Healthier Baked Crab Cakes

I don’t know how many of my readers are Catholic, but for those who are, it’s that time of year again, no meat on Fridays. To prepare for a two meatless meals last week Howard and I went shopping for fish and other seafood. One of our purchases was crab and that got me thinking. Last Friday we had crab cakes for lunch; a recipe that I created myself.

So, for those of you that like crab; this recipe is for you. If you try this recipe out let me know what you think, or any changes that you made.

(Also, I have been figuring out the calories for a lot of the recipes lately, if you want to know how many calories are in something send me an e-mail at Miriya.whitaker@gmail.com.) If you use saltine crackers and light sour cream each cake will have 98 calories.

What You’ll Need…

3 ½ Cups Chopped Crab Meat (About 1lb.)

¾ Cup Fine Cracker Crumbs (20 Crackers)

½ Cup Sour Cream

1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard

1 Cup Spinach (Fresh wilted or thawed frozen)

2 Eggs

All of the Spice Blend (Recipe below)

Spice Blend…

2 Teaspoons Garlic Powder

1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger

2 Bay Leaves (Crushed)

1 Teaspoon Celery Salt

½ Teaspoon Pepper

½ Teaspoon Paprika

½ Teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper

1 Teaspoon Parsley

Start out by placing your crackers in a Ziploc bag, five at a time, and crushing them to fine crumbs with a rolling pin. 

Once you have made the cracker crumbs create the spice blend by combining the garlic powder, ginger, bay leaves, celery salt, pepper, paprika, crushed red, and parsley. Pre-heat your oven to 350.

Now, cut the crab down to size and measure out 3 ½ cups.

Once you have cut the crab combine it in a medium mixing bowl with the cracker crumbs, sour cream, mustard, spinach eggs and spices. Mix everything together thoroughly. 

At this point grease a sheet pan with non-stick cooking spray and fill a bowl with all-purpose flour. The flour helps to make the outside of the cake get semi-crispy and to no longer be sticky. Measure out the crab mixture with a 1/3 Cup measuring cup; you should end up with 13 crab cakes. As you measure out each one lightly coat it in flour and place it onto the sheet pan.

Bake the cakes at 350 for about 30-35 minutes; flip the cakes half-way through the cooking time so that they bake evenly. 

Enjoy the cakes with your favorite dipping sauce; I recommend either plain ketchup or ketchup mixed with sour cream. Store the left-overs in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!