Crab Appetizers Recipes

Hot or cold, crab appetizers ratchet up the style at any party. From crab wontons to crab dip to crab cakes, these easy crab appetizers are swimming with texture, taste, and fancy appeal.

Prev
Next
Slide 1
Crab Cakes

From Betty Crocker

Try this crab cake recipe from Betty Crocker.

Crab Cakes

Maryland Crab Cakes

From Better Homes and Gardens

This Maryland specialty, pan-fried patties of crab meat coated with bread crumbs and flavored with lively seasonings, is quick to make.

Maryland Crab Cakes

Mushroom-Crab Puffs

From Better Homes and Gardens

For warm from the oven appetizers, stuff marinated mushroom caps with crab meat, bake, and serve immediately.

Mushroom-Crab Puffs

Warm Jalapeno-Crab Dip

From Ladies' Home Journal

For a heartier cheese dip, try adding fresh crab meat. Serve the dip as an appetizer with thick crusty bread or whole grain tortilla chips.

Warm Jalapeno-Crab Dip

Crab Dip

From Better Homes and Gardens

Standard crab dip gets perked up with fresh dill, lemon juice, and hot sauce. Try it on crackers or in phyllo cups.

Crab Dip

Classic Maryland Crab Cakes

From Fine Cooking Magazine

This crab cake is the real deal--no fussy stuff, no flavor disguises. Just pure, sweet crab meat, and lots of it. You add in just enough egg and fresh bread crumbs to bind the crabmeat together. White sandwich bread yields the absolute best cakes--soft and flaky at the same time. Use just enough Old Bay seasoning to give a hint of its presence or it will overpower the crab.

Classic Maryland Crab Cakes

Stuffed Portabellas

From Family Circle

The stuffing for these giant mushroom appetizers looks and tastes like crab cakes. Budget-minded cooks can use imitation crab.

Stuffed Portabellas

Crab Rolls with Lemon Aioli

From Food & Wine

New Orleans chefs often drown seafood in rich, spicy sauces, but here, chef Jason McCullar of Cure simply dresses sweet crabmeat (a Louisiana staple) in lemon-scented aioli. The crab salad is wonderful piled on hot dog buns like a New England lobster roll or arranged delicately on small rolls as hors d'oeuvres.

Crab Rolls with Lemon Aioli

Paul Costello
Shrimp and Crab Shu Mai

From Better Homes and Gardens

Shu mai are wonton wrappers filled with shrimp, crab, and mushrooms. Serve with sweet and spicy red chili sauce.

Shrimp and Crab Shu Mai

Maryland Crab Cakes with Horseradish Sauce

From Better Homes and Gardens

This bite-size version of an East Coast classic makes a terrific appetizer for any party.

Maryland Crab Cakes with Horseradish Sauce

Crab Melt

From Pepperidge Farm

Ready in just 30 minutes, this appetizer is sure to be a hit. Crabmeat is mixed with cream cheese, mayonnaise, onion and mustard and heated until bubbly...it's irresistible.

Crab Melt

Crab and Pork Wontons

From Ladies' Home Journal

Serve these little fried appetizer wontons on a buffet at a party.

Crab and Pork Wontons

Miniature Crab Cakes

From Better Homes and Gardens

Homemade crab cake appetizers will be the hit at summer parties or holiday entertaining.

Miniature Crab Cakes

Pesto Crab Cakes

From Campbell's

Pesto Crab Cakes

Corn 'n Crab Cakes

From Betty Crocker

From Betty's Soul Food Collection... Serve crab cakes with a little kick. Taco seasoning and corn are the flavor boosters in this recipe.

Corn 'n Crab Cakes

Crisp Cayenne-Spiced Crab Cakes

From Food & Wine

Growing up in Silver Spring, Maryland, cooking-club member DeeAnn Budney attended all-day Chesapeake blue crab feasts organized by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Now that she lives on the West Coast, she makes these fantastically spicy crab cakes with sweet Dungeness crab meat, but either kind works.

Crisp Cayenne-Spiced Crab Cakes

Lucy Schaeffer
Lump Crab Salsa

From Food & Wine

Most crab dips are full of mayonnaise, but Michael Symon's lighter version is more like a salsa since it's prepared without mayo and laced with flecks of shallot, cilantro, jalapeno, and red bell pepper. "Although I love mayo," he says, "I'm not a fan of it with crab, since it tends to muddle the flavor. If I'm spending big bucks on crab, I want it to be the star."

Lump Crab Salsa

Maura McEvoy
Crab Cocktail

From Atkins - Phase 1

This Recipe is appropriate for ALL 4 Phases of the Atkins Diet. Join Atkins today to sign up for your Free Quick-Start Kit including 3 Atkins Bars and gain access to Free Tools and Community, as well as over 1,500 other Free Atkins-friendly Recipes.

Crab Cocktail

Remoulade Sauce

From Taste of the South

Remoulade Sauce

Dill Crab Dip with Artichokes

From Better Homes and Gardens

You can use fresh, frozen or canned crabmeat in this appetizer. Crab-flavored, flaked fish (surimi) makes a less expensive and tasty alternative to real crab meat.

Dill Crab Dip with Artichokes

Crab Cocktail with Lemon Aioli

From Better Homes and Gardens

If fresh crab is hard to find for this appetizer, look for canned pasteurized crabmeat. Your supermarket should be able to order this product for you.

Crab Cocktail with Lemon Aioli

Cucumber Bruschetta with Grilled Shrimp & Crab Salad

From Better Homes and Gardens

Grilled shrimp adds irresistible smoky flavor to this vibrant blend of delicate crab meat, sweet peppers, bright citrus, and rich, buttery avocado. Serving the bruschetta atop cool and refreshing cucumber enhances the experience even more. Most of the avocado sold in supermarkets is still in its unripened stage. To ripen, place avocados in a paper bag and set aside at room temperature for 2-4 days. When the fruit is soft to the touch, it is ready for use.

Cucumber Bruschetta with Grilled Shrimp & Crab Salad

Mini Crab Cakes

From Ladies' Home Journal

Lump or jumbo crabmeat is combined with lemon juice, mayonnaise, hot pepper sauce, celery, and red sweet pepper for these tasty little appetizers.

Mini Crab Cakes

Crab Quesadillas with Pineapple Salsa

From Better Homes and Gardens

These spicy seafood appetizers are topped with a fresh and fruity salsa.

Crab Quesadillas with Pineapple Salsa

Herbed Seafood Bruschetta

From Better Homes and Gardens

Thinly slice a baguette-style French bread loaf for these bruschetta (broo-SHEH-tah) appetizers. Toast the bread slices and top with a mixture of crabmeat, shrimp, and tomatoes tossed in a lemony herb and garlic sauce.

Herbed Seafood Bruschetta

Our Recipe Partners
see all recipe partners
___itemTitle___

From: ___itemFrom___

___itemDescription___

___itemTitle___

shop our favorite products