Is frozen crabmeat OK to use for crab cakes?

Question

I have some frozen precooked crab meat that I was going to use in a sauce for pasta but thought maybe crab cakes would be a nice change of pace.
Does the fact that it has been frozen make it unsuitable because of texture change?

papin · Accepted Answer

Most crabmeat is pasteurized, so the texture has already suffered a bit. Crab cakes are basically a binder, crab meat, and seasoning. The binder can add all sorts of interesting textures. There are recipes with Panko, bread flour, flour, eggs, ... If you are worried about it being dry, add mayo as @Darin suggested or increase the oil a bit.

Look at the packaging, the crab meat may be already cooked, so you may get away with cooking it less.

Darin Sehnert · Answer

Previously frozen crabmeat is fine for crab cakes.  Should the crabmeat have dried a bit from being frozen, the mayonnaise that is typically added will replace some of the lost moisture.

Ocaasi · Answer

Agreed on the moisture issues. The thawing process will leave a lot of lost crab juice that would need to be replaced with some fat. Recomend thawing and then draining before mixing with binder and seasonings.

Answered by Ocaasi on April 16, 2021

Jimbob Seay · Answer

Freezing crab meat breaks the cell walls and causes the meat to be mushy, not firm. That is why you have so much water in the bottom of the container when you thaw it. It works fine for crab dip, where the texture is not critical, but I would not use it for crabcakes.
BTW: ALL crab meat you buy is precooked, I've never seen "raw" crabmeat. It is already steamed, then picked and put in a container. "Fresh" is just not pasteurized, so the shelf life is much shorter, but it is definitely cooked.

Is frozen crabmeat OK to use for crab cakes?

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