Thai-Style Crab Cakes with Sweet Chili Sauce (2024)

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This is the last crab cake recipe you’ll ever need. Bright Thai flavors, sweet crab, a crispy crust and a sweet, spicy sauce all come together for crab cake nirvana.

“This is the best crab cake I’ve ever eaten.” End quote. No matter that these words were spoken by perhaps the most biased judge (my husband). No matter that he was starving and he was likely buttering me up so I would continue to feed him throughout the week. I completely believed him. Maybe because I was munching on my own crab cake and thoroughly enjoying it,I accepted the compliment. Because man, this really isa damn good crab cake.

I came late to the party withAsian cuisine. It wasn’t something that I grew up with, or even sought out, until I moved to Manhattan in my 20’s. I was a girl from upstate New York that ate Italian or classic American fare on a daily basis. I thought heating up a can of condensed Campbell’s won-ton soup was adventurous.But when I moved to the city, I dipped my toe in the water of world cuisine and subsequently dove in.

It wasn’t long before I would eat just about everything, and as anyone that’s lived in New York City knows, had all my favoriteson speed dial. Hungry for bowl of curry at noon, sushi at 6pmor dim sum at midnight? You can find it. And it will be good.

We had a fantastic Maylasian place on the corner, a solid Thai place a couple blocks down and our go-to sushi and Chinese take-out places within spitting distance. And then we moved to the suburbs. <sigh> Our stash of take-out menus isnow paltry in comparison to our city days, because there simplyaren’t as many options.

So, I took a stab at cooking some of my favorite Thai dishes at home. Two of my favorites areThai-style coconut chicken curry and Thai chicken basiland they have been in our regular rotation for years. I now keep fish sauce, ginger, garlic, palm sugar, coconut milk, cilantro and limes at the ready. And when I see stalks of lemongrass or kaffir lime leaves in the produce section of my market, I nab them.

What I love most about Thai cuisineis the harmony of flavors…sweet, salty, spicy and sour. And as I got ready to make my regularcrab cake recipe for dinner, it occurred to me that thoseflavors would compliment the sweet crab perfectly. So I folded cilantro, lime zest, scallions and grated ginger into the crab mixture with a splash of fish sauce and lime juice. I used mayo for my binder, butnot a speck of bread crumbs in the filling as there’s nothing I hate more than a crab cake full of starchy filler. I use an ice cream scoop to portion out my cakes and pop the scoops into the freezer to allow them to firm up a bit.This freezer trick makes it easier to dredge them in flour and then dip them in egg and panko before frying.

The result was a crab cake in which the crab was the starandthose bright Thai flavors really sing. AndI didn’t stopthere.Hello sweet and spicy chili sauce! This dipping sauce cooks up in minutes and don’t be afraid to make extra to have on hand for nights when you order in spring rolls or dumplings. I like a little extra heat, but you can dial down the chili paste if you prefer it a bitmilder.

These crab cakes with that sweet chili sauce have managed to dethrone our reigning crab cake king and I’m guessing a bite size version will be appearing in our football Sunday or Superbowl spreads. Make ahead tip: cool the fried cakes to room temperature, layer between pieces of parchment or wax paper and place in plastic freezer bags tofreeze. The frozen cakes can be put on sheet trays and into a hot oven (400 degrees) to heat through. And this sauce will keep for at least of week in the refrigerator. Now you have no excuse like a sad menu drawer to prevent you from enjoying your favorite Thai flavors at home. Suddenly the suburbs don’t seem so bad.

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