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Crisp outsides and delicate sweet crab insides, Louisiana Crab Cakes are loaded with flavor and pan fried to a golden brown to create a classic southern seafood favorite anyone can make! Serve them as appetizers at parties, brunches and showers, as a main dish your family will love or on sliders buns for a tasty crab cake sandwich!

The best Louisiana crab cake recipe for easy seafood dinners, appetizers and crab cake sliders.

What Makes Louisiana Crab Cakes Special?

Everybody knows that Maryland is famous for its crab cakes, but is there any surprise that Louisiana has its own southern style of crab cake? Not when you know that Louisiana has been noted as one of the world’s largest blue crab fisheries.

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Blue Crab live along Louisiana’s coastal waters, but most are harvested from Lake Pontchartrain and the Terrebonne Basin. And with the long Louisiana crabbing season (May-October), there is plenty of time to catch and cook up delicious, crispy crab cakes!

Even though both Maryland and Louisiana rely on fresh blue crab for the best crab cakes, Louisiana crab cakes are highly seasoned and lightly breaded, or dredged, in flour or a flour/cornmeal mix then pan-fried in oil instead of butter. They are always enjoyed with a dash or two of hot sauce or healthy dunk Louisiana remoulade sauce, homemade tartar sauce or spicy cocktail sauce.

Louisiana Crab Cakes are made with mayonnaise, spicy mustard, herbs, spices, peppers & onions, crackers, eggs and a flour dredge.

Louisiana Crab Cake Ingredients

lump crab meat, shells picked out
red bell pepper
green onions
mayonnaise
lemon juice
butter
egg
All Purpose Creole Seasoning (or Old Bay Seasoning)
Worcestershire sauce
Creole/spicy or whole grain mustard
salt
crushed crackers (multi-grain club crackers recommended)
flour for dredging
oil for frying

See recipe card for measurements & full instructions.

How to make tender, crispy Louisiana Crab Cakes

How To Make Crispy Louisiana-Style Crab Cakes

Mix Up The Ingredients. Use a gentle hand (so the crab doesn’t break down) to mix all of the ingredients, except crackers, flour and oil, together in a large bowl. Add crushed crackers, starting with ½ cup, to bind the ingredients together. Add more crackers if the mixture is too wet.

Make the Cakes/Patties. Form small 3 inch patties using the wet crab mixture. Gently dredge patties through the flour, lightly covering both sides.

Fry the Cakes. Carefully place the crab cakes in a heated frying pan with vegetable oil. Cook 4-5 minutes on one side. Gently turn the cakes over and cook until golden brown. Remove the crab cakes from the skillet and let drain on a paper towel.

classic louisiana crab cake recipe is made with blue crab and pan fried in vegetable oil.

What is the Best Crab Meat to Use for Crab Cakes?

While many restaurants use jumbo lump crab to make their cakes, I’ve found that using lump or special crab meat or a combination of the two works best for making homemade crab cakes that are easy to handle and keep together while cooking.

Even if you don’t have a fresh seafood market, you should be able to buy quality lump crab in the grocery store no matter where you live.

Is it Better to Pan Fry or Bake Crab Cakes?

I prefer to pan fry my crab cakes because I like the crispy outsides and juicy, tender insides it creates. It’s also how traditional southern crab cakes are made.

However, crab cakes can be baked in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes or lightly sprayed with olive oil and cooked in the air fryer for 10-15 minutes at 375 degrees.

Lump Crab Meat is best for making Louisiana Crab Cakes because of it quality, texture and delicate, sweet crab flavor.

How to Keep Crab Cakes From Falling Apart

Crab cakes fall apart while cooking when there isn’t enough binder (eggs & mayo) to hold them together. A little filler (crackers or breadcrumbs) helps too, but don’t add too much! Keep your crab mixture sticky & wet to make patties.

Secondly, chilling the crabmeat patties for 15-30 minutes before frying also helps keep them together. Regardless, crab cakes require a careful, gentle touch during the cooking process.

To keep crab cakes from falling apart when cooking, use plenty of eggs & mayo, a few crackers or bread crumbs and a gentle touch.

Freezing & Storing Louisiana Crab Cakes

Both cooked and uncooked crab cakes freeze well. Layer with parchment paper in an air tight container and store in the freezer for up to 2 months.

To store leftover crab cakes, just cover tightly or put in a zip top bag and refrigerate for up to 3-4 days. Heat leftover cakes underneath the oven broiler or in an air fryer for crispy outsides.

Making Crab Cakes Ahead of Time

Louisiana Crab Cakes are perfect for making ahead of time for a party, brunch, cookout or family meal. Just prep the vegetables and make the crabmeat mixture the night before. Cover & refrigerate. Make the patties, dredge and fry the next day.

serce crab cakes on slider buns with remoulade sauce instead of burgers.

What to Serve with Crispy Louisiana Crab Cakes

Serve these crab cakes as a main dish, on sweet slider buns for delicious crab cake sliders, or make smaller sized cakes and serve as an appetizer. For a meal, whip up any of these side dishes to serve with your crab cakes!

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