Hey there peeps! Here’s something cool that most of you don’t know about me – I’ve cooked on television!
Yup, it’s true, I used up my fifteen minutes of (dubious) fame when I competed on The View’s Next Food Network Star (a precursor to the popular show currently on the Food Network) back in 2004.
Sadly, I didn’t win, though I did come in 3rd out of 16, and I had a GREAT time doing it. I went to NYC several times and got to meet Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, and Rocco DiSpirito in the process.
My favorite round was crab cakes, which I love, and Bobby Flay was our celebrity chef guest judge. I did a trio of crab cakes (Maryland, Southwestern, and Asian) which were pretty awesome (she types modestly) if I do say so. Bobby (who was very nice in person BTW) must not have hated them, because I’m happy to say I made it to the next round.
I’d love to share those crab cake recipes with you – but along with the tapes of the shows, they got lost somewhere in our travels. But not to worry, since none of those recipes were low carb or gluten free, and they certainly weren’t Whole 30 compliant, I put together a crab cake recipe that meets all of those criteria.
Are they as good as my competition crab cake recipes? No. Those had lots of decadent ingredients in them that I couldn’t use for these (like a yummy tequila mango sauce, nom nom nom!) However, while these low carb crab cakes might not be winning me any contests, they are still pretty delicious – and so much healthier for you!
I’d venture to guess that even Bobby Flay would approve, since the minimal ingredients highlight the delicately sweet flavor of the crab. Which is as it should be because good crab meat doesn’t really need anything to make it taste amazing. Except this roasted red pepper sauce – which tastes great with almost everything!
Low Carb Crab Cakes w/ Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
- Yield: 8 crab cakes 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
A delicious low carb and gluten free crab cake recipe that is simple to make but impressive enough for special occasions!
Ingredients
- 1 cup lump crab meat
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
- 2 Tbsp parsley, chopped
- 1.5 Tbsp coconut flour
- 2 Tbsp coconut oil
Instructions
- Gently pick through the crab to make sure there are no shells or cartilage in the meat, and add to a small bowl. In another small bowl, combine the egg, lemon juice, and dijon mustard, mixing until smooth. In a third bowl, combine the old bay, parsley, and coconut flour, mixing thoroughly. Gently add the egg mixture to the crab, folding until combined. Then add the dry ingredients to the crab mixture and gently mix in. Try not to break up/shred the pieces of crab too much.
- Heat the coconut oil over medium heat in a nonstick saute pan. Form 8 small cakes and place carefully in the hot oil. Cook for about 2-3 minutes per side or until golden brown. Remove from the pan to a plate lined with paper towels. Sprinkle with kosher salt, squeeze half a fresh lemon over them and serve with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.
Notes
Approx nutrition info per crab cake: 65 calories, 4g fat, .4g net carbs, 6g protein
- Category: Appetizer
- Cuisine: American
Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Description
A delicious low carb and gluten free roasted red pepper sauce that is Whole 30 compliant and can dress up chicken, seafood, and even vegetables!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup roasted red peppers
- 1 Tbl extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup fresh avocado
Instructions
- Blend all of the ingredients until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.
Notes
Approx nutrition info per 2 Tbsp of sauce: 30 calories, 3g fat, .7g net carbs, 0g protein
- Category: Condiment
- Cuisine: American
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I’ve missed crab cakes! Will be making these very soon!
I just made these with a couple variations. No parsley because I don’t like it and a different sea food seasoning because it’s what I had on hand and I fried mine in butter. But this was seriously sooooo delicious and I love this roasted red pepper sauce. I’m going to eat it in all the things!!!! I will be making these a lot! Thank you!!!
★★★★★
I love crab cakes..thanks for sharing!
I am taking all this except the coconut flour and stuffing it into mushroom caps- i used a bit of cream cheese to make it all stick together a little more, and I didnt have fresh parsley so i finely diced a green onion – the raw mixture tastes delicious, and the smell of it roasting in the oven is divine! I am going to make the sauce to drizzle over them and I expect this to be a favorite! Thanks for the base idea and inspiring me to create!
