Crab Cakes with Chipotle Lemon Mayo
golden, crispy crab cakes with a tangy chipotle lemon mayo sauce
yield: 16 crab cakes
Ingredients
Scale
Chipotle Lemon Mayo
- 2 cups mayonnaise
- ½ tbsp chipotle powder
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp lemon zest
Crab Cakes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1 large red pepper, diced
- ½ small eggplant, diced
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- ½ tsp Tabasco sauce
- 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ tsp lemon zest
- 2 lbs crabmeat (see notes)
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 ½ cups plain breadcrumbs (plus extra for coating)
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- ½ tbsp chopped fresh basil
- ¼ cup vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
Chipotle Lemon Mayo
- Combine the mayonnaise, chipotle powder, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- Whisk until incorporated. Refrigerate mixture until ready to serve.
Crab Cakes
- Preheat the oven to 250°F. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the red onion, red pepper, eggplant, salt, and pepper. Cook until the vegetables have softened, about 10-12 minutes.
- Stir in the Worcestershire, Tabasco, Old Bay, parsley, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Cook for another 5 minutes before removing the pan from the heat to cool.
- Meanwhile, combine the crabmeat, mayonnaise, breadcrumbs, eggs, mustard, and basil in a large bowl. Add the cooked mixture and mix well until incorporated. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Form 3.5-ounce crab cakes, shaping them into round patties. Pour the extra breadcrumbs into a bowl. Place each crab cake in the bowl, coating each side with breadcrumbs.
- In a 12-inch frying pan, heat the ¼ cup of oil over medium heat. Fry the crab cakes until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes on each side. Keep warm in the oven until all of the cakes are cooked.
- Spoon the mayo over each crab cake, and sprinkle each with parsley and lemon zest. Alternatively, serve the crab cakes on a platter with the mayo on the side.
Notes
- I use 1 lb of lump crabmeat and 1 lb of jumbo lump crabmeat. The lump meat is somewhat shredded while the jumbo lump meat is kept in whole pieces. Combining the two creates the desired texture for these crab cakes.