These Low Fat Baked Crab Cakes are a delicious reduced-fat, appetizer version of crab cakes, but they’re great to serve as a light dinner, too.
When I’ve got my hands on some fresh crab, I usually make my favorite crab fettuccine. But if I’m wishing to make something a little lighter, I make these low fat baked crab cakes instead. They do make a nice appetizer to share with friends, but making them for dinner to have with a green salad is my favorite way to enjoy them. Because they’re baked, they’re obviously a lot lighter than traditional fried crab cakes, but the flavor is still there. And, if you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you’ll find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card at the end of this post. These are delicious.
Ingredients needed:
- Saltine crackers
- fresh parsley
- low fat plain yogurt
- jarred roasted red pepper
- water
- freshly squeezed lime juice
- hot sauce
- salt
- fresh crab meat
- egg whites
Where is the best place to buy fresh crab meat?
Since I’m not on the coast, my go-to place for buying fresh crab meat is Costco! Look in the “fresh” section near the meats and other things, and you’ll find a one-pound tub of crab. It’s perfect for this recipe.
How to make Low Fat Baked Crab Cakes:
The full, printable recipe is at the end of this post.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, turning the crab cakes with a spatula after 6 minutes. The crab cakes are done when they are browned and cooked through.
Fresh out of the oven, these baked carb cakes are so yummy! I found a crab cake sauce that I like to top them with. It only has three ingredients, and it’s pretty good. Just a small drizzle of the sauce is all you need. Enjoy!
The Best Crab Recipes:
- Crab Guacamole
- Warm Crab Dip
- Cheesy Crab Rangoon Casserole
- Corn and Crab Chowder
- Crab and Cream Cheese Stuffed Snow Peas
Low Fat Baked Crab Cakes
Ingredients
- 12 square saltine (soda) crackers, crushed into crumbs
- ⅓ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons low fat plain yogurt (or sour cream)
- ⅓ cup chopped roasted red pepper (from a jar)
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 to 3 dashes hot pepper sauce, to taste
- salt, to taste
- 1 pound fresh crab meat, picked over for shells and cartilage
- 2 large egg whites
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F, and spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray (or line with parchment paper).
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the saltine crumbs and parsley. Stir in the yogurt, red pepper, water, lime juice, 2 to 3 dashes of hot sauce, salt to taste, and the crab meat. Lightly mix the egg whites with a fork and stir them in. It is important that the mixture be thoroughly combined.
- Using your hands, form 16 crab cakes and arrange them 1-inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, turning the crab cakes with a spatula after 6 minutes. The crab cakes are done when they are browned and cooked through.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can these be frozen? Thanks B
Probably, but I haven’t tried!
Tried this today with my boyfriend and we both thought it was amazing! We made some slight changes to the recipe as we didn’t have some of the ingredients. Instead of using 1/3 cup of parsley we decided to use a 1/3 cup of a green onion/ red bell pepper mix. Because neither of us eats real crab meat we used a good brand of imitation crab meat and it was still delicious! We couldn’t find any roasted red peppers in a jar so we ended up using 1/3 cup chipotle chili peppers canned in adobo sauce and cutting out all the hot sauce. We also used lemon juice, because we were all out of lime. For the crackers we didn’t have any saltines on hand so we used some Milton’s craft bakers everything crackers. In the end we made this lemon aioli sauce http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/neelys/spicy-crab-cakes-with-lemon-aioli-sauce-recipe/index.html to counter out the spiciness of chipotle chili peppers. We both loved the recipe and will give it another go with maybe sun dried tomatoes instead of the roasted red peppers? My boyfriend who is a picky eater gave this recipe a 9/10!
Thanks for sharing all of your fun tips!
Hii, I also only eat imitation crab, did you cook it for as long as recipe or did you follow the recipe, I love all the sound of all your alterations and may use some of them myself 🙂
Going to try this