Crab Cakes with Spicy Yogurt Remoulade

Are you the type of person who if you see a particular item on a menu, you will order it without fail? Typically this is something you would never make at home, right? When I see duck with a crispy skin, there’s a 99.99% chance I will order it, but duck is something I never make at home.

If I’m ever in a restaurant with my husband and there is a crab cake on the menu I know exactly what he’s ordering. When I was a chef we had a running joke; if I saw a ticket come into the kitchen with seared ahi and a crab cake on it for a single diner at the bar, I knew he was in the restaurant. He’s that predictable when it comes to a menu.

Crab cakes aren’t really that difficult to make at home, but I’ll be honest, they’re not in my regular repertoire which is probably why he likes to order them when he can. But shhhh…don’t tell him, they really aren’t that hard to make. What looks like a long list of ingredients is mostly stuff you probably already have on hand. And with the exception of the first three items which get cooked, the rest go into a bowl and everything gets mixed together and then formed into cakes. You get your hands dirty with this one so it might be a fun dish to make with kids. Let them make their own mini crab cakes (which by the way, make awesome hors d’oeuvres for a cocktail party).

I’ve included two sauce recipes for the crab cakes. One is a Spicy Yogurt Remoulade which is a healthier and more flavorful recipe than the traditional. For you purists out there, I’ve also provided a classic version of remoulade sauce.

This post is part 5 in an ongoing series about crab which includes How to Cook and Clean a Dungeness Crab, Crab 101 (all you ever wanted to know about Crabs) and Stone Crab with Traditional Mustard Sauce and Marinated Dungeness Crab Legs. More to come…

Print Recipe

Crab Cake Recipe

How to make crabcakes and remoulade

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time8 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American

Keyword: crab cakes

Servings: 8 Crab Cakes

Ingredients

For the Cab Cakes:

• 1 cup yellow onion small dice (about ½ large onion)
• ¼ cup red bell pepper small dice
• ½ cup celery small dice
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 3 each eggs lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon parsley chopped (about ¼ ounce)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon tabasco
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon white pepper
• 1 ½ cups panko bread crumbs divided in half
• 1 pound lump crab meat
• 2 tablespoons canola oil

Spicy Yogurt Remoulade

• 1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
• 2 teaspoon capers minced
• 8 each cornichon pickles minced
• 1 teaspoon sambal chili paste
• 1 tablespoon parsley chopped
• 1 tablespoon mint chopped
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• Combine all ingredients. Yields approximately 1 cup.

Classic Remoulade

• 1 cup Mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon capers minced
• 4 gherkin pickles minced
• 1 tablespoon parsley minced
• 1 anchovy filet minced
• Combine all ingredients. Yields approximately 1 cup.

Instructions

• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Heat a large sauté pan and add the olive oil. Sauté the diced onion, red bell pepper and celery over medium heat until soft. Allow to cool.
• Place the cooled cooked vegetables in a large mixing bowl. Gently mix in the beaten eggs, lemon juice, chopped parsley, mustard, tabasco, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper. Mix in half the panko bread crumbs (3/4 cup).
• Fold in the lump crab meat, taking care not to break up the larger pieces of crab as much as possible.
• Divide the crab cake mix into 8 portions, about 3-3 ½ oz each. Form the mixture into round patties, about 1” thick. Spread remaining panko bread crumbs on a plate and then press each of the crab cakes into it to coat both sides.
• If possible, refrigerate the crab cakes for at least 2 hours before cooking. This will help prevent them from breaking apart during the cooking process.
• To cook, heat a large sauté pan and add half the canola oil. Swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Using a spatula, gently place 4 of the crab cakes in the pan. Allow one side of the crab cake to brown (about 2-3 minutes). Gently turn the crab cakes over in the pan with a spatula. Cook for another 2 minutes then transfer to a baking sheet.
• Repeat with remaining four crab cakes and oil. Place the crab cakes on the baking sheet and put them all in the hot oven. Cook for 5-6 minutes or until hot all the way through. Finishing in the oven helps prevent the crab cake from getting burned on the outside before it is fully cooked and hot on the inside.
• Serve with Spicy Yogurt Remoulade or Classic Remoulade.