You’ve Got Crabs! (Authentic Maryland Crabcakes!)
By Guest Contributor 
August 17, 2010 
47 Comments
This article is written by guest contributor, Stephanie Judge.
I can’t quite believe I’m doing this, but to begin, I will quote a movie I’m sure many of you have seen. “Crabcakes and football, that’s what Maryland does.” – Wedding Crashers, 2005. Technically this quote is incorrect, it should be crabcakes and lacrosse, but it’s close enough. The important part is right – that is, crabcakes. Growing up in Maryland, especially on the Chesapeake Bay, crab is a staple of your diet, whether it be crabs and beer on the deck in the summer, cream of crab soup, cheese and crab dip, or the most important of the all – the all mighty crabcake.
Crabcakes are an art. There are an infinite number of ways to make them, they’re universally adored, but you will never find anything quite like a Maryland crabcake. I mean a true Maryland crabcake, where the crab speaks for itself, and there’s nothing to distract you from that. I take my crabcakes seriously, and like Patrick, have yet to find a proper Maryland crabcake in New York City. At the same time, I haven’t done the amount of research he has – I make my own.
And that’s why I’m here today, to share this recipe with you. I learned this while working in a local seafood restaurant in Charles County, and at one point, this was – officially – the best crabcake in Maryland. How can you resist?
Maryland Crabcakes
Serves 5
Ingredients
- 24 oz Lump Crab Meat
- 1 Lemon
- 1 Egg (Beaten)
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1/2 Cup Crushed Saltines
- 2 Tbsp Old Bay
- 1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
- 1 Cup Vegetable Oil
These measurements are, of course, guidelines – feel free to use more or less, depending on how you enjoy your crabcakes. With something this delicious, it’s hard to go wrong. In addition, the crab meat does not have to be entirely lump crab. For this recipe, I combined 16 ounces of backfin crab meat with 8 ounces of lump crab meat. It worked just fine, and saved some money as well.
- Crush the Saltines into small pieces. The best technique I’ve found involves placing the Saltines into a gallon zip-lock bag, and crushing them with a rolling pin.
- Pour the vegetable oil into a pan, set the heat to medium.
- Combine the crab meat, mayonnaise, Old Bay, Worcestershire sauce, crushed Saltines and egg in a bowl. Mix together with your hands. Squeeze the 1/2 of the lemon over this mixture.
- Form this mixture into balls roughly the size of your palm. These balls should be completely circular, do not flatten them out. The measurements above should give you enough for 5 good-sized crabcakes, but feel free to make them bigger or smaller.
- Place these balls into the oil. Fry roughly 5 minutes on each side, until the crabcake is a uniform golden brown. Place these balls on a plate covered with a paper towel, to catch the excess oil.
- Squeeze the other 1/2 lemon over the fried crabcakes.
- Sprinkle Old Bay over the fried crabcakes, to taste.
And you’re done! If you’d prefer not to fry the crabcakes, broiling works just as well, although in my opinion, makes for a less delicious crabcake. To broil the crabcake, just place on a well oiled pan, and broil for approximately 20 minutes, until the crabcake is a golden brown.
Some prefer to eat their crabcakes with tartar sauce (equal parts mayonnaise and relish), but I let the crabcake speak for itself, with nothing but Old Bay to accentuate the taste. (By far the most important part of the recipe, besides the crab. The spice of champions.)
So go forth, make crabcakes, impress your friends with your culinary wizardry! These are magical.
Photos by Patrick Chang for Appetite for Good.
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I love crab cakes! These looks delicious, fresh, and simple, just like crab cakes should be
I like how they are kind of a crab ball shape and not a flat patty, I bet they stay pretty moist!
Yeah, the ball shape is very important – that way you get as much crab as you possibly can. And when it comes to crabcakes, you want lots of crab.
OHMYGOSH!!! I loveeeeeee Maryland Style Crabcakes! When I lived in Philly I would go to the shore just to get the crabcakes because they are simply TODIEFOR! Thanks so much for posting this, took me back to when I lived in the Philly area and also got my good and hungry for my lunch hour at work!
Thank you! There’s nothing quite like eating crabcakes on the shore, believe me, I know.
love making crab cakes
these look delicious
Thank you! I promise you, they are delicious.
Yuuuuuuuuuum!
Thanks!
Why must you do this to me when it’s lunchtime and I’m starving? I have a huge weakness for crabcakes. And now? I have a huge craving for them, too! Gorgeous!
Sorry to cause you cravings, but you know you want to fulfill them. Crabcakes! They’re good for you!
That looks amazing. I wanty!
Thank you!
Those are some good looking authentic Maryland crab cakes!
They are totally authentic. Thanks!
Good job Steph, looks yummy!
