Zucchini crab cakes are a beautiful merging of crab cakes and mock zucchini “crab” cakes. The mock crab cakes, which don’t contain any crab at all, are a great crab cake alternative for vegetarians as they have a similar texture to a regular crab cake. Somewhere along the way, someone figured out that crab and zucchini tasted really good together as well as on their own and zucchini crab cakes were created.
The zucchini adds a really nice clean flavor to the cakes and doesn’t over power the delicate flavor of the crab meat. Today’s crab and zucchini recipe is easy to prepare and truly delicious.
Let’s get cooking!
Zucchini Crab Cake Recipe with Sour Cream and Dill Pickle Aioli
Skill Level: Beginner
Prep Time: 20 minutes (+ 30 minutes chill time)
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Cook Time: 40 minutes (+30 minutes chill time)
Ingredients Required to make Zucchini Crab Cakes
1 cup Cameron’s Lump Maryland Crab Meat, shredded into smaller pieces
1/2 zucchini, grated
2/3 cup breadcrumbs
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tbsp mayonnaise
1/4 tsp celery seed
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp cayenne
pinch of salt and pepper
Zucchini Crab Cake Cooking Directions
Take your grated zucchini and place it in a cheesecloth or thin, clean tea towel. Take that zucchini and wring as much liquid out of it as you can. The more liquid you can get out, the better your crab cake will hold together. Now saute the zucchini in a small pan with about a tablespoon of cooking oil until it gets a little bit softer, just a couple of minutes. Once your zucchini is soft, add in the minced garlic and cook just until you can smell the garlic. Take your pan off the heat and cool the zucchini to room temperature.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the rest of your ingredients together with your cooled zucchini and garlic and make them into round patties about 2 inches in diameter. You should get about 6 crab cakes out of this recipe. Put the crab cakes into the fridge and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Once they are chilled, heat a medium sized pan over medium high heat with 1/3 cup of cooking oil (not olive though, as it has a very low smoking point). Once your pan is heated, cook half the cakes for about 3-5 minutes on the first side until crisp and a golden color, and then flip and cook for the same amount of time on the other side. To test if your oil is hot enough, break off a small piece of one cake and place it in the pan, if the cake sizzles right away, your pan is ready. Cook the other rest of the cakes in the same pan once the first round are done and then serve them with the sour cream and dill pickle aioli.
Tip: Don’t have any bread crumbs? You could use cracker crumbs or take a frozen bun or slice of bread out of the freezer and while it is still frozen, use the smaller grater side on a box grater and grate the bread into a small bowl. The result will be very fine textured and fluffy bread crumbs.We also sell seafood breading on our online store if that’s easier for you.
Ingredients Required to make Sour Cream and Dill Pickle Aioli
2 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 sm dill pickle, finely diced
splash lime juice
pinch of salt and pepper
Sour Cream and Dill Pickle Aioli Cooking Directions
Mix all of your ingredients together in a small bowl and chill until needed.
These zucchini crab cakes are great on their own as an appetizer or you could turn them into a meal with a side of baked potato wedges and a garden salad.
Buy Maryland Blue Crab Cakes Online
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For your convenience, you can buy our famous Maryland blue crab cakes online and get them delivered right to your door within 48 hours in the United States! Feel free to check out our online store for all of your seafood products.
Cameron’s Seafood was recently featured on Forbes’ Best Food Gifts Of 2017 list! We’re very excited about the feature. Happy cooking!
By: Melanie Craighead
