These are the best gluten free crab cakes! Enjoy these rich, nutrient packed crab cakes with a few sides for dinner tonight for a healthy meal the whole family can enjoy. Easy to make ahead and great for entertaining & serving a crowd.
Why you should make Gluten free Crab Cakes
I am a seafood lover through and through, so when I saw that Rouses had lump crabmeat on sale for $14.99 I immediately grabbed a container.
Crab meat offers lots of goodness including Vitamin E, omega-3 fatty acids, and zinc.
I have a hard time not making crab cakes when I have fresh crabmeat, but I've already made those and they are perfect.
Then I thought about all the sad people who can't have crab cakes when they're made with crackers or bread crumbs.
But I remembered that I have some almond flour leftover from my Blueberry Almond Muffins {you gotta check those out if you haven't yet!!}, and almonds are packed with Vitamin E. So I decided that I had to make gluten free crab cakes and use almond flour.
Including the nutrients from the crab meat and almond flour, you have eggs with their nutrient-rich yolk. Egg yolks are full of lutein, zeaxanthin, and zinc.
Parsley & lemon juice add Vitamin C to the mix; plus they make the crab cakes taste extra delicious. Served over a bed of romaine lettuce bumps up the nutrients including zeaxanthin.
How to Make Gluten Free Crab Cakes
These are easy enough to make. There are a few things you need to know to make the best gluten free crab cakes, and I listed them below.
Basically, you stir together the binder which is the cream cheese and eggs along with the spices. Add in the almond flour, and once everything is mixed, you gently add the crab meat and form them into patties.
When you're ready to cook, you cook them in a skillet with a combination of butter and oil to give them extra flavor.
Tips for Making Gluten free Crab Cakes
Something to know about crab cakes: you really must make these ahead of time. They need at least one hour of refrigeration time before you cook them. They will hold together much better that way.
Use lump crabmeat or claw meat. Don't waste your money on jumbo lump crabmeat because it will be broken up as you stir the mixture together. And if you cannot get fresh crab meat, frozen thawed crab meat will work.
Oh and don't over mix; just carefully fold in the crabmeat until it is all combined.
Make Ahead Tips
As mentioned above, these are great to make ahead of time. You can make as many as needed, and keep them in the fridge until you're ready to prepare.
You can also freeze them at this point, and thaw in the refrigerator completely before cooking as directed.
Variations & Substitutions
If you need to make these dairy free, you can use dairy free cream cheese and use all olive oil instead of the combo of butter & olive oil to cook the crab cakes.
If you don't have celery salt you can skip it and use regular salt in its place. Or you can use Old Bay seasoning instead of celery salt.
You can cook these in batches. If you do, just use half of the butter & oil to cook the first 3 crab cakes. Then add the remaining butter and oil to skillet to cook the other 3 crab cakes.
Serving tips
You can serve these as mini crab cakes for an appetizer or as larger crab cakes for your meal. They are tasty no matter what their size is.
Final thoughts:
These crab cakes are super tasty! I love making extra to keep in the freezer to have a delicious yet nourishing meal that helps promote vision health.
MORE SEAFOOD RECIPES YOU'LL LOVE:
- Spinach and Crab Dip
- Salmon with Pesto Sauce
- Crawfish Monica
- Salmon Chickpea Patties
- Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
- Avocado Salmon Burgers
Gluten free Crab Cakes
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoon cream cheese softened
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon creole mustard
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic from 3 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon celery salt or salt
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup almond flour
- 16 oz lump crabmeat
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, cream cheese, lemon juice, minced garlic, fresh parsley, onion powder, cayenne pepper, celery salt, garlic powder, paprika, and nutmeg. Stir in almond flour. Once everything is very well combined, fold in the crabmeat. Stir only until crabmeat is completely mixed in.
- Line a plate or baking sheet with wax paper, plastic wrap, or foil. Shape the crabmeat mixture into patties (about ½ cup each), and put on lined plate. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
- When ready to cook, heat butter and oil over medium high heat in a skillet. Add crab cake patties, and cook for 8 minutes. Carefully flip and cook on the other side for 5-10 minutes until golden-brown on both sides. Enjoy!
Notes
Meme
Nutrition Facts
Deanna Segrave-Daly
I never knew much about macular degeneration nor the risk factors - such important info. And you know that I just pinned this recipe as I'm a seafood crazy girl (that's great deal you got on lump crabmeat!)
Meme
I enjoyed researching macular degeneration because it runs in my family, and I was even more excited to make a recipe that helps vision health AND tastes amazing! 🙂
athletic avocado
oh my these look fabulous! I live in Maryland so crab is so amazing down here! You can't go wrong with a Maryland Crabcake! Love that these are gluten-free! Pinning!
Meme
Thanks so much!! You need to make these asap!
Min
I shall glady eat these crab cakes for my terrible eye vision and all kinds of benefits from eating fish!! Love all your tips too. I definitely was that girl who overmixed in the past.
Meme
Right?! It feels like I can see less and less every day eek! And I was totally an over mixer in the past -- not a good habit and one I am definitely glad I stopped haha
gretchen | kumquat
these look delicious... i wish i was eating them for dinner! i love that you added cream cheese. yumm!
Meme
Thanks Gretchen!! The cream cheese was kind of an accident because I realized I had nothing else in my fridge ha! But it turned out great 🙂
Lisa @ Healthy Nibbles & Bits
I can't believe I haven't made crab cakes yet, and this recipe is totally inspiring me to whip up a batch soon!
Meme
Ah! You absolutely need to made crab cakes Lisa! They are one of my favorite things ever 🙂
Sonali- The Foodie Physician
I love crab cakes and your recipe sounds perfect! Thanks for sharing so much great info 🙂
Meme
Thanks Sonali! I always love knowing that eating nourishing foods has a purpose 🙂
GG
Love crab cakes and would like to know if i can substitute all-purpose flour for the almond flour? Don't have almond flour on hand. Thanks
Meme
I'm not positive that I would use all-purpose flour in place of the almond flour. I would either use bread crumbs or crushed crackers. Start with about 1/2 cup and then increase as needed. I hope that helps! I have posted another recipe for crabcakes using saltines here
Mimi
I was wondering if the crab could be substituted for salmon either fresh or canned?
Meme
Hi Mimi! I'm not positive since I've only tried this crab cake recipe with crab meat 🙂 But I do have a few salmon and tuna burger recipes that you could try!! xo
Avocado Salmon Burger
Sesame Tuna Burger
Liz
These sound so good! I honestly love a good crab cake! When we used to live in Illinois we'd go to Hugo's and get them on date nights, now we can make them from the comfort of our own home!
lindsey
These crab cakes look incredible, and so glad they're gluten-free!