These easy Keto Crab Cakes are gluten-free and served with a quick homemade tartar sauce. Eat them as an appetizer, main dish, or even as a burger!
How much salt do crabs like on their food? Just a pinch! But seriously Keto Crab Cakes! This calls for a shell-abration. These are so delicious we must be dreaming...somebody pinch us. Shore-ly we're over the claw-ful limit of crustacean-related puns, This can't conch-tinue. Okay, okay, okay that was the last one, we promise. We were all-in on shell-abration, but by the time we got to conch-tinue, we knew if we kept going we'd end up at crab-ohydrates, and that's a little too cheesy, even for us.
Crabmeat is a delicious protein option rich in B vitamins, phosphorus, selenium, copper, and omega-3’s. One thing to be cautious of when shopping for crab meat is the imitation stuff. Always opt for real crab as imitation is a highly processed food that can contain all kinds of starches, sugar, and even MSG. Plus, it's actually made of white fish and usually wheat as well. This is especially useful information for keto-dieters because of all the added starches a single serving of imitation crab meat can contain up to 20g of carbs.
Check out these other resources to read more about the awesome nutritional benefits of crab meat and more reasons to avoid imitation crab:
Ingredients in Keto Crab Cakes
- crabmeat
- onion
- bell pepper
- almond flour
- egg
- mayonnaise
- Old Bay seasoning
See how simple the ingredient list is?!
How to serve
- on top of greens as an appetizer
- tucked into our Keto Rolls with lettuce, tomato, and tartar sauce for a Keto Crab Cake Slider
- on top of a salad
Keto Crab Cakes
Ingredients
- 8 ounces lump crab meat
- ¼ onion diced
- ¼ cup diced red pepper
- ¼ cup almond flour
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter for frying
- Greens for serving
Tartar Sauce:
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ tablespoon chopped dill pickle
- ½ tablespoon minced onion
- 1 teaspoon Swerve
- ½ teaspoon yellow mustard
- ½ teaspoon paprika
Instructions
- In a medium bowl mix together the crab cake ingredients, form into 6 patties.
- Place all of the sauce ingredients in a small jar with a lid, shake to combine.
- In a cast iron skillet heat the butter over medium heat. Fry each crab cake for 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown. Serve with tartar sauce, greens, and a wedge of lemon.
Cris says
Silly question. I’ve bought crab meat. If there is no fresh seafood department in your grocery store where do you find it? In a can?
Alex Lester says
Hey Cris, yes typically it would be in a can where they have the canned tuna. We've made these with fresh lump crab and canned crab and both turn out great.
Michele says
Costco carries canned lump crabmeat. It's awesome!
Cris says
I meant to say- I’ve never bought crab meat.
Tom Murel says
Are calories, etc shown per serving or ??
Alex Lester says
Yes, calories are shown per serving.
Dena says
How many cakes per serving? 1 or 2?
Alex Lester says
This recipe serves 2 and makes 6 patties so there would be 3 patties per serving.
Julianna Parham says
Made this tonight and it was DELICIOUS! Thanks for a great recipe!
Emily says
Is the nutritional info including your suggested sauce?
I made this recipe with salmon and it was amaze!
Alex Lester says
Yes!
Leanne says
Love these crab cakes! I tried 3 times to paste your URL into Carb Manager with no success. Is this something that you can do? Thanks in advance!
rachel says
I don't like tartar sauce. Without the sauce, what do you think the net carbs woukd be for a serving?
Alex Lester says
Hi Rachel, without the sauce it would be 2.4 net carbs per serving. Hope this helps!
James l says
Can you do the Nutritional information for the crab cake and the sauce separate please.
Brenda says
You can purchase lump crab canned in the refrigerated seafood at Winco. Can you convert this to coconut flour? I do not like the grainy texture of almond flour
Kimberly says
Great taste!
I softened the red pepper and onion in a skillet for 4 min with a pinch of butter before adding them to the recipe.
FitnessPal shows a serving with 647 calories.
Which is correct? (520 or 647)
Cast Iron Keto says
Hi Kimberly, we use the nutritional calculator through our recipe card which pulls standard data for each ingredient. As always, you'll want to double-check your specific ingredients for the most accurate calculation.
Patty Kauffman says
It was delicious!!!
