Crab cakes are one of the easiest seafood items that you can prepare at your home or can find it at any high-end restaurant. A crab cake is a fried combination of crab meat, eggs, green onions, panko crumbs, mayonnaise, and seasoning items. Usually, restaurants serve this delicious seafood dish with some crackers, potato salad, or with a lemon wedge. But while all of these items go fine with crab cakes, you can spice it up with some unique and flavorful side dishes.
However, if you’re wondering what to serve with crab cakes or what goes good with crab cakes then this post is just for you. In this post, I’d like to share an ultimate list of the best side dishes for crab cakes. With these easy and healthy dishes, you can add more flavors with your favorite crab cakes. So let’s begin it.
A List of What to Serve with Crab Cakes
There’s a list of some healthy as well as tasty side dishes that goes beautifully with crab cakes. Let’s check this following list to know what to eat with crab cakes.
Roasted Vegetables
Roasted vegetables are one of the healthiest as well as delicious side dishes for crab cakes. If you want to avoid greasy seafood or creamy sauces, then this is the dish that you can pick. You can choose your favorite vegetable items such as eggplant, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions.
For this easy and quick recipe, cut all the vegetable items to long strips or bite-size pieces. Preheat your oven and spread all your veggies onto a baking sheet. Coat them with olive oil and season them with salt, pepper, and your favorite herbs like parsley. Put the sheet into the oven, cook your veggies for at least 30-minutes, flip them when one side is done.
Be careful, not to overcook them, or else the veggies can lose their natural moisturizer or juice and become lumpy. Serve it along with your crab cakes, this will add some gorgeous color to your plate.
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Roasted Herb Potatoes
Potatoes can be a great side dish for your crab cakes because they are tasty, soft, and filling as well. If you roast your potatoes with some herbs and spices, they’ll taste even better. Try to keep this recipe simple and herby so that it doesn’t discard the flavor of your main dish.
Wash your potatoes very well so that you won’t have to peel them. Cut them into small chunks and place them on a baking tray. Drizzle them with olive oil and add your favorite herbs and spices like garlic, cilantro, turmeric powder, dried parsley, salt, salt, and pepper.
Place the tray in a preheated oven and roast the potatoes at 300 degrees Fahrenheit about 20-minutes. Flip them carefully and allow them to roast for another 20 minutes or until they’re golden brown. Serve them warm or at room temperature.
Sautéed Corn and Veggies
Sautéed corn with Mexican flavors is definitely a winner with any kind of seafood item. This dish will give you a soft and crunchy bite with your crab cakes. For this recipe, you’ll need corn, bell peppers (red, green, and yellow), red onions, tomatoes, and cilantro.
At first, cut all your veggies into small cubes and chop finely the garlic and cilantro. Boil the corn kernels until they’re soft, this process should take around 15-20 minutes only.
Use a non-stick pan to prepare this recipe, add some butter to the pan and sauté the garlic and onions. Keep sautéing until you get a nice aroma, then add your other vegetables including corn and bell peppers. Now add salt, pepper, chili flakes, and Mexican spices. Stir well to mix all the ingredients. Once your dish is ready, serve it along with your crab cakes.
Remoulade Sauce
A great way to add flavor to any fried foods is by serving it with a nice dipping sauce. A tartar sauce might be good but a remoulade sauce is the most popular option when it comes to the crab cakes. This sauce has been invented in French but Louisiana spiced it up perfectly.
To prepare this sauce, mix well mayonnaise, mustard, grated-horseradish, ketchup, chopped-capers, lemon juice, parsley, and onions in a mixing bowl. For seasoning, you can add a few pinches of Cajun Seasoning and a splash of hot pepper sauce. Combine all the ingredients until it is a homogenous mixture and your classic dipping sauce is ready. if you’re wondering what goes good with crab cakes, this remoulade sauce is ready.
Classic Tomato Gazpacho
Another great way to spice up is serving your crab cakes along with a delicious soup like Tomato Gazpacho. The sweet and sour taste of this cold soup gives a nice contrast to the richness and crispiness of the crab cakes.