★★★★★
New to your blog. Tried out this recipe for dinner. Great crap cakes and very filling. I made a meal off them and added a salad.
My husband made a pretty large batch of smoked salmon, enough that I had to think of a way to use some besides just eating it. I decided to use it instead of crab for this recipe and they were AWESOME! I served it with lemon cauli rice. This is a keeper!
★★★★★
I read through the comments and made a mental note of the Old Bay amount. I used 1/2 tsp and it was perfect with no other seasoning at all. I used fresh Dungeness crab meat at about 1 1/4 cup since this is not a big recipe. I made four cakes and my husband ate them and gave them a thumbs up.
★★★★
can I substitute almond flour?
This is the first time I hear about this recipe, but I have to say I absolutely love it. :) Looks amazing, and it probably tastes really good too. Going to make this as soon as I have some free time.
★★★★★
Hi! I made these yesterday, and I wonder if there is a mistake in the ingredient list for the crab cakes. Is 2 tsp of Old Bay correct for only one cup of crab meat? This is the first time I ever made crab cakes, so I didn’t question it, but they came out incredibly salty and over seasoned., to our taste. I have since looked up other recipes online, and none of them used anywhere near that much Old Bay. I wonder if it was a misprint, and should have been 1/2 tsp of Old Bay. The Roasted Red Pepper sauce was wonderful; the only change I made was to substitute well-drained artichoke hearts for the avocado because we don’t like avocado. Mixed the leftover sauce in with some mayo today and used it on turkey sandwiches today. It was very tasty.
Please let me know about the crab cake recipe. Would love to keep them low-carb!
Thank you,
Sheila
I am sorry to say that the “World Vision” advertisement is covering up half the recipe. Is there some way to change how it is displayed?
Is the 1 cup of meat per cake?
:( so bummed. These fell apart before they even made it to the pan.
after mixing everything, refrigerate for an hr so the cakes will not fall apart
Great flavor but they didn’t hold together even using lump crab……gotta figure out how to make them bind better
This looks yummy
Thanks so much Cheryl, they are really tasty! Hope you try them out and like them!
I made this and it turned out horrible! I was so disappointed! The coconut flower did not help keep the crab cakes together and of anything made more of a mess. The coconut oil was plenty hot enough, but I think I should have added more eggs. Not very much flavor either. :/ Oh well.
Sorry you didn’t like this one Megan, it’s a personal favorite of mine, so I’m not sure what went wrong. What kind of crab meat did you use? Usually most of the flavor comes from the crab meat, so if it was flavorless then maybe it just wasn’t great crab. I know even when I buy the same brand sometimes it’s sweet and awesome, and others just kind of “meh.” Also if it was primarily claw meat, which is really small pieces, it can fall apart easily. Just a thought!
Okay, so weird. I made LC crab cakes tonight too. Swear I am not copying you (which you will be able to tell from the ingredients, mine were quite different!).
These are from last year anyway Carolyn – and I’m pretty sure you don’t need my help to make crab cakes (or anything else) to taste awesome! :) Looking forward to checking out your recipe!!!!
We made these today for lunch and loved them! I had a pound of crab which meant I ended up tripling the recipe, but it worked great. Mine stayed together really well and were almost like “crab burgers” (we made 7 patties total, so they were large!). Really tasty. Will use your recipe again! Thanks!
Glad you liked these Laura, it’s been awhile since I’ve made them and your comment reminded me of how much I loved them! I’ll have to put them on our menu again soon! :)
These crab cakes are great. My Husband and I enjoyed them and the roasted red pepper sauce is awesome. Shhh, don’t tell him it was made with avocado. Going to buy you book for my kindle!!
I was so inspired to try these but I’m sad to say that, despite being extra careful handling them in the pan, the cakes completely fell apart. I ended up serving the cake parts over spinach with the sauce as dressing. Not a bad dinner, but I’m bummed. Is there anything I can do to help firm these guys up so they stay together in the pan?
