Baked Crab Cakes With Mango-Avocado Salsa Recipe

In the skilled hands of a four-star chef or a seafaring Maryland man, the goal of a crab cake is simple: Use just enough ingredients to build flavor and bind the cakes, but never at the expense of the crab itself. The goal of the corporate cook is quite different: Make an inexpensive crab cake that will hold together under duress and leave them wanting more. That's why mayo and a deep fryer are invariably part of the process. Our crab cake recipe takes the former route.

Nutrition: 240 calories, 3.5 g fat (0.5 g saturated), 800 mg sodium

Serves 4

You'll Need

1 can (16 oz) jumbo lump crab meat
2 Tbsp minced jalapeño
2 scallions, chopped
1⁄2 cup minced red bell pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tsp Dijon mustard
Juice of 1 lemon
1⁄4 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1⁄2 tsp salt
3⁄4 cup bread crumbs
Mango-avocado salsa (You can make your own at home using 1 mango, 1 avocado, 1⁄2 finely chopped red onion, the juice of 1 lime, chopped fresh cilantro, and salt and black pepper. Don't love mangoes? Improvise a healthy tartar by mixing equal parts mayo and plain yogurt with chopped pickles, capers, and fresh lemon juice instead.)

How to Make It

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Gently mix everything but 1⁄2 cup of the bread crumbs. Using your hands, loosely form the crab mixture into 8 patties.
3. Spread the remaining bread crumbs on a plate and roll each crab cake over the crumbs to lightly and evenly coat.
4. As the cakes are formed, place them on a non-stick baking sheet or in a baking dish coated with non-stick cooking spray.
5. If the patties are misshaped, use the palm of your hand to press them down into an evenly shaped disk, the size of a small hockey puck.
6. Bake until golden brown on the outside, 12 to 15 minutes. Serve with a scoop of mango-avocado salsa.

Eat This Tip

Crab—even canned crab—can be one of the most expensive ingredients in the supermarket, making crab cakes a fairly pricey endeavor. If you want to lighten the blow to the wallet, buy the regular (i.e., non-lump) canned stuff, which is considerably more affordable. Better yet, sub in a pound of fresh shrimp for the crab. Simply pulse the peeled and deveined shrimp a few times in the food processor, then follow the rest of the recipe.

This recipe (and hundreds more!) came from one of our Cook This, Not That! books. For more easy cooking ideas, you can also buy the book!