I have no memory of having any Maryland crab until going to college. I credit our good friend, Maury G, for introducing this wonderful food to me at backyard crab feasts he hosted. To this day nothing makes him happier than sharing a bushel of crabs with friends and family.
While I like the meat fresh from the Old Bay steamed crabs, it’s takes a lot of work and patience to get enough meat for a satisfying meal. Ed is much more likely to be found doing that work (while sipping a beer) than me. Then I discovered crab cakes and realized I could still enjoy the crab but with a whole lot less work.
When I went wheat-free in 2014, I stopped eating crab cakes for a while as most of them are made with bread crumbs. Knowing that I missed them, Ed reached out to some of our other crab-loving friends for help. Ed adapted this traditional recipe from Chris H – the only difference is that is uses homemade gluten-free bread crumbs.
An ideal crab cake is made with lump (grade) crab meat. The pieces are just big enough so that stand on their own (they’re not confused with the bread crumbs used to bind the crab cake) while allowing the cake to hold together well.
Now when I have a craving, I look no further than my dear husband to make these for me. And, I’ve been fortunate to occasionally find gluten-free crab cakes in restaurants, too.
You can easily make this recipe using regular (with gluten) sandwich bread. You’ll likely need fewer slices as gluten-free slices are quite small.
| Maryland Crab Cakes (Gluten-Free) | Print |
- 4 to 5 slices whole grain gluten-free sandwich bread (about ½ cups of dry bread crumbs)
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning (or other Chesapeake-style seafood seasoning)
- 1 egg
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 pound lump crab meat
- Remove crusts from bread and place in the bowl of a food processor. Process until you have find bread crumbs. Measure out ½ cup of crumbs.
- In medium bowl, mix bread crumbs, mustard and Old Bay seasoning.
- Gently fold in egg, mayonnaise, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce into bread crumb mixture.
- Gently mix in crab meat.
- Shape into four individual crab cakes and flatten until about an inch thick.
- Refrigerate at least 2 hours to avoid breaking apart when cooking.
- Before serving, preheat oven to 350°F. Place crab cakes on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil or sprayed with cooking spray and cook for 25 minutes or until heated through.
- Serve immediately.
* You can make this with regular bread, but note that you’ll likely need fewer pieces as gluten-free sandwich bread tends to have smaller slices than traditional bread.
* I prefer whole grain bread, but you can use white bread (which is more traditional) instead.
I love a good crab cake, and it is definitely one of those dishes where the gluten doesn’t matter!
David – Agreed! A friend just sent me a recipe for a breadcrumb-free crab cake from the old Philadelphia Museum of Art cookbook (do you have that book?) that I going to try, too.