Last Updated on September 16, 2022 by Sabrina Currie

If you love crab cakes, I guarantee you'll love these crispy crab fritters. They're full of fresh lump crab meat and sweet corn and just enough light batter to hold them together. Top them off with one of the 2 simple spicy mayo recipes and watch them disappear!

Paper towel lined plate full of crispy crab fritters on a white table with a small bowl of sauce in the background.

Crab fritters are great any time of year. Serve them on a lunchtime salad in the summer or add a platter of these tasty little bites to any holiday table. These make delicious hand-held appetizers on a buffet or served plated with sauce as an elegant appetizer.

I'm a lover of everything crab. For more tasty crab recipes, try the Best Crab Cake recipe, Gluten-Free Crab Cakes. If you have imitation crab, try my spicy kani mango salad or the garlic butter sauteed imitation crab meat. For more, check out the best 70+ crab recipes here.

Check out the ideas in What To Serve With Fritters For Dinner-55 Side Dishes and What To Serve With Crab Cakes to round out your meal.

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Ingredients
Substitutions
Variations
Instructions
Spicy Mayo 2 Ways
Equipment
Storage
Raw Crab Safe Handling
Top tip
Related Recipes
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Food safety
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Ingredients

Crispy crab fritters are made with minimal ingredients. Fresh lump crab meat is accentuated with sweet corn and minced red bell pepper. A few dashes of hot sauce, some lemon zest and scallion or green onion really round out the flavors.

Crab - Use any fresh shelled crab you can get. Lump Dungeness crabmeat, rock crab, blue crab meat or snow crab all work great. As a West Coast girl, I get Dungeness locally and think it is the best. If you can't find fresh, use the cold tinned crab in the seafood fridge or freezer section. Canned crabmeat is not quite as good but if that is all you can get your hands on, go ahead and use it. If using canned or previously frozen crab, gently squeeze extra liquid out of crab meat before using.
Corn - Use fresh or thawed from frozen corn for this recipe.
Cornstarch - Also known as corn flour, this mixes with the regular all purpose flour to create an extra light batter, kind of like tempura.

See recipe card for quantities.

Substitutions

Milk (Dairy-Free) - You can swap an equal amount of ice cold water or club soda for the milk in the batter.
Lime - lime juice can be substituted for the lemon zest and juice. Use an equal amount.
Vegetables - The corn, red bell pepper and green onion are really complimentary to the crab flavor but if you don't have one of them, or don't like them, you can omit any that you want. To swap, use a yellow or orange bell pepper instead of red. Instead of green onions, you can substitute chives or 2 tablespoon grated or finely minced sweet onion.
Tobasco Sauce - Sub ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper or ½ teaspoon sriracha if needed.

Variations

Try out these easy crab and shrimp fritter variations.

Shrimp Fritters - switch out crab for fresh, peeled shrimp and make these into easy shrimp fritters. I find this works best with small shrimp. If you have large ones, consider cutting them in half or quarters before adding to the batter.
Gluten Free + Low Carb Crab Cakes - If you want a low carb alternative, I've made these awesome Gluten-Free Crab Cakes that use finely grated parmesan to add a crispy finish to these meaty crab cakes. It also has a healthy roasted red pepper dip instead of the richer mayo sauce used here.
Spicy Crab Fritters - If you love spice, add ½ to 1 teaspoon of hot red pepper flakes to your batter when mixing the wet ingredients.

Instructions

One egg, milk, lemon zest and pepper in white bowl with a silver and red whisk leaned against the inside of the bowl.

Step 1. In a large bowl, beat 1 large egg and add milk, hot sauce, and lemon zest. Whisk until well blended.

Flour in a white bowl on top of yellow egg mixture with a silver and red whisk leaned against the inside of the bowl.

Step 2. In a separate mixing bowl or measuring cup, mix the dry ingredients. Add to egg mixture and gently fold ingredients together without overmixing.

The cream colored batter has each ingredient poured in but not mixed yet. There is yellow corn kernels, diced red pepper and sliced scallions.

Step 3. Add corn, diced red pepper, green onions, salt, and black pepper, and stir to mix.

The vegetables have been added to the mix and the bowl of crab meat dumped on top. You can see all the pieces of crab on top.

Step 4. Add crab and gently fold in, trying not to break up the chunks of crab too much.

Chunky pale yellow batter with lots of lump crab, corn, red pepper bits and green onions showing in it.

