Sweet Potato Crab Cakes With Spicy Harissa Chermoula Recipe

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As a recipe developer and blogger, I am always looking for ways to experiment with tried-and-true recipes. So even though good old crab cakes — those mixed with breadcrumbs and Old Bay seasoning and topped with mayo — are a perfectly delicious appetizer, I just couldn't help but tinker with them. That's where inspiration struck for this sweet potato crab cakes with spicy harissa chermoula recipe, one that puts a unique spin on the familiar New England app we all know and love. 

There are a few key tweaks and differences in this recipe that transform regular crab cakes into elevated ones. Classic crab cakes can be a bit stodgy and heavy, so instead of mixing the batter with breadcrumbs, I turned the breadcrumbs into a coating in which the cakes get dipped and rolled. For bulk, I added a roasted sweet potato, mayo for moisture, and of course, high-quality lump crab meat. And when the traditional mayonnaise topping felt a bit too rich, I opted for an herby, tangy, and slightly spicy North African-inspired chermoula, which lifted the whole dish to new heights.

The resulting crab cakes have become a regular fixture at my table, especially when I want something impressive that doesn't take all day to make. They work as an appetizer or a light lunch with a good salad on the side, though I can't help but enjoy them piping hot from the pan (fully loaded with lots of chermoula). 

For the sweet potato crab cakes themselves, you'll need a medium sweet potato, unsalted butter, leeks, garlic cloves, lump crab meat, an egg, mayonnaise, kosher salt, black pepper, plain breadcrumbs, and neutral oil for cooking them. 

For the harissa chermoula served alongside the cakes, gather fresh cilantro, fresh flat-leaf parsley, garlic cloves, harissa, ground cumin, smoked paprika, olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and kosher salt.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place the sweet potato on the baking sheet. Transfer to the oven and roast until completely tender, about 40 to 45 minutes.

Let the sweet potato cool slightly, then peel and mash it (you'll need 1 cup of mashed sweet potato). Spread the mashed sweet potato out on a plate and refrigerate uncovered for 15 minutes.

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat.

Add the leeks and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until completely soft and just starting to turn golden, about 10 minutes.

Add garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely.

Make the chermoula: Add the cilantro, parsley, garlic, harissa, cumin, paprika, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt to a blender or food processor.

Pulse until finely chopped but not fully smooth. Taste and adjust for seasoning as desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the crab cakes, combine the crab meat, cooled mashed sweet potato, cooled leek mixture, egg, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper.

Divide the mixture into 6 equal portions and shape into patties about 1 inch thick.

Spread the breadcrumbs out on a plate.

Press the patties lightly into the breadcrumbs to coat both sides.

Refrigerate the crab cakes for 30 minutes to firm up.

Heat the neutral oil in a cast iron or heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.

Cook crab cakes in batches without crowding, 3 to 4 minutes per side, until deep golden brown. Repeat in as many batches as needed, refreshing the oil each time.

Transfer cooked crab cakes to a plate lined with paper towels to cool slightly.

Top the crab cakes with mayonnaise to taste and chermoula. Serve immediately.

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These crab cakes are easy to adapt to various preferences or dietary restrictions. They are almost gluten-free by nature, and you just need to use gluten-free breadcrumbs to make them fully so. Sometimes, I also like to use polenta on the coating, though it will be a bit more crunchy than breadcrumbs. To make them dairy-free, swap the butter for olive oil when cooking the leeks.

My other favorite adaptation is to top the cakes with Greek yogurt under the chermoula instead of mayo, which provides a bright, tangy contrast to the otherwise rich cakes. If you want to splurge, feel free to sub lump crab meat for jumbo crab, which will give you bigger crab chunks with meatier bites. But if your budget only allows for canned crab, make sure to opt for a high-quality canned crab brand. When working with canned crab, make sure to drain it very thoroughly, pat it dry with a paper towel, and check carefully for shells before using.

For the chermoula, if you don't have harissa or don't feel like searching for it, one teaspoon of Sriracha and a teaspoon of ground caraway seeds will provide a similar smoky, spicy flair. I love adding about a teaspoon of finely chopped preserved lemon rind to the chermoula to deepen that Moroccan influence (if you go this route, you can omit the fresh lemon juice that the recipe calls for). Alternatively, for a milder version, reduce the harissa to 1 tablespoon and add extra lemon juice to compensate.

One of the biggest complaints I hear from people who want to make crab cakes is that they always end up falling apart. As someone who generally prefers not to dump a whole lot of breadcrumbs in my crab cakes, I have some tips for keeping your crab cakes in one piece.

The most important step in this recipe is chilling the formed patties for 30 minutes before cooking. You may think that the binder here is the sweet potato, but in fact, it's actually the time spent chilling in the fridge that makes these into restaurant-quality crab cakes. This chill time gives the egg and mayonnaise time to bind the mixture and the sweet potato time to set, making the cakes feel substantial and less fragile when they hit the pan. If you skip the chilling step, I can almost guarantee that your cakes will fall apart when you cook them.

The other key is ensuring that no extra moisture ends up in your cakes. This means you should only bake or microwave the sweet potato (as opposed to boiling), and make sure to fully cool the leek and sweet potato mixture before combining it with the crab. Warm ingredients would start cooking the egg before you form the patties, which throws off the binding. And finally, try to touch your mixture as little as possible when shaping the patties, as overworking can break down the crab and turn the mix paste-like instead of chunky.

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