Thanks, and I know you enjoyed it, even if you couldn’t finish an entire crabcake.
Having also spent some of my youth growing up on the Chesapeake Bay, I retain a lifelong fondness for the art of the crabcake…the crush saltines and the Lea&Perrin’s MAKE IT. My father still cannot resist the siren call of the crabcakes at restaurants, even though he is far away from Maryland. So delicious!!
Now I wonder if a good bit of breading and deep-frying isn’t in order for your adorable crabcake-balls, YUM. Cheesy deep-fried crabcake balls, they MUST make that SOMEWHERE in Maryland, right?
I am sure that someone, somewhere, makes cheesy deep-fried crabcake balls. And now I have to make it my mission to find them.
beautiful….just what crabcakes should be wholesome and tender.
Thank you so much!
Thanks so much!
I have had these crab cakes, prepared by Stephanie Judge herself. To relay how good they are here is a quick anecdote:
Step brought 4 of these to my house. 1 for me, 1 for her, and 1 for each of my two roommates. Step, roommate1 and myself all had one. Roommate2 was absent. I proposed to roommate1 (who loves to gamble on anything and everything) that we rocks, paper scissor for roommate2′s crab cake since he was absent. Roommate1′s response was “no, let’s split it, this is too good, i don’t want to risk it.”
That about sums up this recipe.
hahaha thats actually a pretty funny story. When steph was making these and she was like o i think thats enough i dont want to use up all the crab meat… i died a little inside. my excitement for extra cake evaporated. my dream of gorging myself on delicious crabcakes disappeared
Dude, don’t even. I wanted to save some for Monday! Why don’t you make some yourself, you’ve got the recipe now?
Yeah, that was definitely a boost to my ego. I’ll let you know the next time I make them, maybe roommate2 can actually have one this time. If he’s around.
I run the kitchen at a seafood restaurant and I love crabcakes! Your recipe is mostly crab–always a good sign. I have never had the opportunity to try a Maryland Crabcake because I am on the West Coast (Washington) and Dungeness Crab is the big rave here (love Dungeness). But I have had customers from the East Coast and they always compare West Coast Crabcakes to the Maryland Crabcake. Luckily, mine stack-up pretty well. But I really want to try the true Maryland version sometime. If I can find some quality fresh East Coast Crab here I’ll give it a shot. Thanks for the recipe.
I like Dungeness crab, but it just doesn’t compare to blue crab for me, there just isn’t anything quite like it. I’m sure this recipe would work with any kind of crab though – it’s the crab that’s important.
They look delicious!
Thank you!!
I’ve never had authentic Maryland crabcake before, but for some reason these look authentic (and tasty) to me. Definitely trying this recipe one of these weekends!
Be sure to tell me how it goes!
Probably the best recipe I’ve ever seen for crabcakes. Yum!
Wow, thanks! I don’t know if it’s the best, but it is delicious, and that’s all that really matters.
These look divine. Definitely the best one I’ve seen anyone post, on a blog or official recipe site. I should do a taste comparison. I use Old Bay but am also fond of a seafood seasoning called Old Savannah.
Thank you so much! I’ve never had Old Savannah, but I’ll definitely try it out, I’m always on the lookout for a way to improve the crabcakes.
Woah, this recipe looks incredible. Can’t wait to try this and sub out the mayo for sour cream!
Thanks for the info.
Great photos too!
Let me know how the sour cream goes, my friend swears by it, but it’s all mayo for me.
YUM! These are fantastic. I’m a huge Maryland crab cake fan…nothing beats fresh crab (though leaves your hands all raw and cut). Thanks for sharing the recipe.
It’s true – NOTHING beats fresh crab. For the batch before this one, we had actual fresh picked crab meat, which was divine. We’d bought too many crabs off the truck for the Fourth, so we sat around my kitchen table shelling crabs and watching movies for hours. They were the best crabcakes ever.
My mom is originally from Maryland so crabs bring back some fond childhood memories. It has been a long time since I had a good real crabcake. Maybe I need to fix that!
Jason
You absolutely need to fix that, I can’t imagine going a long time without crab. It’s the best!
Maryland Crabcakes are sooo delicious! I’ve been meaning to make a trip to Maryland just for lumpy tasty crabcakes. Thanks for the recipe!!
You should absolutely take a trip to Maryland, because it’s wonderful there – but maybe this will hold you over in the meantime? It’s just like being there.
I love Wedding Crashers! I don’t think I have ever tried Maryland Crabcakes, looks like I am going to have to make my own to find out! Thanks for the recipe!
I couldn’t not use the quote, it was absolutely necessary. But you should definitely make these!
Nothing better than a real Maryland Crabcake. Yours sound perfect.
Thanks so much!!