Step 5. You will have a batter that is filled with the good stuff and just enough flour and egg mixture to keep it all together.

Preheat 1 cm or ½" of vegetable oil in a frying pan. Corn, peanut, canola or olive oil all work well for this. If using an electric fryer, fill with oil as per your fryers instructions.

Black frying pan with hot bubbling oil and 4 lumps of batter that is still white on top with bits of red and yellow showing.

Step 6. Once the sauté pan is preheated, drop heaping tablespoons of crab mixture gently into the hot oil to prevent splattering. Leave an inch or 2 of space between fritters to prevent them from sticking together.

A black frying pan with bubbling golden oil and 4 browned fritters in it frying. There is a plate with paper towel and 4 fritters on it in the background.

Step 7. Once golden on one side, flip them over and fry until golden on the other side.

Eight golden brown crispy fritters are on a paper towel lined plate.

Step 8. Remove fritters with a slotted spoon to a paper towel or cooling rack set over a tray to drain any excess oil. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over finished fritters if you like.
Serve and enjoy dipped in spicy mayo or classic tartar sauce while hot.

Spicy Mayo 2 Ways

I love a good spicy aioli or mayo dip. These 2 are my favorite, go-to recipes. One uses sambel oelek for a warm chilli flavor and the other gets bright Japanese spice from wasabi paste and fresh lemon juice. Pick your favorite or make both!

White bowl half full with pale yellow mayonnaise, a teaspoon of green wasabi and some lemon zest.

Wasabi Spicy Mayo Dip: Mix the mayo with the wasabi and lemon until smooth.

White bowl of creamy pale yellow sauce. There is a spoon lifting some out and it is dripping back into the bowl.

Wasabi mayo is bright and tangy with a slight horseradish flavor.

Easy Delicious Spicy Mayo Sauce For Fish Tacos

Sriracha Spicy Mayo Dipping Sauce: Mix Mayo and sriracha or sambal oelek until it is a creamy, emulsified dip, and serve with crab fritters.

Creamy orange sauce in dark bowl with spoon in it.

Sriracha Mayo is a deeper, sweeter flavored spicy mayo. I love them both!

*Feel free to use less spice if you don't like your dip too spicy.

Equipment

Just like most of my recipes, there is no special equipment needed for these crab and corn fritters. I've used a frying pan and a shallow frying method. You can certainly drop these (carefully) into a deep fryer with preheated oil if you have one.

The other thing I use is paper towels. It's important to properly drain excess oil off the corn and crab fritters right away when they come out of the oil. This helps them stay crisp and not have an oily taste or texture.

If you don't want to use paper towel, set a cooling rack over a baking tray to catch drips and scoop the fritters out of the pan and onto the rack when finished cooking.

Storage

Corn and crab fritters will keep well, covered in your fridge, for up three days. They will need to be re-crisped before eating.

To reheat fritters, heat a dry, non-stick frying pan over medium heat and add fritters. Flip them occasionally to prevent burning. Once they are heated through as much as you like, remove them to a plate and serve.

Alternatively, you can place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and reheat them in an oven set to 350' F for 10-12 minutes.

Corn and crab fritters don't freeze well, I don't recommend storing them that way.

Raw Crab Safe Handling

Do you catch your own crab or buy from a local fish monger? Live and fresh crab is extremely perishable. Read How Long Can Crabs Be Kept On Ice for how to do it safely.

Top tip

Keep your ingredients as cold as possible when mixing up the batter. Keep crab, eggs, milk and veggies refrigerated until using and make batter right before you're ready to fry them. The colder your fritter batter is, the crispier it will be when finished.

Closeup of paper towel lined plate of fritters with one broken open and half stuck in the pale yellow dip. You can see bits of crab, corn and scallion in the halved fritter.

Thanks for reading along, I'd love to hear your thoughts if you try these. Do you have a favorite dip for your crab fritters or crab cakes?

If you have any questions or comments, you can find me on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. I try to answer any recipe related questions quickly as I know you might be in the middle of making it.

Also check out my FREE PRINTABLE meal planner to make menu planning and grocery shopping a breeze and my shopping guide. And if you like this recipe, I would love it if you give it a star rating in the recipe card.

Cheers and happy cooking, Friends! Sabrina

Cheers and happy cooking, Friends

Sabrina

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Food safety

Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat or seafood
Wash hands after touching raw meat
Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
Never leave cooking food unattended
Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove.

Crispy Corn And Crab Fritters With Spicy Mayo