My family loves seafood in general, but it seemed especially fitting to have crab cakes on our Doran Beach camping trip because the jetty at Doran Beach seems to be a very popular place for crabbing. I, however, “caught” my crab at my local Costco. Fresh, already shelled lump crab meat. Open the container and you’re good to go! For the crab cakes, I did most of the prep work at home, and with the addition of a few more ingredients at the campsite, the crab cakes were ready to cook. Freshly cooked crab cakes with a crisp crust, a squeeze of lime and a creamy aioli sauce, balanced out with a simple mixed green salad and a glass of Chardonnay – perfect meal for a coastal camping trip.
Camping Trip Crab Cakes
Crab cakes with bell pepper, green onions and parsley coated with a crispy panko crust and topped with a creamy aioli sauce
You can prepare most of the crab cake filling at home, then finish by adding panko, crab and egg before cooking.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup green onions, minced
- 1/2 cup red bell peppers, finely diced
- 3 tablespoons parsley chopped
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 4 tablespoons mayo
- 16 oz lump crab meat
- 3/4 cup panko
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 2 tablespoons chopped red bell pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon finely minced garlic
- 4 tablespoons mayo
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- add salt to taste
Red Bell Pepper Aioli Sauce:
Directions
- In a container with a tight seal, add minced green onions, diced bell peppers, chopped parsley, lime juice and mayo, close the lid (do not mix) and pack for the trip. Make sure to keep this cold because of the mayo. I used a tupperware that was 6.5 inches (square) and 3 inches deep in size so that this container became my bowl when I added the rest of the filling. (In my pictures, I divided my filling and made two types of crab cakes – with and without bell peppers).
- When ready to cook the crab cakes, open the container of partially prepped filling and add the crab, panko and eggs. Add a little salt and gently mix.
- Form into balls, around 2 inches in diamter. If the mixture is too loose at this point, add a bit more panko.
- Dredge the balls in panko by pressing and flattening them into the panko on a plate (you can see how flat I pressed them in the pictures). Coat completely with panko. The crab cakes are fragile at this point and may need reshaping before putting them into the pan to cook.
- Heat canola oil in pan, cook crab cakes over medium to medium high heat for 4-5 minutes a side, depending on the size and width of your crab cakes. Make sure your oil is hot or else your crab cakes will be drenched in oil. You want to see a nice crisp, lightly browned outside and fully cooked inside. I used an induction stove that we plugged into our campervan, but I’ve cooked crab cakes on a propane stove before as well.
- Serve immediately with Red Bell Pepper Aioli Sauce and a squeeze of lime.
Then we cooked the crab cakes outside. For this trip, I used an induction stove plugged into our campervan, but I’ve also used a propane stove. With a propane stove, I had to watch it more carefully so the outside didn’t burn (before the inside was cooked).
Serve with a mixed green salad, sit back, and enjoy the view!
Weekend Campervanning 
Your crab cakes look divine, especially with that Chardonnay–yum! We must frequent the same fishing spot–I catch all kinds of amazing seafood at Costco, too. 😉
LikeLiked by 3 people
Looks amazing!! 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks!
LikeLike