Crazy Good Crab Cakes

My son made crab cakes during a cooking class at his summer camp.  He came home asking if we could make them gluten free.  Sure enough, we easily adapted a recipe from Andrew Zimmern in Food & Wine magazine to come up with these Crazy Good Gluten Free Crab Cakes.  I can't imagine that these taste any better with glutinous crackers than with the Yehuda gluten free matzo crackers or Schar gluten free table crackers we use.  They held together perfectly.  The crab meat remains moist and the exterior is crispy whether it is baked or fried.  

The crab cake mixture needs to rest in the fridge for at least an hour, so you can certainly mix it up the night before if you want.  When you are about 30 minutes out from meal time, shape them into cakes, bake or fry them and you are ready to eat!

I like to dip my Crazy Good Gluten Free Crab Cakes in something (I am a condiment addict after all).  So I make a simple tartar sauce (recipe below) and squeeze a little lemon on top.  It is so crazy good.  

These would be great as an appetizer along with my Coconut Lime Shrimp Ceviche and freshly made Tostones and some Fully Loaded Guacamole.  That might even make them a meal!  Speaking of meals, you can make them into larger portions too.  Put them on buns for sandwiches, serve on a salad or with sides!  Below are pictures of what they'll look like larger.  Yum!

Crazy Good Gluten Free Crab Cakes

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Servings: 8 large/small crab cakes

Calories:

Ingredients  

2x3x4x

• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce - I use Lea & Perrins, it is gluten free
• ¾ cup gluten free saltine style crackers finely crushed - *see recipe note below for brands & amounts I use
• 1 Lb jumbo lump crab meat - check for shells
• oil if pan frying
• 1 lemon - cut into wedges

Quick tartar sauce:

• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoon sweet pickle relish

Instructions

• If baking: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, egg, mustard, Worcestershire Sauce and crushed crackers. Gently fold the crab meat into the mixture. You want it thoroughly combined without pulling the crabmeat apart too much. Cover the bowl and let it rest in the fridge for an hour. You can also do this a night before.
• When ready to bake or pan fry, using a large scoop or ⅓ cup measure to maintain equal sizes, gently make cakes out of the crab mixture. For appetizer portions, use approximately 2 tablespoons per crab cake.
• Pan fry on a medium high heat with a good amount of oil in your pan to prevent sticking, or place on a lined baking sheet and bake for 35-40 minutes or 25-30 minutes for the appetizer sized portions. They will be browned nicely on both sides when done (without flipping them).
• Serve with lemon wedges and Quick Tartar Sauce made by combining remaining mayonnaise and pickle relish.

Notes

The Schar table crackers come with 2 squares stuck together and each clear package (inside the yellow packaging) contains 6 long crackers.  I use 2 of the clear packages of crackers, which equals 12 long rectangles or 24 square crackers if you broke them in half.  Sounds confusing, I know.  The packaging makes it confusing.  Bottom-line is that you should use approximately ¾ cup of finely crushed cracker crumbs. 

If using the Yehuda gluten free matzo squares, you would use 2 - 2 ½ of the large squares, which should be approximately ¾ cup of finely crushed cracker crumbs.