For making classic gazpacho, soak some stale bread in water and peel off the skins of tomatoes. Then blend tomatoes with garlic, onions, cucumbers, chopped celery stalk, bell pepper, lemon juice, cilantro, olive oil, mint leaves, sugar, salt, and pepper. Finally, add the soaked bread and mix all the ingredients nicely. Serving the crab cakes with Tomato Gazpacho will make your summer dinner more enjoyable.
Grilled Asparagus
Asparagus is another simple as well as a healthy option that pairs very well with any seafood. This vegetable item doesn’t require much dressing-up to be an excellent and classy side dish. The special thing about this grilled asparagus recipe is that it’s so simple to prepare and requires less time to be done. All you just need is fresh asparagus, olive oil, salt, and pepper to make this recipe.
Before you start cooking, preheat your grill for high heat temperature. Coat your asparagus with 1 tablespoon of olive oil; season it with salt and pepper. Grill them over high heat temperature about 2 to 3 minutes or until your desired tenders.
You can use Aluminum foil paper to keep the asparagus moist and cook them evenly. This also makes the cleaning of your grill easier.
Mango Salsa
If you want something sweet and spicy with your crab cakes, then you can try this mango salsa recipe. For preparing this sweet and spicy recipe, you’ll need ripe mangoes, red onion, jalapeno, red bell pepper, cilantro, chili flakes, and lime juice.
Chop the mangoes, red onions, some jalapenos, and red bell peppers into the small cube pieces. Mix all these ingredients together and squeeze in fresh lemon juice. Add some red chili flacks and nicely chopped cilantro to the mixture.
Gently mix all the ingredients and serve it as an amazing pairing with your favorite crab cakes. The special thing about his summer fruit recipe is that it tastes great either sweet or hot.
Green Salad
For a healthy meal, it’s great to pair your crab cakes with a fresh green salad at your lunchtime. It features romaine lettuce, green bell pepper, green cabbage, fresh tomatoes, and baby spinach. Also, you’ll need pecans and goat cheese to enhance the taste of your salad. The goat cheese will give a creamy element while pecans will add a sweet element to the salad.
Cut the bell pepper, cabbage, and lettuce lengthwise. Put the spinach and bell pepper in a steamer and steam them for 10 minutes. Now cut got cheese into cubes and toast some pecans on a pan over medium heat temperature. Combine well all the ingredients together and move on to prepare the dressing. A quick and simple olive-lime dressing is the combination of olive oil, lemon juice, pepper, and salt. Put the mixture in a jar and shake it well. Now sprinkle the dressing over the tossed salad.
Colorful Coleslaw
Just like the tomato gazpacho, coleslaw is also a classic and beautiful addition to a plate of crab cakes. This fresh, cool, and creamy recipe will add the zing to your main dish. To make this colorful recipe, you’ll need carrots, cabbage (red and green), and fresh parsley.
First, chop your veggies items lengthwise to long juliennes and keep them aside. Then prepare the dressing, you’ll need mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and apple cider vinegar for dressing-up your recipe. To season your recipe, you’ll require sunflower seeds, salt, and pepper. Combine together mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, and Dijon mustard. Add seasoning ingredients to the liquid and mix them well. Next, dribble the creamy dressing on the vegetables and blend well. Finally, your creamy and colorful coleslaw is ready to serve and enjoy.
Vinaigrette
A colorful combination of vegetables, lemon juice and vinegar for a light and flavorful side dish that goes beautifully with crab. You can enjoy your summer with this unique slaw side dish recipe. Dice tomatoes, cucumber, red bell pepper, red onion, green pepper, cilantro, and fresh parsley. Place these vegetable items in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle some olive oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, green onions, black pepper, and salt to taste. Toss all the ingredients and let it stand at your room temperature for 3 hours or utile flavors combine perfectly. Place your delicious crab cakes on top of the vinaigrette and serve it.
Final Words
Now you know what goes with crab cakes well and also what to serve with crab cakes. You can try any of these sides with your favorite crab cakes and make your dinner or lunch more flavorful. All of these above dishes require less effort and time so you can easily make them at your home. In addition, crab cakes are fairly unhealthy as they contain excess fat that might not be good for your health. However, you can balance the extra fat of the crab cakes and make them healthier with these above side dishes.