These easy keto crab cakes make a wonderful low carb appetizer or main course. Sweet chunks of blue crab combined with fresh herbs, spices and just enough filler to hold it all together – it’s one of my favorite meals!
This keto crab cakes recipe is an update of a post I wrote in the early days of this website back in 2012. I’ve made a couple of small tweaks to the recipe itself, and I’ve also added some tips to help make sure they come out perfect every time.
Table of Contents
- What kind of crab meat is best for crab cakes?
- Ingredients you will need
- Equipment you will need
- Instructions
- Storage Information
- Serving Suggestions
- Variations and Substitutions
- More Keto Crab Recipes
My love of crab cakes knows no bounds. If I’m in a restaurant and there are crab cakes on the menu, then I’m ordering them. No questions asked.
Unfortunately, at least 50% of the time it seems to end in disappointment.
A great crab cake (keto or otherwise) should consist of mostly good quality crab meat, and have very little breading holding it together.
When done right, it’s sweet and delicate and absolutely wonderful. When done wrong, it’s a fishy tasting bread puck with barely any discernible crab pieces to be found – a travesty and a crime against seafood.
Enter these delicious keto crab cakes – which are just as good or better then most crab cakes you’ll find in a restaurant…
Because the best (and most economical) way to ensure that you are getting high quality and delicious crab cakes is to make them yourself at home.
These keto crab cakes are so easy to make, that there is really no excuse not to make them yourself when the craving for crab cakes strikes. Which, if you’re like me, is often.
I like to enjoy these keto crab cakes with my creamy keto roasted red pepper sauce. It’s a perfect match in my opinion, but not required if you’re not a fan of the flavor of roasted red peppers.
What kind of crab meat is best for crab cakes?
Typically, blue crab is used for crab cakes. You can find it in the seafood section, usually in 8 ounce plastic cups that are refrigerated. That will taste the best without actually catching the crabs yourself.
You can also get frozen blue crab if you don’t live in an area where fresh crab is readily available – the quality is slightly inferior to fresh, but still good.
When choosing blue crab at the supermarket, there will be several varieties and price points.
Lump crab is the best and most desirable for these keto crab cakes, but also the most expensive option.
Claw meat is cheaper and not as sweet, but will work just fine for this recipe. If you’re doubling it to serve to a crowd, I recommend a 50/50 split between lump and claw meat to keep costs down while still maximizing quality, which is what I usually do.
As an alternative to blue crab, you can use Dungeness, King, or even snow crab in these keto crab cakes and it will be delicious.
Never use canned crab from the tuna fish aisle in crab cakes – it will have terrible texture and flavor.
Ingredients you will need
- Good quality crab meat (see notes above)
- Mayonnaise (I find this holds them together better then eggs)
- Fresh lemon juice (I beg you not the bottled stuff)
- Dijon mustard
- Parsley
- Coconut flour
- Old Bay Seasoning
- Avocado oil for frying
Equipment you will need
A bowl and a nonstick frying pan are really all you need to make this keto crab cakes recipe!
Instructions
- Combine all of the crab cake ingredients in a bowl.
- Mix gently so as not to break up the pieces of crab.
- Form into cakes.
- Fry.
- Serve warm.
Storage Information
Seafood doesn’t keep long leftover, so I recommend not storing these crab cakes for more than three days in the refrigerator. Keep them in an airtight container so your entire fridge doesn’t smell like crab.
Reheat them gently in the microwave for 1 – 2 minutes, or in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 – 10 minutes just to get them heated all the way through.
I don’t recommend freezing these keto crab cakes, as the texture would not be ideal after thawing and reheating.
Serving Suggestions
- As mentioned above, my favorite way to serve these is with my keto red pepper sauce.
- The recipe makes 4 servings as an appetizer, or 2 servings as a main course.
- For a lunch or brunch portion, these work really well with a simple salad of arugula or spring greens dressed with my keto lemon vinaigrette – and save a splash of the vinaigrette to drizzle over the crab cakes as well.
- If you’re serving these keto crab cakes for a cocktail party or event, you can make the cakes even smaller as a bite-sized portion of about 1-inch in diameter and pass them on a platter with just a dot of sauce on the top. This recipe should make about 24 cakes in miniature.
Variations and Substitutions
- For different crab meat options see the notes above on what type of crab meat to use.
- Dijon mustard contains trace amounts of white wine, if doing the Whole30 or if strictly avoiding alcohol for any other reason, replace the dijon mustard with another yellow mustard. If doing Squeaky Clean Keto, the dijon mustard is acceptable because the amounts of wine are so slight.
- Worcestershire sauce contains small amounts of molasses and sugar, so if doing the Whole30 or Squeaky Clean Keto you can replace it with Coconut Aminos to stay compliant.
- If coconut flour is a problem for you, it can be replaced with almond flour as a binder. Crushed pork rinds can also be used, but may impact the flavor negatively so it should be a last resort.
- The mayonnaise can be replaced with 2 tablespoons of beaten egg, but I prefer the mayonnaise because it holds the crab cakes together better in my opinion.
More Keto Crab Recipes
Keto Crab Cakes – Low carb, gluten free
- Total Time: 16 minutes
- Yield: 8 crab cakes 1x
- Diet: Diabetic
Description
An easy keto crab cake recipe that is simple to make, but tastes impressive enough for company! Works as is for an appetizer for four people, or make into 4 larger cakes as a main course for two people.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces blue crab meat, drained (lump preferred, see notes on crab)
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (or 2 teaspoons coconut aminos)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- 2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil, for frying
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 mayonnaise, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and dijon mustard, mixing until smooth.
- In a third bowl, combine the old bay, parsley, and coconut flour, mixing thoroughly.
