Frozen Crab Cakes in Air Fryer

Let me show you how to cook frozen crab cakes in an air fryer perfectly! You can get them perfectly tender without defrosting for a quick snack this weekend using Gorton’s or SeaPak right out of the box.

I honestly wasn’t so sure how well cooking frozen crab cakes in an air fryer would turn out. They need to be tender all the way to the center but a bit crispy on the outside too. With a bunch of experimenting one afternoon these quickly became one of our favorite air fryer recipes on our site.

Ok so first we went all the way with canned meat (fresh would be better but we are in Idaho so ya’ know) first and made homemdae air fryer crab cakes. <—–You can certainly follow that recipe if you have the time. They are wonderful and you can add all of your favorite seasonings. Make a little spicy too if you love some heat to them.

For a quick seafood air fryer recipe though we have instructions on how to cook these right out of the box. If you haven’t tried frozen Maryland crab cakes yet let me tell you, they are amazing. Many times when fish isn’t fresh it’s just so so but even my husband said they were the best he had ever tasted.

Tips and Tricks

1. Preheat air fryer always to get crispy
2. Set inside air fryer basket without overlapping
3. Sit 1 tbsp of cold butter on the top of each one to keep moist
4. Close and air fry until tender inside and crispy out
5. Leave them inside the basket (do not open it) after the cook time is over to continue warming the center

Do not line your basket with parchment paper or anything. You want proper hot air flow to get the texture correct. I like to spray a bit of olive oil inside the basket so they don’t stick to begin with. Then preheat and you’re off with your Cosori air fryer recipe.

Sometimes when we are making things that should be really crispy I suggest using a bit of olive oil spray right at the end. That will really get the tops golden brown, I don’t think it would be necessary for these at all.

Ingredient Notes

This is what ours looked like. The box contained 2 frozen crab cakes with a total weight of 8 ounces. Remember there is a butter sauce packet in there too so each one was actually 3 oz sized pieces. If yours is much larger you would need to increase the timing. Mini crab cakes wouldn’t take as long, you get my drift.

I saved the butter packets to drizzle over all of them at the end, adding 2 tbsp of cold butter at the beginning too. A dairy free alternative would work just as well if need be.

Ninja Foodi (Option)

It doesn’t matter what brand of machine you have. This dual function machine works just the same, just larger and can pressure cook too. You’ll just need to air crisp on this go around with the lid that is attached with the Foodi.

How to Serve

Once your cooked crab cakes are done just scoop them up with a spatula, spoon some of the melted butter underneath on top or squeeze with some lemon juice. These had a ton of flavor but if you cannot find this brand at the grocery store and yours are blander, a bit of Old Bay seasoning will liven them right up.

How to Save Leftovers

For leftovers, allow them to cool and slide into a zipped baggie. Push all the air out so they don’t dry out and place into the fridge. Reheat within 1-2 days in the microwave for about 1 minute. If you cut it in half before reheating it will warm evenly a lot better. Same goes for our air fryer tuna patties recipe if you make those too.

Other seafood recipes you’ll love

If you want to go all out and have a seafood dinner, make our air fryer shrimp boil, Instant Pot crab boil or scallops in air fryer with them. There are lots of possibilities right out of the freezer too like how to cook frozen scallops a number of ways so you can always have a meal on the table even on forgetful days.

We do this when making air fryer corn dogs and frozen pot pie in air fryer too. If you skip this step it won’t be completely done in the center.

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