We were talking about dinner tomorrow night and surf n turf came up. Nice alternative for the surf. I look forward to making this. Just started following your site and I am so pleased I found you. You are our food network star. Congrats for getting through and thank you for all your work. Do you also have a recipe book for those people who don’t have computers? Would make a great gift.
Thanks Nicole and welcome to IBIH! I do not have a hard copy cookbook out yet, but hopefully that will happen someday! :) Hope you enjoy the crab cakes – this is one of my favorites!
I used parm cheese delish
These look absolutely delicious. Also, I am hungry right now. I love your writing, recipes, and food photography! WOW! I have really been enjoying this website, and am bragging about you on FB and my blog. Can’t wait to try these. Yeah, coconut flour hasn’t shown up here in Northern Oregon. Although, I am sure I can order it online, or find a better health food store.
Thanks so much Lee! I get my coconut flour online – it’s cheapest that way! Try Nuts.com – they had the best price last time I bought it and they have a lot of other great products as well.
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I don’t have any coconut flour. Any substitutions?
Thanks!
You can try almond flour if you have it – you just need something to give it a little crunch on the outside. You could also try ground flax if you have it, or even parmesan cheese but it would definitely alter the flavor a bit.
These look great! And here I thought I’d struck gold after finding 4 net carb crab cakes at the grocery store (at over $8 for a box of TWO!). Thank you!
What is Old Bay seasoning?
Debbie, Old Bay seasoning is a spice blend. If you are crazy like me, here’s a link to make your own: http://busycooks.about.com/od/homemademixes/r/oldbaymix.htm. Its a pretty good one; hope that helps!
Thanks for sharing this link Julie! I’m going to try making my own since I think buying it is kind of a ripoff since it’s marked up so high.
Could you give the actual carb count instead of the net carbs? This recipe looks fabulous…might try it this weekend :)
Sorry Mandy, I didn’t keep the numbers, I’ll try to remember to come back and post it but I doubt it will be much different – the coconut flour has some fiber carbs in it but that’s all that would have been subtracted and it can’t be more than another .5 grams per cake.
These crab cakes look so moist and delicious – and I love that there’s so much crab meat without a crazy amount of filler! I’m featuring this post in today’s Food Fetish Friday (with a link-back and attribution). I hope you have no objections and thanks for the inspiration…
Thanks so much JW!
Super good, but I was only able to make 4 cakes from this recipe. :(
The only reason I can think of is that yours were bigger than mine – glad you liked them though!
Nom nom nom gonna try those beauties ASAP!
Thanks Marie, hope you like them!
Wow! That’s really cool that you got to cook on TV. And those crab cakes look great! I hope your Whole30 is still going well!
Still going strong on my Whole 30 Karen but looking forward to the end now if I’m being honest!
I declare this recipe a winner!! I hate that you lost those videos, but what a cool experience Mellissa.
Thanks so much Patty! I think my mother probably has copies of it somewhere but it would be like finding a needle in a haystack! Next time I’m in CT I might see if I can locate a copy so I can post them here just for fun!
These look amazing … I just had crab imperial, last night, so I kind of have crab on the brain. Got to try these … Happy Friday :-)
Thanks CJ – I love crab imperial too! Pretty much anything with crab and you can count me in! Except soft shell crabs – I just can’t get past the texture!
These look great! I’d be tempted to take the sauce/spice profile in the chili-lime direction, as a nod to the coconut. Yum!
Sounds delicious Alie, I like the way you think! Might try that with my next batch!
Those look yummy!
They were Debby, I’m planning to make them again as soon as I can get some more crab!
Oh my gosh!! I pinned the recipe and cannot wait to try it! It looks delicious!
Thanks Kaye – let me know how they come out!
I made them but they didn’t stick together just fell right apart
Mine too. Couldn’t even turn over. Pepper sauce was OK. Very disappointed.