Do you have excess zucchini from your garden? Or maybe you need a cheaper or vegetarian alternative to crab cakes. Whatever the reason give these mock zucchini crab cakes a try- you won’t be disappointed!
I spent a few years of my childhood living in Maryland- where the Potomac River meets the Chesapeake Bay.
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I have fond memories of crabbing with my family- out on a row boat pulling up crab traps or sitting on the edge of the little bridge on our road dropping bits of chicken tied to a string into the water and pulling them back up with crabs attached.
See- here’s 5 year old me with our fresh caught crabs:
As a result have a fondness for crab cakes. Since I now live in the mountains of North Carolina and crab is not in abundance I don’t eat crab cakes nearly as much as I’d like.
But what I do have an abundance of is zucchini and as luck would have it substituting zucchini for crab can make a pretty good “crab” cake.
These mock zucchini crab cakes, also known as Poor Man’s Crab Cakes is a less expensive, and vegetarian, alternative to true crab cakes that are just as delicious!
It’s probably obvious where the name “Poor Man’s Crab Cakes” comes from- those too poor to afford the high cost of crab, can easily make a cheap alternative by using shredded zucchini in place of the crab meat.
Either way it’s a nice vegetarian option or just a great way to use up that mountain of zucchini from your garden!
Related Reading: 50 Zucchini Recipes for Your Summer Harvest
So if you’ve got zucchini taking over your kitchen, give these mock zucchini crab cakes a try!
How to Make Mock Zucchini Crab Cakes!
~ 2 cups of grated zucchini/summer squash
1 cups bread crumbs (Panko is best)
1 small onion- finely chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
1 T mayonnaise
1 egg
1-3 tsp Old Bay Seasonings (to your taste)
Splash of Worcestershire Sauce (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Mix all of the ingredients together and allow to sit for a few minutes. You can adjust all the amounts to suit your needs- but the end result should be a mixture that will hold together when formed into patties.
This recipe can be doubled, tripled, etc. very easily.
Scoop about 1/3 of a cup of the zucchini mixture out of the bowl and press it together to form a uniform patty. Continue making patties until all of the zucchini mixture has been used.
Heat a skillet over medium heat.Pour olive oil in your pan- you want to add enough oil to spread completely across the bottom of the pan. This helps with getting evenly cooked, crisp patties.
Place your zucchini crab cake patties in the pan and cook, flipping once, so that the patties are golden on both sides.
You can serve these as is, with homemade ketchup, or your choice of sauce or as a sandwich.
These can also be made using frozen zucchini (thawed and drained), so it’s a great dish to make in the winter that uses some of your preserved summer harvest! You can find a printable version of this recipe below. Enjoy!
Poorman's Crab Cakes
A simple meal made with fresh zucchini- a great vegetarian option to traditional crab cakes
Ingredients
- ~2 cups grated zucchini, about 3 medium
- ~1 cups bread crumbs
- 1 small onion- finely chopped
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1T mayonnaise
- 1 egg
- 1-3 tsp Old Bay Seasonings, to your taste
- splash of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Mix all of the ingredients together and allow to sit for a few minutes. You can adjust all the amounts to suit your needs- but the end result should be a mixture that will hold together when formed into patties.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat. Drizzle olive oil in your pan and place your zucchini crab cake patties in the pan and allow to cook until golden on both sides.
- You can serve these as is, with ketchup or your choice of sauce or as a sandwich. These can also be made using frozen zucchini (thawed and drained), so it’s a great dish to make in the winter that uses some of your preserved summer harvest!
Don’t grow your own zucchini yet? It’s so easy! Check out these articles for help:
The Best Squash Companion Plants
Thanks for joining us at Let’s Get Social Sunday.
These sound delicious, love Crab and zucchini. Pinning!
New follower.
Wanda Ann @ Memories by the Mile
Yum, and yum again. I love crab cakes, and this looks so simple, and delish.
I love them! And it makes a very quick meal when you are short on time
My zucchini are just starting. Nice to have another delicious recipe. have to try this.
You can never have too many zucchini recipes!
This looks good! I am used to “Just” frying zucchini with either breading or quickly with some garlic or something. This reminds me of potato pancakes in a way..and in zucchini season it is always good to have several recipes at hand ! :)
These look delicious! I’ll be featuring you this week, so please feel free to come by and grab my featured button! Thank you for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop!
Cheers,
Kathy Shea Mormino
The Chicken Chick
This recipe sounds wonderful! We are harvesting squash like crazy right now. Thank you for sharing the recipe at Tuesdays with a Twist! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures
Fantastic idea for using up zucchini! Thanks for sharing on Tuesday Greens!
Hi Sarah!!! I have featured you this morning at back to the Basics for Tuesdays with a Twist!
Thanks so much for sharing.
I can’t wait to try this. We don’t eat crab but I miss something *like* crabcakes! Old Bay… love it :) (Not to mention it’ll be a great way to use up those farmshare zuchs…)
I much prefer this zucchini version to the crab version! YUM! Thanks for linking up!
By late summer we always have too much zucchini.But year round we never have a surplus of crab! We found a favorite recipe that combines the two. Zucchini crab cakes are a big hit at our patio parties.
Mix an egg, ricotta cheese and some herbs for stuffed and fried squash blossoms. Just be sure to wash those blossoms outside in a big pot of water.Bees and wasps will likely fill your kitchen if you try to rinse the blossoms in the sink.
Mu husband loves crab cakes, and hates zucchini (he thinks, but little does he know!). I can’t wait to try these and see how he likes them. (He’s often surprised to learn he actually likes vegetables he once thought he hated. :)
Thank you so much for the idea! We had been running low on ways to eat all this squash — We altered the recipe slightly based on what we had in the kitchen, but they came out amazing! :D
We will be making a lot more! Yummy!!
My middle son is allergic to shellfish and nuts. Poor thing. We live in the Northern Neck of Virginia where we grow pecans and fish off our dock for crabs, raise oysters in floats and sometimes catch a fish or two. When the rest of the family would be eating crab, I made these for my poor allergic kid. They were actually a hit with everyone!
Carol Ann: this sounds wonderful! Thanks.
Cousin Tom
If we wanted to add meat could you add a little tuna. I might have to try it.
I buy cans of mackerel at Dollar Tree & make fish patties, on the cheap.
Now I’m thinking I’ll combine the two recipes into zucchini mackerel patties!!!
Yum!
I have enjoyed zucchini crabcakes for many years. Sometimes when the crabs are running good, I use my own nets and catch some for dinner.
After shredding the zucchini, I put it on paper towels for about 10 minutes. I was afraid it would be too watery. The texture was great. When I spotted a bottle of Old Bay hot sauce, I knew I had to put a few splashes. Just a hint of warmth. Next time I’ll make a note to use the full tablespoon of Old Bay or maybe a little rounded. ;)
It would be nice if someone could work up the nutrition label.
It would be nice if someone could work up the nutrition label.
Make these every summer with the zucchini from our garden. Great recipe we love them.