These gluten-free crab cakes taste so much better than storebought for a quick and delicious dinner option! Made with gluten-free crackers, and without breadcrumbs, these gluten free crab cakes have little filler and a whole lot of flavor thanks to red onion, dry mustard, and Old Bay Seasoning. It's a WHOLE LOTTA YUM!
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GF Crab Cakes Recipe
Fresh is always best and the same can be said for crabcakes. While many of us like to reach for the store-bought varieties, these homemade gluten free crab cakes are super easy to whip up when you're catching your own crab or buying whole crabs at the grocery store during crab season.
Ditch the extra sodium and avoid all the fillers when you make our GF crabcakes at home.
Serve up your freshly made gluten free crab cakes without fillers with our quick and easy tartar sauce recipe, lemon caper aioli sauce, or our sugar-free cocktail sauce recipe to bring out the best flavor!
Oh, and if you are looking for more crab recipes, look no further than our tutorial on how to cook Dungeness crabs and our easy seafood boil recipe.
Why You'll Love This!
- Made without fillers, our crab cakes are a delicious blend of real crab meat, vegetables, and binders that work together to give you a homemade seafood experience that focuses on the crab meat.
- These dairy free, gluten free crab cakes are seasoned to perfection with Old Bay, dry mustard, and parsley.
- A healthy seafood recipe, our gluten-free crab cakes are dairy-free and gluten free.
- We are going to show you how to cook your homemade crab cakes on the stovetop and in the oven.
Ingredient Notes
For the best results, be sure you are using real crab meat and that your crackers are gluten-free.
- eggs - lightly beaten
- mayonnaise - we opt for mayo to keep our crab cakes dairy free. Use a high quality brand such as Best Foods or Hellman's
- crab meat - squeeze out the water if buying store-bought, if you're buying whole crabs you'll need to crack them
- minced red onion - yellow onion or sweet onion can also be used
- finely minced red pepper - we used red peppers, other varieties will work as well like green bell peppers, yellow, or orange.
- green onions - sliced
- fresh parsley - chopped
- Old Bay
- dry mustard - or dijon mustard
- crushed gluten-free crackers - we love Schar brand but others will work too
- canola oil
- butter - salted butter was used, when combined with higher heat oil such as canola, the butter doesn't burn.
** Please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the exact quantities **
Variations
Crackers - we use gluten-free crackers but you can also look for gluten-free bread crumbs.
Vegetables - finely minced, the inclusion of red onion and red peppers adds a nice crunch and bit of flavor. Feel free to leave them out of you want a more traditional crab cake.
Lemon - We don't include lemon in the recipe, but often serve our crab cakes with lemon wedges on the side. Feel free to add lemon juice or zest if you want more lemon flavor in your homemade crab cakes recipe.
Step by Step Instructions
Making gluten-free crab cakes at home is a simple process that will have you wondering why you ever reached for the frozen variety before! Simply prepare your crab meat, add all ingredients to a bowl and mix well, then make patties. Pan fry or bake and enjoy!
Prep Crab
If you are using fresh crab, prep it by removing any shells or cartilage pieces. Squeeze the water from the crab if you bought it from the store in a jar.
Assemble Cakes
In a small bowl stir the beaten eggs, mayo, onion, red pepper, green onions, fresh parsley, Old Bay, and mustard. Add in the crushed gluten-free crackers.
Gently fold in the crab meat.
Shape the crab cake mix into 6 evenly sized crab cakes and place them onto a baking sheet (about ½ cup each). Refrigerate them for 1 hour up to overnight.
Pan Fry or Bake
Pan frying: Heat a large skillet on medium heat. Melt the oil and butter in the pan. Cook the crab cakes for 4 minutes on one side until they're lightly golden, flip them over, and cook on the other side for about 4 minutes.
Baking: Preheat the oven to 450 F. Brush the tops of the crab cakes with melted butter. Bake them for 12-14 minutes in the oven. Serve them warm with tartar sauce or your favorite sauce. Enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- This is an easy recipe to cut in half if you have 8 oz of crab meat instead of 16 oz.
- We cooked live Dungeness crab but other varieties of crabs can be used such as Maryland blue crab or rock crab. if you're buying store-bought crab meat make sure to squeeze the water from the crab.
- Shar makes a terrific brand of gluten-free "saltine" style crackers called table crackers, any variety of your favorite crushed GF crackers will work.
Common Questions
Serve these homemade air fryer french fries and this healthy coleslaw with your gluten-free crab cakes for a delicious dinner your whole family will love.
You can store fresh crab for 3-5 days in the fridge.
While we will always recommend fresh crab meat for this recipe, yes, you can use imitation crab meat, which is made of fish, as a substitute for the crab.
Yes, you can use GF breadcrumbs in this recipe but it will give a "breadier" texture to the crab cakes.
More Crab Recipes
Looking for more crab recipes?
- Dungeness crab cakes
- How to cook Dungeness crab
- Seafood boil recipe
Come connect with us on Instagram! Be sure to tag us (wholelotta.yum) when you make a recipe. You can also find us on Facebook, and Pinterest.
Gluten Free Crab Cakes Recipe
A gluten-free crab cakes recipe using gluten free crackers and lump crab meat. The crab cakes can be baked or pan fried!
Ingredients
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 lb crab meat, squeeze out the water if buying store-bought
- ¼ cup minced red onion
- 1 tablespoon finely minced red pepper
- 2 green onions, sliced
- 2 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard (or 2 teaspoon dijon mustard)
- ⅔ cup crushed gluten-free crackers, (about 13-14 crackers)
- 2 tablespoon canola oil
- 2 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Prep the crab by removing any shells or cartilage pieces. Squeeze the water from the crab if you bought it from the store in a jar.
- In a small bowl stir the beaten eggs, mayo, onion, red pepper, green onions, fresh parsley, Old Bay, and mustard.
- Add in the crushed gluten-free crackers. Gently fold in the lump crab meat.
- Shape the crab cake mix into 6 evenly sized crab cakes and place them onto a baking sheet (about ½ cup each). Refrigerate them for 1 hour up to overnight.
- Pan frying: Heat a large skillet on medium heat. Melt the oil and butter in the pan. Cook the crab cakes for 4 minutes on one side until they're lightly golden, flip them over, and cook on the other side for about 4 minutes.
- Baking: Preheat the oven to 450 F. Brush the tops of the crab cakes with melted butter. Bake them for 12-14 minutes in the oven.
- Serve them warm with tartar sauce or your favorite sauce. Enjoy!
Notes
This is an easy recipe to cut in half if you have 8 oz of crab meat instead of 16 oz.
The crab mixture was divided to make 6 large crab cakes, you can also make 12 smaller crab cakes and cook them for less time.
We cooked live Dungeness crab but other varieties of crabs can be used such as Maryland blue crab or rock crab. if you're buying store-bought crab meat make sure to squeeze the water from the crab.
Shar makes a terrific brand of gluten-free "saltine" style crackers called table crackers, any variety of your favorite crushed GF crackers will work.
Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 276Total Fat 20gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 14gCholesterol 149mgSodium 580mgCarbohydrates 7gFiber 1gSugar 1gProtein 17g
The nutrional information is just an estimate and was calculated by an automated calculator. If you're on a restricted health program please manually calculate this information using the brands of ingredients you have since brands can vary.
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