Happy Monday Sunshines! We are back from vacation and I am excited to begin a new series of posts all about learning to cook traditional Southern dishes.
Welcome to Ashley’s School of Southern Cooking!
Today we are tackling Zucchini Crab Cakes. It’s a recipe from my sister-in-law’s Georgia Peach grandmother. Brother and SIL have been raving about how these crispy fried cakes tastes just like crab.
Crab cakes filled with zucchini and other fresh veggies but no crab? Hmm. I was curious.
So when a friend shared zucchini from his garden I decided to give the recipe a try. We are always in need of a new recipe to get out of the dinner rut. Plus anything filled with zucchini had to be healthy!
Just look at all the garden fresh ingredients.
The recipe also calls for fresh breadcrumbs. Don’t have fresh breadcrumbs? Me either.
Thank goodness they can be easily made with oven dried sandwich bread and a whirl in the food processor. Six pieces of bread made 1 cup of fresh breadcrumbs.
Place the grated zucchini in a colander or towel lined dish and sprinkle with salt. The salt will draw out the extra moisture and helps prevent the final mixture from being too loose to form crab cakes. After 30 minutes use paper towels to squeeze out water.
Once the excess moisture has been removed from the zucchini combine it with the remaining ingredients {except the oil and butter}. Make sure to mix well.
Form mixture into 8 traditional sized crab cakes then chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes. 
Heat oil and butter in a skillet then fry patties until they are golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels and serve!
Here’s a tip: Each patty should be fairly flat so the middle of the patty cooks through as it browns. My pretty little patties were too plump causing the inside of the cakes to be a tad undercooked.
Family Recipe Review:
When it was time for dinner I may have fibbed a teeny bit after Big Boy asked me if our Zucchini Crab Cakes were filled with Alaskan King Crab. Eyes excited, both boys took big bites of our faux cakes then ran straight for the trash can. For real.
Thank goodness they managed to eat their apples and broccoli. Poor tortured children.
Honey sat back watching their reaction then turned and asked, “Seriously? This is dinner?”
In the end, Honey and I both enjoyed our dinner. Just as Brother and SIL promised, the cakes did taste like traditional crab cakes. Browning the patties added great flavor to the veggies and the cayenne spiced it up just enough to be interesting.
The next time I make this tasty cakes it will be for a summertime appetizer. The cakes will be thinner and maybe even a tad bit crispier!
Thanks so much for joining along on my School of Southern Cooking journey. Next week I’m learning to cook the secret ingredient in my favorite Bubba’s Famous Flounder Sandwich. Y’all come back!
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They give me huge motivation to keep creating and having fun with my 3 Little Greenwoods!
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Oh my goodness! Our zucchini plants are prolific here, so this looks like a perfect recipe to try! I have a sweet vegetarian friend coming over for lunch this week, and this may be on the menu!
This will be a perfect recipe for your veggie loving friend!
~ Ashley
My honey’s dad is a vegetarian, so I love having new options to make for him! Thanks for posting such a yummy recipe!
xo
Jamie
http://snapginger.com
These would make an awesome no-meat meal. Just make sure to make the patties thin so they fry up crispy!
Thanks for the bloggy love!
~ Ashley
They sound amazing! Yum! Thank you for sharing at Tuesdays at Our Home! Have a great week! Maria
The faux crab cakes were pretty yummy! Thanks for hosting your fun party!
~ Ashley
Whoa baby these look reallllllly delicious!
Honey and I though they were pretty yummy. The children? Not so much! Oh, well… at least they tried it!
~ Ashley
We’ve been eating so much zucchini lately and was trying to find more recipes to use them in since we just bought more! I love this idea, something my kids will probably actually eat zucchini in!
Yay! It’s always good to find a new recipe for fresh veggies.
~ Ashley
I want to make these! Yum! Pinned & shared on FB!
Thanks so much for sharing this amazing recipe with us at Project Inspire{d}!
YUMMMM!!! That sounds fabulous! Thank you for submitting it to the party! Pinning now!
Thanks so much for the pin and party!
~ Ashley
I’m laughing over your sons reactions LOL – they look delicious to me !
I love potato pancakes – and these look similar 🙂
XOX
Yeah, my boys were totally not impressed with Mama’s fake crab cakes!
~ Ashley
Yay! Glad to have you join us this week! This recipe looks amazing! No crab but it tastes like crab? Crazy! I’ll have to make some for my husband so he can let me know… 🙂
Thank you so much for linking up with us at Delicious Dish Tuesday!!
They sound (and look) really good! Funny about your boys’ reaction though! We have plenty of zucchini here so I will have to give them a try. 🙂
Yeah, the boys hated them but I really enjoyed having something different for dinner. 😉
~ Ashley
I love zucchini and these sound wonderful. I have some in the fridge, I guess I know what I am having for dinner.
Thanks for sharing,
Bev
So happy you are inspired!
~ Ashley
Y-U-M!!! I’m drooling. I love crab cakes… adding zucchini just made them extra amazing! I have got to try these. Pinned! Thanks for sharing in Inspiration Mondays!
Thanks so much for the pin! Can’t wait for you to try the Zucchini Crab Cakes!
~ Ashley
I love anything zucchini and want to try these!! Thanks for sharing Ashley 🙂 They look delicious!!!
Thanks so much, Kendra!
~ Ashley
Yum who wouldve thought zucchini is crab cakes!? Thanks so much for linking up at the Creative Sparks Link Party. We are live again today so stop by and link up! http://bit.ly/1pEMI5A
Zucchini Crab Cakes make an awesome veggie dinner! Thanks for the fun party!
~ Ashley
So I finally made these today when my vegetarian friend came over for lunch and I had to leave a comment. Between the two of us, we polished off all 8! I think I would have to double the recipe at least if I was going to serve them for dinner. They were SO good!!
Oh Kim! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back to tell me how much you enjoyed the faux crab cakes. We are having a couples dinner party soon and I’m going to make them as appetizers. 😉
~ Ashley