Last updated on November 4th, 2024
Looking for the Best Maryland Crab Imperial Recipe? You’re in the right place! I’ve crafted this easy recipe so you can be enjoying this Maryland-style classic in no time!
Crab Imperial is a wonderfully rich, creamy crab dish— kinda like a crab casserole. It combines a rich and creamy sauce with delicious fresh crab meat. It’s baked with a breadcrumb topping to crisp it up, and served in individual pots.
So in this post, I’m going to give you the steps required for making this delicious crab dish. I’ll also share some expert tips, ingredient substitutions, and variations to make this recipe perfect for your taste!
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My Traditional Maryland Crab Imperial Recipe
Just like with recipes for crab cakes (and mine happens to be the best!), recipes for crab imperial are aplenty!
But it took a bit of trial and error to get things perfect. I tried many different crab imperial recipes before getting this one just right.
I wanted something that was rich, but not too rich, and flavorful, but not overpowering. It had to live up to my husband’s idea of good (just typing that makes me feel like I’m a 50’s housewife)!
He grew up with his mom making the crab imperial on special occasions. My husband’s mom was an incredible home cook and everything she made was delicious.
So, I really wanted to bring back memories of his childhood through this classic recipe—straight from the Eastern Shore of Maryland! I can’t think of a better way to honor his mom.
What Ingredients Do I Need to Make Crab Imperial?
We don’t need no fancy ingredients for this traditional recipe:
- Premium Lump Crabmeat – preferably from Maryland’s blue crabs (jumbo lump crab meat)
- Imperial Sauce Ingredients – 2% milk, mayonnaise, butter, and flour
- Unseasoned Bread Crumbs
- Dry Mustard
- Sliced Pimientos
- Old Bay Seasoning – or a fantastic Old Bay substitute, also made in Maryland!
For the full list of ingredients, be sure to check the recipe card below!
What is Imperial Sauce?
Imperial sauce is just a special white sauce really. My recipe uses a blend of 2% milk, mayonnaise, butter, and flour. If you’ve ever made a white sauce before, well the steps are pretty similar, if not easier!
I recommend using good quality butter from grass-fed cows. And the mayonnaise has to be Hellman’s of course!
How To Make Crab Imperial
Just follow these simple steps to make this Crab Imperial with old bay:
Step 1: Prepare the Crab Imperial Sauce
Well, how do I make the imperial sauce? It’s easy!
First you need to melt the butter in a large saucepan on medium heat.
Once melted, add the flour and milk then whisk until nice and smooth.
Keep the sauce mixture on a low to medium heat while stirring. After about 7 minutes, it should turn to a golden, sand-like color and thicken up.
Now let it cool slightly before adding any more ingredients.
Step 2: Mix Ingredients Into the White Sauce
Transfer your imperial mixture to a large mixing bowl, then add in the main ingredient—the pound of crab meat!
Also add the pimientos, mayonnaise (3 tablespoons or a little less than one quarter of a cup mayonnaise), dry mustard, and beaten egg.
After that, carefully mix until it’s well blended—but try not to break up the crab meat too much.
Expert Tip: Now let the mixture sit a little while—12 minutes or so—to combine nicely. This helps firm it up a little so it’s not too loose.
Step 3: Spoon Crab Mixture Into Individual Baking Dishes or Shells
This is one of the mistakes I made the first time I made the other crab imperial recipe. I didn’t have baking dishes for individual portions, so I put the entire recipe into one big casserole dish!
But for some reason, making it in one big baking dish just isn’t the same as having your very own dish of amazing crab imperial sitting in front of you.
Traditionally, crab imperial is served in individual shells like these aluminum crab shells or natural scallop shells. These work well when you’re serving smaller portions as an appetizer.
But I prefer things a little bigger, so I use these individual ramekins—this set of 4 mini cocotte casserole dishes from Amazon! They’re just the right portion size.
Step 4: Sprinkle Bread Crumbs & Old Bay Seasoning
I used very fine bread crumbs and it turned out great! You can use larger home-made bread crumbs if you want.
My husband thinks that his Mom might have even just cut up pieces of bread to place on top of each serving, which sounds really good!
Step 5: Add Very Thin Pats of Butter to Cover Each Dish
The butter is important because it will crisp up the bread crumbs while baking.
But you don’t need a lot of butter, so make the slices as thin as possible to cover all of the bread crumbs.
Step 6: Bake in the Oven
Now it’s time to bake your delectable creations in the oven.
I baked them in a 350 degree F oven for 15 minutes and then another 4 minutes on broil in order to brown the tops.
