Paleo Chipotle Crab Cakes are the breakfast of champions, didn’t you know? Or at least they became mine this morning…
I just ate crab cakes for breakfast. It was a spontaneous decision after I had some leftover crabmeat from another recipe and it was possibly one of my best decisions to date. I have been borderline obsessed lately with ground chipotle powder found in the spice aisle. I mean I love a good kick in the pants anyway, but man that stuff is like magic.
I also realized that I really miss living near the coast. Growing up in Houston, we always had access to fresh seafood and then living in DC for 6 years just added to the awesome. Now that we are back in the Midwest, I am realizing just how much I’m not eating seafood (for good reason), but also wanting to make an effort to sneak it back in to the rotation. And I think it’s safe to say that if I’m not allowed to live on tacos and queso, that crab cakes could make a pretty sweet runner up.
FYI one of the saddest things ever (other than the fact that I can’t live on tacos and queso) is the scarcity of crab cakes without gluten. Like it’s such an easy sub and yet, regardless of where we’ve lived, finding them gluten free is next to impossible. So I’m making a new year’s resolution almost 10 days into the year that I need to eat more crab cakes, even if it means I have to make them. In fact, I’m even having flashbacks to the Crab Hushpuppies in Down South Paleo and feeling really solid about this commitment. I encourage you to do the same, unless you have a shellfish allergy in which case, please don’t. Have a steak instead.
PrintPaleo Chipotle Crab Cakes
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- Avocado oil for frying
- 1 pound canned crabmeat (or fresh lump)
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle powder
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons grass fed gelatin (not collagen)
- Up to 1/4 cup cassava flour (adding it in 1 tbsp at a time)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients except for your avocado oil in a mixing bowl
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and take small handfuls of the crab cake mixture, forming them into patties, around an inch thick or so
- Place them on your baking sheet and once all the patties have been made, transfer the baking sheet into the freezer for 5 minutes
- While your uncooked crab cakes are chilling, heat the avocado oil in a skillet over low/medium heat
- Remove the crab cakes from the freezer and gently place them one at a time into the hot oil
- Allow them to cook for around 5 minutes on each side, flipping them carefully with a thin, flexible spatula
- Serve warm – if you’d like to make a dipping sauce, mix 1/4 cup dijon, 1/4 cup mayonnaise and 1 tablespoon coconut aminos together in a bowl for dipping
Notes
Any recommendations for baking instead of frying? Thanks.
Assemble and then bake at 350 for 20 min maybe?
Do these reheat well?
Yes very well, I reheated in the toaster.
Can you substitute the Cassava flour? I don’t have any.
Yes you could use almond flour.
What is the gelatin for? I dont have any, Is it needed? Is there another substitution?
It works as a binder, without it you’ll need something else to help them stick together.
What is the job of the cassava? I added a couple of tablespoons, but didn’t know what I was trying to do with it. When I fried my crab cakes, they fell apart into crab bits. So clearly more cassava…would be nice if the recipe was updated with how the cassava should affect the cakes
★★★
The cassava acts as a binder, which it did for me. I’m not sure why yours fell apart, that’s unfortunate.
I made these last night, but 1.5x the batch so we’d have some leftovers, and they were amazing! I used the full amount of cassava flour. Mine weren’t equally sized so the larger ones needed two extra minutes. I drizzled with the dipping sauce (highly recommend) and gave everyone a lemon wedge in case they were too spicy, but we are low spice in this house and loved them. There was heat from the chipotle, but it was delicious and even bearable by my 11-month old baby who inhaled his! I made a lemon-avocado coleslaw to go with it and it was a great pairing. This was also my first time making crab cakes and it was so easy following the recipe as-is!
★★★★★
Thank you Joey!