These healthy crab cakes benedict are topped with avocado relish and a poached egg. Perfect for breakfast, lunch or brunch!
Crab Cakes Benedict with Avocado Relish
Crab Cakes Benedict with Avocado RelishTraditional Eggs Benedict are made with Hollandaise sauce, but I prefer to skip the Hollandaise which shaves off about 200 calories, the egg yolks are perfectly silky on their own! A few other great breakfast ideas I love are Avocado Toast Egg in a Hole, Loaded Baked Omelet Muffins, and Spicy Breakfast Fajitas with Eggs and Guac.
For best results, make the crab cakes 1 day or at least 1 hour ahead. This helps hold them together so they don’t fall apart when cooking. Once the crab cakes are ready the rest comes together easily. If you are unsure about poaching eggs, there are tons of YouTube videos that show you the process. I usually do them 2 at a time.
This dish was inspired and adapted by a meal I recently had at a dinner sponsored by Avocados from Mexico and the Egg Board. It was so good I knew I wanted to recreate this at home. I adapted the recipe, originally created by Diane Henderiks, RD. If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw this in my Instastories! If you don’t follow my Instagram, you should! I share tons of how-to video demos and behind the scenes.
Crab Cakes Benedict with Avocado Relish
Ingredients
For the crab cakes: (best if made 1 hour ahead)
- 1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, picked over
- 2 tablespoons plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs, or gluten-free panko
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2-3 dashes tabasco sauce
Avocado Relish:
- 8 oz 2 small ripe Hass avocados; diced
- 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
- 1 small tomato, seeded and diced small
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
Poached Eggs:
- 6 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons white or cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- chopped cilantro, for garnish
Instructions
For the Crab Cakes:
- Place crab meat in medium mixing bowl.
- In small mixing bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients
- Add yogurt mixture to crab meat and gently combine, do not over mix.
- Shape into 6 – 3 1/2 inch cakes, refrigerate 1 hour or as long as overnight.
For the Avocado Relish:
- Gently combine all ingredients together in a medium bowl. Let sit at room temperature until ready to serve.
For the Poached Eggs:
- Crack eggs into individual small cups or ramekins.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add vinegar and salt. Reduce to simmer.
- Use a spoon to stir the water so it is spinning around in a circle. This will keep the egg whites from spreading out away from the yolk.
- Carefully drop eggs one at a time into the center of the pot.
- Simmer for 2 minutes then turn off the heat. Cover and let sit for 2 more minutes.
- Gently remove eggs with a slotted spoon and place on plate lined with paper towels.
To assemble:
- Spray oil in a large cast iron pan over medium-high heat.
- Cook crab cakes for 4 to 5 minutes on each side until heated through and lightly browned. Place one cake on each of 6 plates.
- Gently stir Avocado Relish and place heaping pile on each crab cake.
- Top with a poached egg and garnish with cilantro.
Last Step:
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Nutrition
Categories:
For the 231 calories, is that inclusive of the avocado relish? Just as it says it says the 231 calories is based on 1 serve and then states the serve is 1 cake and 1 egg – so trying to figure out if the avocado is an additional calorie intake or if its included in the serve?
Can you freeze the cooked crab cakes?
Being from Baltimore originally and having owned a large seafood restaurant, where is the OLD BAY in this crab cake recipe 🙂
Dinner has been over for an hour and my husband keeps wandering back into the kitchen talking about how good this meal was! It’s too bad that crab is so expensive because I think we could eat this once a week. I used regular lump crab instead of jumbo but otherwise stuck close to the recipe. Delicious!
The recipe never said to combine dry with wet..
It said to put crab meat in one bowl and combine the rest of the ingredients in another bowl.
Fabulous!
Amazing, delicious change of pace for breakfast! Added garlic to the avocado relish….
Can you just use a can of crab meat? thank you
This dish was phenomenal and the egg yolk was silky enough to where it needed no sauce. Being an avocado lover, the relish was the perfect compliment to a tasty breakfast.
I just made this dish for brunch today,, and was astounded at how wonderful it is. Truly a gourmet-quality meal. The crab cakes were phenomenal. And the dish was visually appealing, as well, During the 5 days my house guests were here, every meal I served was one of Gina’s. And every meal was superb. My friend is going to buy one of the cookbooks when she gets home so she begin cooking a la Gina.
Thank you, thank you for such a fabulous recipe.
