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The latest food trend to hit Baltimore is Crab Cake Egg Rolls. This air fried version with old bay aioli can be mad at home in no time. No need to go out when you can make a healthier take on crab cake egg rolls at home.
I was blown away recently when I saw that a local food blogger had shared a post about the crab cake egg rolls he recently had at a local restaurant in baltimore. Crab cake egg rolls are a fun way to enjoy one of the most popular dishes in Maryland. Classically crab cakes are served either on a roll with tartar or cocktail sauce or as an entree served with fries and coleslaw. Crab cake egg rolls take that same crab cake mixture and roll it up in a traditional egg roll wrapper. The crispy outer shell of the egg roll combined with the rich crab cake filling is a dish that you won't soon forget.
I wanted to create a version of these crab cake egg rolls that anyone could make at home. I made two versions. One using a dutch oven deep fried method and a second method using an Air Fryer. Everyone surprisingly preferred the air fried version which had a crispier and less greasy shell. After rolling the crab cake egg rolls I lightly sprayed them with cooking spray. This will help crisp up the egg rolls. Obviously using the air fryer over deep frying makes this recipe much healthier. Air frying reduces the amount of fat and calories in any recipe.
Egg rolls are actually very easy to roll so don't let making your own at home scare you off. It's as simple as laying the square egg roll out on a cutting board on an angle so the points are pointed north and south. Place about 3 ounces of the crab cake filling in the middle of the egg roll wrapper. Evenly spread out the crab cake mixture to the desired width of the egg roll. Brush the edges of the egg roll wrappers with water to help seal the egg rolls. Fold over the point closest to you over the crab cake mixture then fold in the two sides on the left and right. Finally gently roll up the egg roll cupping the wrapper with your hands so the crab cake mixture is evenly distributed.
If you are preparing the egg rolls ahead of time you can lightly dust then with cornstarch to prevent the egg rolls from sticking to each other. You can also use parchment paper to keep the egg rolls separated. Store in an airtight container until you're ready to cook them. Make sure to wrap any remaining egg roll wrappers tightly with plastic wrap and freeze so they are preserved for future use.
Crabmeat is expensive, it doesn’t matter where you live or who you know. At the date of writing this blog the going price for jumbo lump crab was about $36 and backfin was $24. There’s no shame in using all backfin crab especially if you’re using fresh crabmeat. I like to use a combination so that I can get those big beautiful lumps from the jumbo and fill in the blanks with the backfin.
Depending on the time of year or the region you live in fresh crab meat may not be an option. Your next best bet is to use pasteurized crab meat. Though pasteurized crab tends to be a little more bland you can compensate with the other ingredients in your crab cakes. Most pasteurized crab meat is going to come from the Far East. Regulations can vary a lot but I try to look for crabmeat that is cooked on board and pasteurized immediately. Crab meat from the Philippines and Vietnam tend to be the best. I try to avoid any crab meat from China if possible
Instead of using the traditional sauces with crab cakes I elected to make an Old Bay Aioli. Old bay is a spice blend that is used on all sorts of seafood recipes. Its also tasty on top of corn on the cob with melted butter. It has a salty and spicy flavor that is the perfect compliment to the mild crabmeat. The old bay is combined with mayonnaise and sour cream to bring the creamy sauce together. If you are looking for cocktail and tartar sauce I've got you covered with recipes for both below.
I wanted to give all of my Low carb/ Keto followers a few options to make a keto friendly version of these egg rolls. Use this low carb crab cake recipe instead of the recipe listed below. As far as the egg roll wrappers you can either substitute Cut Da Carb wraps or use low carb tortillas and make crab cake taquitos. The old bay aioli is already keto friendly so you don't have to make any adjustments to the sauce. I hope these changes will give you some options to reduce the carbs if desired.
