This easy recipe for baked crab cakes trades the usual bread crumb filler for the deliciousness of crushed potato chips!
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Why this recipe works
Crab cakes are an absolute favorite in my house, and not just any old crab cake.
Nope, we roll with baked crab cakes, which swap out the usual bread crumb filler for…wait for it…crushed potato chips!
And since I have flipped many a crab cake when cooking in a frying pan only to have it break apart into crab cake crumbles, this recipe calls for baking them in the oven. No flipping required.
So if you are looking for a good, basic, delicious crab cake recipe with a little pizzazz and zero flipping needed, look no further because you have found it. Let’s make it!
Ingredients you need for this recipe
Ingredients notes and substitutions
- Crab Meat: There are different types of crab meat, including jumbo (from the fins of the crab), lump (smaller pieces from the back), backfin (broken pieces of jumbo and lump) and claw (from the claw!) We like lump or backfin crab meat for this recipe…it’s the perfect crab flavor, and just the right size for these cakes.
- Potato Chips: We recommend kettle-baked style potato chips because they have a nice heft and crunch that stands up well in the crab cake mixture.
- Old Bay: This is a classic combination of seafood spices that you can find in your spice aisle. It’s also perfect for beer cooked shrimp and other seafood recipes.
- Mustard: We like Dijon mustard (the kind with a teeny amount of wine in it) but you can use any mustard you have in your fridge!
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities and nutritional information.
How to make this recipe
STEP 1: Preheat your oven to 400 and line a cookie sheet with some parchment or non-stick foil (easy clean-up coming your way!)
STEP 2: Crush up three cups of potato chips into small pieces. We find the easiest way to do this is to put the chips in a plastic zippered bag and scrunch them with your hands or pound gently with a rolling pin or a can of soup or a meat mallet. (Make sure you sample a chip for, you know, quality control purposes).
STEP 3: Mix up your crushed chips with some crabmeat, tartar sauce, mustard, egg and a spoonful of Old Bay seasoning.
STEP 4: Pack them into nice solid cakes about 3 inches in diameter, place them on a baking sheet, drizzle them with some olive oil and bake them up until they are lightly golden.
The chips are going to give them just the right amount of salt and density without overwhelming the crab. I like to serve them up drizzled with a little Sriracha sauce, and with some lemon on the side for squeezing.
Recipe FAQs
Crab meat in all its varieties can be found in the seafood section of your supermarket. It comes fully cooked and pasteurized, usually in cans or plastic containers. The cooking part of this recipe is to firm up the crabcakes, not to cook the crab.
Tartar sauce is a condiment that is often used with lots of seafood recipes. It’s a combo of mayonnaise and pickles and herbs, and can usually be found in the seafood section right near those containers of crab!
They can! All the way up to the baking part – you will want to do that at the last minute for maximum warmth and deliciousness.
Pop your question in the comments section below and I will answer pronto!
What to serve with this recipe
And I wouldn’t blame you if you put a few extra chips on the side as well. After all, the bag IS open already… :)
Other easy seafood recipes we love
We want to know what you think!
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear how it came out for you! I’d be super grateful if you could leave a star rating (you pick how many stars! 🌟 ) and your thoughts in the Comments section.
PrintBaked Crab Cakes
This easy recipe for baked crab cakes trades the usual bread crumb filler for the deliciousness of crushed potato chips!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Southern
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1 pound lump crabmeat, separated into thick flakes
- 3 cups potato chips
- 1/3 cup tartar sauce
- 2 tablespoons mustard
- 1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- One lemon, cut into wedges
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.
- Put the chips into a zippered plastic bag and crush them into fine crumbs (I use a rolling pin to do this, but whatever potato chip crushing method works best for you is fine!)
- Pour the crushed chips into a bowl and add the crab, tartar sauce, mustard, Old Bay and egg. Stir it all up until everything is combined.
- Form the crab mixture into 8 thick patties, packing them as tightly as you can. Place them on the baking sheet and drizzle each patty with a little olive oil.
- Bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve at once with lemon wedges on the side (we like ours with a drizzle of Sriracha sauce!)
Helen Matthews says
Hi Kate ! I wanted to let you know that your recipe is the BEST ! I used sweet potato chips, my daughter recently found out she has allergies to soy, oats,yeast, white potatoes & almond, she found it & ask if I’d make them . After baking & letting them cool, I put them on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper, in freezer for 2 hrs. then put them into press & seal freezer bags so I could transport to my daughter ! Big success ! Thank you so much!
Helen, thank you so much! It always warms my heart when a recipe turns out to be a good one for someone who might not be able to have it made the traditional way, so you are so sweet to leave me this comment! I hope you, your daughter and your whole family have a wonderful and happy new year! :)
Helen Matthews says
Can this chip recipe be frozen after cooking ? I’m really excited to try this recipe as soon as I get to the store !!!
Hi Helen! I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t be frozen – although I’ve never tried it. If you do freeze them, I would thaw them out completely before cooking them. Let us know how they turn out!
Luci's Morsels says
These look fantastic! Love the use of potato chips in place of bread crumbs, such a unique idea!
Luci’s Morsels | fashion. food. frivolity.
Everything is better with potato chips, right? :)
Rosemary says
These look amazing. Two of my favorite things–crab and potato chips. I must make them soon!
You must!! :)
Joann says
What do you think about just using Old Bay potato chips and leaving out the actual seasoning?
Hey Joann! I didn’t know there was such a think as Old Bay potato chips (MUST GET SOME!) but I think that is a great idea. I think if you used both it might overwhelm the crab taste. :)