The pros: Trader Joe's Crab Cakes are super tasty and not fried or loaded with breading crab cake. The are true to their name, crab cakes. They contain just enough binding ingredients to keep their shape, but lack the characteristic fried outside. I don't think the taste suffered either. If you can't get past the fact that you are not going to have the amount of breading you might be used to and a fried crisp outside, you'll find this is a very pure cake made almost entirely of crab.
The cons: For two crab cakes, it's on the pricy side, but you are getting quality. I did find a small shell in one of my cakes. Not loaded with veggies or herbs either.
The verdict: For $6.99, I'll absolutely buy this again. I love crab cakes to begin with, but every recipe I've seen involves a lot of high calorie items. While this does contain mayo, somehow they've managed to keep the calorie count to just 90 for each cake. So being that it will be New Year's Resolution season, this might be something to keep handy in the freezer for a low calorie lunch or dinner. Lemons and remoulade sauce would make a nice compliment to this dish.
The box of Trader Joe's Crab Cakes:
The nutritional information:
The ingredients:
How to prepare:
Trader Joe's description of the product:
What else would you serve this with? Some salad of course. Here is the finished product:
Would I buy this again? Yes. Absolutely. It was filling and not full of filler ingredients. I found this dish to be so simple that you just got to enjoy the crab meat without fighting with it. I found that even with a convection toaster oven preheated it could have used a couple extra minutes on each side to ensure that it was warmed more to my liking. If you absolutely insist on the crispy outside, then melt some butter in a pan and give them a quick fry. Enjoy the simplicity on this one.
Want to see more items I've reviewed from Trader Joe's? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe's for an alphabetized list.
RossC says
Thank you for this review... I have passed these up a few times because I had no idea if they would be worth the price.. Would the crab be good or would they be all filler, etc. ?
You have convinced me to pick up a package...
becomebetty says
Let me know what you you think of them.
RossC says
Had these for dinner yesterday.. Sauteed them in butter and OO as the baked didn't look crisp enough.. A TJ's Caesar Salad and grilled ciabatta completed the meal.. My wife is a big fan of crab cakes and she really liked them so, I will buy these from time to time for her..
becomebetty says
Glad you enjoyed!
jmnmom says
I'm not fond that this one is a product of Indonesia....so I did not purchase.
ElGuapo says
Interesting purchase. I bought them as well. Based on the box art, it appears to be blue crab, but this not clarified anywhere on the ingredients list. So sorry “jmnmom” these can’t be sourced locally as we only have dungeness on the west coat… and sadly dungeness makes a terrible crab cake as they have to use tons of fillers and binders since the meat is so fine.
I disregard the cooking instructions but still preheated my stove to 425 and set the shelf to the top. Using a pad of Kerriegold butter I sautéed the bottom of the crab from frozen till i saw some browning then threw them in the oven till the tops were brown as well.
I mad a sauce, tj mayonase with the tj Yuzu hot sauce added (citrus and a bit of heat)… delish… also some chopped parsley.
I thought the cakes turned out way better than expected! On examination, there was minimal binder and appeared to be blue crab (a la maryland style). Additionally, it was largely made of lump meat… which was a surprise… hence the high price.
If these had been west coast dungeness crab cakes with all their filler… i would have never bought or thought about them again…. However, these were tasty and left a clean blue crab flavor without unadulteration of binders galore,
becomebetty says
Hey ElGuapo! Thanks so much for taking the time and sharing that. If you like Kerrigold, then try the TJs Cultured Salted butter. It's very good.
Your Yuzu aoili sounds delish. I'm always looking for a new way to use it.
I have to agree with you, it is a premium price, but completely worth it because it isn't loaded with binder.
I'm glad you liked them, and I'm really happy you stopped by to share your thoughts on this! Hope you stop by again.
EllenLV says
I tried these tonight and did not like them. They were mushy and bland. I followed the directions, and did not want to resort to frying them to get them crispy on the outside. Would not buy them again. Thanks for your review Brenda, I appreciate all you do.