Expert Tip: Be sure to keep a close eye on them. You don’t want the bread crumb mixture to burn!
How it Tastes
So, I made this before my husband got home in order to take advantage of the natural light from the beautiful day. Not gonna lie, I took a bite….and then another bite….and then another.
Luckily I made 4 portions and there are only 3 of us humans in this household. Sorry Sarge, (my dog) but you can’t have the 4th one!
The taste of the crab combined with the other ingredients is amazing! This crab imperial is now one of my favorite recipes!
The white sauce was just the right amount of creaminess. In addition, the crab imperial topping of buttery bread crumbs was crisped up perfectly to a golden brown color.
The dry mustard was just enough to add that extra layer of spice to the dish. And the sliced pimientos (which I cut up into smaller pieces) are just the right amount of texture along with the lump crab meat.
Serve this crab imperial with some aguette slices and you’ve got yourself a ta-die-for meal.
Expert Crab Imperial Tips
- Aim for an internal temp of 165F to make sure the eggs are cooked properly. I always check everything with a handy temperature probe.
- Don’t buy the pimientos already diced. To me, already diced pimientos are basically like tiny skins from the pepper and don’t have any substance. Sliced pimientos still have some texture to them even after you dice them
What Else Can I Add to Crab Imperial?
- Fresh lemon juice
- Parmesan cheese lightly sprinkled on top
- Worcestershire Sauce
Substitutions
- Pimientos: Chopped red bell peppers, green bell peppers, sautéed peppers instead of pimientos
- Old Bay Seasoning: Cayenne pepper, red pepper, or other seafood seasoning instead of Old Bay Seasoning
- Breadcrumbs: Bread cubes, crushed up Ritz Crackers or other cracker crumbs instead of breadcrumbs
- Jumbo Lump Crab Meat: You can use a different type of crabmeat like backfin crab meat, but it’s finer in texture and not quite as delectable
- Black Pepper: White Pepper instead of black pepper
Last but not least, the Old Bay Seasoning is the perfect accompaniment to this recipe.
No, I’m not in a partnership with Old Bay for singing their praises in all of my seafood recipes—although, I wish that I was!
Crab meat and Old Bay Seasoning just go together like chocolate and peanut butter.
Maryland Crab Imperial Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp Butter
- 3 tbsp Flour
- 1 cup Milk
- 1 lb Crab Meat, Lump
- 1 Egg, beaten
- ½ cup Pimiento, diced , Buy it sliced and dice it yourself
- 3 tbsp Mayonnaise
- 1 tsp Dry Mustard
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
- Old Bay Seasoning, to taste
- ½ cup Bread Crumbs or Sliced Bread broken up into small pieces
- Butter, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Add butter, flour, and milk to a sauce pan and heat over medium heat, while stirring, until it's well blended and thickens. Allow to cool slightly.
- Transfer your white sauce to a large bowl and mix in the crab meat, beaten egg, pimiento, mayonnaise, dry mustard, salt & pepper.
- Place mixture into 4 crab shells, scallop shells, or individual baking dishes.
- Sprinkle equal amounts of bread crumbs, Old Bay Seasoning, & thin slices of butter to cover the tops of each serving.
- Bake in 350 degree fahrenheit oven for approximately 15 minutes. Then turn your oven on broil for 3 to 4 minutes, while keeping a close eye on them, to brown the tops.
What Else Can I Do With Crab Imperial?
You might notice that Crab Imperial is quite the versatile mix.
I didn’t know this, but when I set out to find the best Maryland crab imperial recipe, I quickly discovered that there are several variations.
You can use it to stuff mushrooms, shrimp, or even lobster! And you can also turn it into a Hot Crab Dip.
More Traditional Maryland Recipes
For more amazingly delicious, traditional Maryland, easy crab recipes, click on over to:
- Maryland Deviled Eggs with Crab and Old Bay Seasoning
- Crab Cake Recipe
- Maryland Crab Pizza
- Crab Stuffed Salmon Recipe
- Maryland Hot Crab Dip
- Grand Prize Maryland Cream of Crab Soup
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i steam my crabs and pick the meat, so it has claw meat, backfin and body meat along with some of the crab “mustard”. This is a small batch from 3 large male crabs. A chopped up hard boiled egg, mayonnaise, red, white, black pepper, a little old Bay, celery salt and a raw egg. All mixed together than gently fold in the crab. Bake at 350F.
Oh yum! Your recipe sounds amazing!
Great blend of subtle flavors. The crab was not over powered. The suggestion to use whole or strips of pimento instead of jarred diced bits was appreciated.
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