Here's The Top Tip To Follow For A Crispier Air Fryer Crab Cake

Crab cakes are a decadent dish that can be prepared with just a few ingredients. Although they often carry a high price tag at restaurants, crab cakes are surprisingly simple to make at home, offering greater value for your money. There are various cooking methods for this seafood delight, including broiling, baking, deep frying, or even air frying. If you opt for the latter, one simple step can ensure your crab cakes turn out nice and crispy.

While one of the secrets to a perfect crab cake lies in using high-quality crab meat, the cooking method also plays a crucial role. You want those cakes to achieve a crispy exterior while maintaining a moist and soft texture on the inside. This is where a spritz of olive oil comes in. Give your crab cakes a light coating of oil or cooking spray before tossing them in the air fryer.

When it comes to crab meat, the higher the quality, the higher the price. For the best-tasting cakes, you'll likely want to opt for jumbo lump crab meat. However, lump crab and claw meat are more affordable options, so if you're making a large batch of crab cakes, consider mixing the different varieties to save some money without sacrificing too much flavor.

Ideally, crab cakes should have as little filler as possible; every added ingredient should enhance, not overpower, the meat. For the crab cake filling, an egg is commonly used as a binder. Additionally, seasoned bread crumbs are excellent for helping the crab cakes maintain their shape. A bit of mayo adds richness, and flavor enhancers like fresh herbs, sea salt, and a dash of Old Bay can make a significant difference in the final product.

If you choose to cook your crab cakes in an air fryer, spray the surface of the fryer basket with olive oil or cooking spray first, and then give the tops of the crab cakes a light spritz as well. The fat in the oil will interact with the heat to give the cakes a perfectly crispy coating, all without the need for deep frying. Although recipes may differ, aim to cook the crab cakes at a temperature that crisps the exterior nicely while preventing the interior from drying out — typically between 350 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

When building the perfect crab cake, you want to give it a crispy coating while maintaining moisture within the crab cake. While the bread crumbs help to shape a crab cake, they also get nice and crispy in the air fryer; if you love a good crunch, you can coat the exterior of the crab cake in bread crumbs, too, before spraying them with olive oil. This way, you'll add another layer of crunch to the cake. Standard bread crumbs will add crunch, but if you're looking for something that will get even crispier, try swapping them with panko. If you're looking for a little less crunch, try swapping those bread crumbs for crumbled crackers, which are often salty and buttery, packing flavor without adding too much of a crunchy bite.

Other than the necessary ingredients of a binder, a shaper, and some herbs and seasonings for flavor, crab cakes need almost nothing else. Let the crab meat mixture sit for a bit in the refrigerator to help those flavors combine, then shape it into cakes, and let the air fryer do the rest of the work.