill. Grab a fist-full of of crabmeat mixture and form into a small patty. Place them on the parchment-lined baking sheet. They should make 8-10 crab cakes. Once you’ve formed all the crab cakes, let them chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Allowing them to set will help keep them together when you’re ready to cook.
Pan sear in hot skillet. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and place about 3-4 crab cakes in the skillet at a time. If you add too many, it will reduce the temperature of the oil and they won’t cook as quickly.
What type of crab do you use for crab cakes? Fresh? Canned? Imitation?
Fresh is best! But can be difficult to remove from the shells, so for ease, we recommend canned lump crab because it has smaller chunks of meat and will mix easier.
Canned crab meat is also more widely available, so if you can’t find fresh, used canned. You can find it at almost any grocery store.We love Ocean Legacy crabmeat because it has a seal top making it taste super fresh and is wild-caught.
We don’t recommend using imitation crabmeat because flavor varies from real crab meat. But if you don’t have the budget or availability of the other options above, go with imitation crab.
How should you cook the crab cakes?
There are several ways you can cook crab cakes and it just depends on your preference. Here are some tips for cooking in an oven, on stovetop or the grill.
- Pan Frying on Stovetop. This is how we prefer to make them because they get crispy on the edges.
- You can cooke 3-4 cakes at a time. Cook on each side for 4-5 minutes until they are crispy and browned and internal temp is 165ºF.
- Baking in Oven. Baking in the oven oven won’t make the edges crispy but is probably the lowest maintenance option.
- Place crab cakes on baking sheet. Preheat oven to 400ºF and cook for 18-20 minutes until internal temperature reaches 165ºF.
- Air Fry. You can also air fry crab cakes to get a crunchier crust. It’s not quite the same as pan-frying, but is pretty close!
- Preheat your air fryer to 400ºF and cook for 8-10 minutes until they reach an internal temperature of 165ºF. Since an air-fryer is a smaller over, you may have to do several batches.
Storing Crab Cakes
Fridge: Store in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
Freezer: Store in a freezer-safe container for 3-6 months. Try to remove most of the air from the bag to avoid freezer burn.
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Crispy Crab Cakes with Spiced Aioli
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Description
Soft, flakey crab cakes that are slightly sweet and tangy bites from the salty capers peppered throughout pair perfectly with spiced aioli sauce.
Ingredients
Crab Cakes
- 1 lb lump crab meat
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/4 cup mayo
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1/4 cup capers
- 2 tsp seafood seasoning (see recipe below) or OldBay seasoning
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- 4 tbsp olive oil
Spiced Aoli Sauce
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 2 tsp hot sauce (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Homemade Seafood Seasoning
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp celery seed
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1/4 tsp all spice
- 1/4 tsp bay leaves
Instructions
- Prepare a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper. Set to the side.
- Add grab meat to a bowl and whisk using an electric blender to shred the meat and break up large chunks of meat.
- Mix in egg, mayo, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, capers, parsley and seafood seasoning.
- Lastly, mix in panko bread crumbs. Grab a fistful of crab meat and form 8-10 patties with your hands. Place them on your parchment lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30-45 minutes.
- While crab cakes are chilling, make your aioli sauce. Add mayo, seasonings, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, hot sauce to a bowl. Whisk to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Heat oil a skillet over medium heat. Place 2-3 crab cakes in the skillet at a time. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown and crispy on the bottoms. Repeat this for the rest of the crab cakes. (Make sure not to overcrowd your skillet because it will drop the temperature of the oil and the crab cakes won’t cook as quickly. )
- Plate your hot crab cakes with spiced aioli sauce and extra slices of lemon. Serve and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