- Gently add the mayonnaise mixture to the crab, folding until combined.
- Then add the dry ingredients to the crab mixture and gently mix. Try not to break up/shred the pieces of crab too much.
- Heat the oil over medium heat in a nonstick saute pan. Form 8 small cakes, about 2 inches in diameter, 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.
- Serve warm with lemon wedges and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.
Notes
Approximate net carbs per serving = 2g.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 minutes
- Category: Keto Seafood Recipes
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 crab cakes
- Calories: 130
- Fat: 8g
- Carbohydrates: 3g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 12g
Keywords: keto crab cakes, low carb crab cakes, crab cakes
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rachel says
These were SO delicious! I think next time, I will cut the amount of Old Bay in half, but my husband and I agreed that this was a keeper. Thank you!
Thomas Blake says
These keto crab cakes are so easy to make, that you don’t even need to bother with the directions. Just pop them into the oven and they will come out perfect every time.
★★★★★
Mellissa Sevigny says
You can use either oil Debra, but this is a recipe I updated from way back when I used to use coconut oil before avocado oil was widely available. I forgot to change the oil but it was always good when I made it that way too.
Cyndi says
OMG, these are sooooo good! I made a few substitutions because it’s what I had on hand. I didn’t have old bay seasoning but used Slap ya Mama cajun seasoning. Spicy but yummy! Also didn’t have fresh lemon juice but the bottled lemon juice worked just fine. The hardest part was not eating all of them in one sitting! I live alone sooooo. They held together fine for me. I did not disturb them until ready to flip. The bigger you make them the harder it will be to flip. Mine were about 3 inches across. They are delicate but that makes them so nice to eat.
Thanks for another great recipe!
★★★★★
l p says
thanks for the idea and recipe.
★★★★★
Garry says
I love crab cakes, and these are so awesome. Going to try with other seafood as well.
★★★★★
Lorri Hansing says
I made these a few months ago, and they were absolutely delicious!! Husband said i MUST make these again. He usually says that about all of Melissa’s recipes!!!
★★★★★
Deb says
For I binder for any type of fish cake (crab cake, shrimp cake, salmon cake) get 25% of whatever weight of primary seafood you are using as raw shrimp. So for 1 lb of crab, get 1/4 lb of shrimp. Put the shrimp into a food processor and blitz into a rough paste.
Use the shrimp paste as your binder…..just fold it in gently with the other ingredients. Best to form mix into cakes and let sit in frig for 15-20 min to firm up. Then bread in low carb breading mix of your choice (like combo pork panko, ground sesame seeds and grated Parm cheese from the green can).
Works every time to keep the seafood cakes together.
Linda says
Great idea! Thanks!!
Mary-Jo Banish says
I’ve missed crab cakes! Will be making these very soon!
Amanda says
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!!!
★★★★★
Kathleen Kelly says
I love crab cakes..thanks for sharing!
Vicki says
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!
★★★★★
Teresa says
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.
Ca says
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!
★★★★★
Judith says
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.
★★★★
Deb says
can I substitute almond flour?
Low-Carb Andy says
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.
★★★★★
Sheila says
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
rachel says
Is the 1 cup of meat per cake?
Sandy says
:( so bummed. These fell apart before they even made it to the pan.
Sherri says
after mixing everything, refrigerate for an hr so the cakes will not fall apart
Monica says
Great flavor but they didn’t hold together even using lump crab……gotta figure out how to make them bind better
Cheryl says
This looks yummy
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thanks so much Cheryl, they are really tasty! Hope you try them out and like them!
Megan says
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.
Mellissa Sevigny says
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!
Carolyn says
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!).
Mellissa Sevigny says
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!!!!
Laura says
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!
Mellissa Sevigny says
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! :)
Beverly Hoover says
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!!
Jenny says
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?
Nicole says
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.
Mellissa Sevigny says
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!
ashleamarcelle says
I used parm cheese delish
Lee Kirsten MacKenzie says
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.
Mellissa Sevigny says
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.
Suzan cox says
Please subscribe me via email
Milena says
I don’t have any coconut flour. Any substitutions?
Thanks!
Mellissa Sevigny says
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.
Anonymous says
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!
Debbie says
What is Old Bay seasoning?
Julie says
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!
Mellissa Sevigny says
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.
Mandy says
Could you give the actual carb count instead of the net carbs? This recipe looks fabulous…might try it this weekend :)
Mellissa Sevigny says
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.
Javelin Warrior says
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…
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thanks so much JW!
Unknown says
Super good, but I was only able to make 4 cakes from this recipe. :(
Mellissa Sevigny says
The only reason I can think of is that yours were bigger than mine – glad you liked them though!
Marie @ Not Enough Cinnamon says
Nom nom nom gonna try those beauties ASAP!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thanks Marie, hope you like them!
LowCarbOneDay says
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!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Still going strong on my Whole 30 Karen but looking forward to the end now if I’m being honest!
Patty says
I declare this recipe a winner!! I hate that you lost those videos, but what a cool experience Mellissa.
Mellissa Sevigny says
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!
CJ - Food Stories says
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 :-)
Mellissa Sevigny says
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!
Alie says
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!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Sounds delicious Alie, I like the way you think! Might try that with my next batch!
Debby@Just Breathe says
Those look yummy!
Mellissa Sevigny says
They were Debby, I’m planning to make them again as soon as I can get some more crab!
Kaye Haun says
Oh my gosh!! I pinned the recipe and cannot wait to try it! It looks delicious!
Mellissa Sevigny says
Thanks Kaye – let me know how they come out!
amber says
I made them but they didn’t stick together just fell right apart
pam says
Mine too. Couldn’t even turn over. Pepper sauce was OK. Very disappointed.