Hello! When I pop the recipe in on my WW app, it registers it as 5 points (I’m on freestyle in Canada)- is that just a difference between US & Canada WW?
Thanks!
are you using the calculator?
I have been making your recipes for years. I have tried several different diets and I sure do like the Inspiralized recipes, but you are BY FAR my favorite food blogger. I love that you make real food healthier. I have lost several pounds on your recipes. I think you are extremely talented and I hope you are making a cookbook number 3. Thank you for always posting such delicious recipes. I have recommended you to several of my friends and they have loved everything on your site. My boyfriend LOVES your wings recipes. I love the enchiladas and crab cakes. Thanks for all you do. You have basically taught me how to cook! I started making your recipes years ago, maybe in 2012 or 2013. I just wanted you to know how talented you are incase no one has told you lately.
God bless!
Cheryl
Aw thank you so much Cheryl, I really appreciate that! 🙂
Made this for Mother’s Day and it was delicious. Defiantly a keeper!!
Glad you enjoyed it Jennifer!
This was delish!! Hubby loved it!
I made this for brunch this morning and it got rave reviews!! I didn’t miss the hollandaise sauce in the least! Making poached eggs was a new thing for me but so fun. I never realized how much “filler” is used when you order crab cakes at a restaurant. These are almost all crab and the taste is second to none. This recipe will be on repeat!
This was amazing! I’m not a fan of avacado so left it out and didn’t miss it at all and saved 2 sp. The crab cakes are large too! Very satisfying and delicious!
This recipe looks delicious, but I’m confused. The nutrition information says 149 calories for one cake with egg (and I assume some avocado relish) has 149 calories. Not possible.
Thanks for noticing, that does seem off. I will recheck!
Thanks, Gina!
Could anyone suggest a brand of canned crab meat that is good?
I get it from my local fish store, I usually buy fresh.
Hi Gina, These look wonderful, can you please advise how many calories would it be just for the crab cakes alone please . Many thanks
I served this over watercress for lunch. Really delicious, though next time I would cook the eggs 1 minute less.
The sodium content of this is through the roof!
Is it possible to make the crab cakes and freeze them to use as needed vs one large meal?
You just keep coming up with these amazing recipes! I purchased your first cook book and loved it. This past week I purchased the newest one re slow cooking and crockpots. Its wonderful and I have already made several of the recipes. Thanks so much for making ordinary food that much healthier!
My pleasure!
Great recipe. Had brunch for supper!
Gina, I love all your recipes! This looks amazing. Would you consider doing a post on your favorite kitchen appliances and tools? (I’ve bought an Instantpot at your suggestion–and on sale thanks to your Snapchat!) and would love to see a more comprehensive post about your fave gadgets!
Great idea!
GIna- Would you think it possible to assemble the crab cakes and freeze (prior to cooking) a few for later?
I would refrigerate overnight, freezing may be fine but I have not tested.
Gina – what do you think about using paleo mayo in place of the Greek yogurt and almond flour in lieu of panko to make these Whole30 compliant? They look amazing!
Sure it should work!
These look AH-mazing!!! I’ve had several different versions of crab cakes egg Benedict at various restaurants. I’m so excited to try a healthy version. Thanks Gina for creating and sharing.
Looks delish! I’m hoping to make it this week. Can another pan be substituted for cast iron? If so, would you recommend any changes for cooking the crab cakes?
Any Skillet would work.
What does “picked over” mean in relation to the crab meat? (This looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it!)
Yes, that is correct. Enjoy!
It means you pick out any pieces of shell.
By ‘picked over’ she means going through the meat to make sure there are no pieces of shell, cartilage, etc that got into the can with the meat during the canning process. I do this by laying out small batches of the meat at a time on a flat surface and then gently checking each lump for hard bits. You do want to do small batches and keep the rest of the meat in the fridge to avoid spoilage. Do be gentle with the lumps of meat to avoid breaking them apart. It is a lot of work but it’s totally worth it not to bite into a hard piece of shell.
Hope this helps!
“Picked over” is just referring to picking through the crab to remove any pieces of shell that is commonly mixed in with it.
You ‘pick over’ crab to make sure all the pieces of shell are out. When processed they’shake’ the crab out of the shell. Despite best efforts shell sometimes gets into the lump crab.
This looks so amazingly delicious!! Thank you for posting this!