Deviled crab delivers much of what we love in tasty crab cakes, but it’s much easier to prepare. I’ve adored deviled crab since I was a little girl. That might seem unexpected given that I grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains, hundreds of miles inland. But crab cakes were on the menu of the casual mom-and-pop seafood restaurants, known as fish camps, where my family often ate on weekends.
I was fascinated by the deviled crab baked in repurposed crab shells. My cousins were a little scared of those pointy red shells. Lucky for me, I was able to swap my ordinary french fries for their helping of the dish.
Catching and picking crabs is a beloved part of beach trips for many North Carolina families. For the rest of us, we need to purchase chilled fresh crab meat from a trusted vendor or the fresh seafood department in our grocery store.
You can often find ready-to-use, cleaned crab shells at the same markets; individual gratin dishes also work. The shells are small, so you’ll likely need two per serving.
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons butter, divided
- ½ cup celery, finely chopped
- ½ cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
- ¼ cup scallions, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, grated or finely chopped
- 20 saltine crackers, coarsely crushed, divided
- 1 pound lump crabmeat, picked through for bits of shell
- Lemon wedges, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place 4 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Add the celery, bell pepper, scallions and salt. Cook until tender, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside to cool slightly.
- Add the mayonnaise, mustard, Worcestershire, black pepper and cayenne pepper, stirring to combine. Add the eggs and ½ cup cracker crumbs and stir to combine. Gently fold in the crab meat without breaking up the lumps.
- Evenly divide the mixture among 16 prepared crab shells or 8 individual gratin dishes sitting on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a small bowl, add the remaining cracker crumbs and toss to combine. Sprinkle evenly over the crab mixture and bake until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm with lemon wedges.
Cook’s Note: Shelf-stable, canned crab isn’t a good option for this recipe.