Tina says
These crab cakes are amazing and they are keto friendly which is a plus. Thank you for sharing this recipe. Awesome!!!
Liss says
Hello,
Wondering if I can use coconut flour in place of the almond flour? Would I use less or equal amount?
Excited to try this recipe!
Thanks!
Cast Iron Keto says
It would not be equal amounts and I don't recommend using coconut flour in this recipe for taste reasons. Is there another nut flour you could use?
Orlean Lay says
Pecan flour has fewer carbs than both almond and coconut flour. I believe we could experiment with. Nothing beats a failure but a try right!!
Janet says
This keto crab cake recipe is amazing!!! I used lump crab which is pretty expensive so I was thrilled that the flavors were right on. I cannot eat red bell pepper so I replaced it with celery. I also sautéed the onion and celery in butter for five minutes first. Great job! 👌🏼
Carol says
I liked these but would recommend using half of the recommended amount of Old Bay. I thought it over[peered the crab. Otherwise great.
Kathy Cooke says
Great recipe for restaurant-worthy crab cakes! It made five, 1/3-cup cakes. I subbed diced celery for the red bell pepper, which complemented the old bay, and I sautéed the onion and celery in a little butter before making the cakes, which worked out well. The sauce was excellent, and added a lot. I served it with buttered, steamed broccoli and sliced tomatoes drizzled with olive oil. We all loved this.
Cami Nail says
Great recipe!
Fifi says
Can I use imitation crab?
Cast Iron Keto says
Oh please don't. Imitation crab will not taste good at all in these crab cakes and typically is filled with junky ingredients. I'm not sure that it would even form into a patty either.
Devin says
Loved these. I did sub crushed pork rhinds for the almond flour because I hate almond flour, and increased the amount to 1/3 cup. I also added a clove of minced garlic.
My husband went bonkers. Thanks for the recipe!
Cast Iron Keto says
Pork rinds are a great sub for almond flour, we'll have to try that ourselves! Thanks for sharing, glad you and your husband enjoyed them!
Leslie Bryers says
We made these tonight and added some Jalapeno. They were delicious! Thank you for the recipe.
Claudia says
These were very tasty but a disaster while trying to cook. They totally fell apart in the frying pan. The almond flour and egg weren’t enough to keep them together. I had another recipe that called for crush up pork rinds. I think I will try adding some of those next time and just adjust the nutritional value. I served them with (not on) a mixed salad and made a siracha aioli with a bit of bite. Good combination of tastes! Thanks!!
Haileigh says
The first batch fell apart in the skillet. The second batch came out nicely. I think that you need to let the skillet get extremely hot before frying them. I put the first batch in when the butter began to sizzle, but that must not have been hot enough. They have a delicious, non-fishy flavor, and the tartar sauce was yummy too. I'll probably make this again someday.
Rachel Cooper says
Turned out amazing!
I put the crabcakes over cauliflower rice with tomato sauce.
Courtney Richardson says
My non-keto family LOVED LOVED them. I made them about two weeks ago and I made a comment that I would make them again. Everyone cheered. Odd, huh? But I get it. The crab cakes are so good.
Jade says
I had to substitute the lump crab cake for ground. I substituted the regular onion and peppers for shallots. I sprinkled a little garlic powder and paprika. The results are amazing.
Iris says
So delicious!!! I make a double batch to have a second day of meals
Tom says
Made these for my wife who is on a keto diet. I try to make things that I will like as well and these crab cakes certainly made the grade. Delicious! Yes, they tend to fall apart, but just be careful flipping. Will make again.
Mariann Madden says
Great recipe!!!! Thank you!!! I used Creole seasoning and celery seed instead of the old bay (I don't like old bay). Quick, easy and delicious!!!
Nicole says
My crab cakes kept falling apart in the pan and seemed to take forever to brown. Any tips?
Perry says
I just formed them into balls and kinda threw them into the pan, make sure the pan is HOT so they immediately start to cook, and it seemed to work fine. 🙂
Lynn says
We love this recipe. They are even better with a bang bang sauce
Shelly says
Just made these today. So delicious!! It’s definitely the best Keto crab cake recipe out there! Thanks for sharing and love your site
Stacy says
Can you post the macros for Fat, Carb and protein separately for the crab cakes and the tartar sauce?
Perry says
Sooooo good and easy!